Brunfelsia spp. is toxic to cats, dogs and horses. The reported severity is severe. Also known as Raintrees, Brazil Raintree and Bigflower Raintree.
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Ireland has no animal poison service for owners. Call your veterinarian. An Irish veterinarian can consult the Veterinary Poisons Information Service in the United Kingdom.
Giftinformationscentralen stopped answering questions about animals on 1 July 2018. Call your veterinarian or an animal hospital.
Tremors Seizures Diarrhea Vomiting Drooling Lethargy Incoordination Coughing
The color of each symptom follows the severity scale above.
Brunfelsia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to subfamily Petunioideae of the nightshade family Solanaceae. The 50 or so species have been grouped into the three sections: Brunfelsia, Franciscea and Guianenses, which differ significantly in both distribution and characteristics, although molecular data have revealed that only two sections are natural (monophyletic), namely the Caribbean section Brunfelsia and a common section for all South American species. Linnaeus named the genus for the early German herbalist Otto Brunfels (1488–1534).
Like many other species belonging to the Solanaceae, some (possibly all) members of this genus contain toxic and medicinal alkaloids. These are known to be poisonous to domestic animals such as cats, dogs, and horses due to their brunfelsamidine content. Toxicity in dogs manifests with strychnine-like gastrointestinal, neurological and cardiac symptoms. The roots of certain Brunfelsia species have been designated as containing compounds hazardous to human health according to a compendium published in 2012 by the European Food Safety Authority. These compounds include indole alkaloids of the β-carboline group such as harmine, tetrahydroharmine, harmaline, manacine, manaceine, and also derivatives of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and amidines such as pyrrole 3-carboximidamide. According to early accounts in the literature, symptoms of poisoning by the medicinal species B. grandiflora include dizziness, exhaustion, nausea, hypersalivation, muscle weakness, lethargy, facial nerve paralysis, mouth pains, swollen tongue, numbness in the extremities, paraesthesias (including tingling and feelings of unbearable coldness) tremors, and blurred vision. At higher dose, there are reports of delirium, sustained mental confusion, and possible blindness. Modern reports have compared the experience to the effects of an overdose of nicotine upon non-smokers.
Also recorded as Raintree, kiss me quick, ladies of the night, lady of the night, morning-noon-and-night and sunday-monday.
More from the Solanaceae family:
Countries with the most wild observations, from GBIF data.