There are people who arrive with bouquets of tora blava and tell us: 'look what beautiful flowers I have found'. We ask them to throw them away quickly and we warn them that they are very poisonous," says Roger Cararach, one of the guards at the Serra d'Ensija refuge, in Berguedà. This mountaineer alerts his guests to the characteristics of the lethal Aconitum napellus, the common monkshood also known as wolverine, devil's helmet, blue rocket and, in Catalonia, as tora blava. Given the increasing number of excursions to the mountains, the Federation of Excursionist Entities of Catalonia (FEEC), the Vall d'Hebron hospital and the University of Girona (UdG) have launched a campaign to inform about the disastrous consequences that taking and Approaching the mouth or nose to this attractive flower that grows at between 1,500 and 2,500 meters, in high altitude meadows and in humid enclaves such as the banks of rivers and streams.
The Guide to Toxic Plants of the Ministry of Health emphasizes that the common monkshood is one of the most poisonous species in Europe.
The danger begins before it flowers, in spring, because it is confused with a kind of wild celery ( Molopospermum peloponnesiacum ), the 'coscollo', which is eaten in salads in different areas of the Pyrenees, points out Iñigo Soteras, an emergency doctor at Hospital de la Cerdanya and member of the FEEC safety committee. Starting in mid-July, when it is already in all its splendor, there are many people seduced by its striking shade between blue and violet who strive to prepare dangerous bouquets. Robert Blasco, an anesthetist at Vall d'Hebron and professor of Mountain Medicine at the UdG, considers that there are many more cases of poisoning, mild and severe, than are diagnosed. Neurological, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms begin about 30 minutes after ingestion and early detection is crucial for correct treatment.
With only one to two milligrams of the active ingredient responsible for the toxicity, aconitine, tora blava can already have fatal consequences. You don't have to swallow it to be in danger. Soteras points out that it is important to disseminate that its accidental ingestion has caused victims; that decades ago claimed the lives of several members of the same family from Puigcerdà; that history was about to repeat itself in Andorra, in 2018, when a couple and their daughter remained hospitalized in critical condition for several days, and that in recent years two people with very serious symptoms due to the same reason. One of them is Toni Elias, a 71-year-old resident of La Cerdanya, eager to offer his testimony so that everyone becomes aware of the risks that this plant entails. “With my wife we have the habit of going to the Eina valley when spring breaks out because it has many endemic species of flora. We went there on May 26, 2020 and we met some friends with a bag full of 'coscollos', a kind of celery that they even serve in restaurants in La Cerdanya. Near the river I saw a plant, I took a sprout and put it in my mouth to try it, but I quickly spit it out because it was very bitter and spicy, it wasn't 'coscollo', but I didn't think it was tora blava either”, details this expert mountaineer.
Shortly after arriving home his body reacted to the poison. “I felt some very strong ramps in my hands, pressure on my face and I fell to the ground. No muscle responded to me, I began to have arrhythmias and cardiac arrests. I faded The last thing I remember are the Pompiers' boots. I was lucky that a doctor came who had already treated other cases due to ingestion of Aconitum ”, he recounts. From the Puigcerdà hospital they transferred him to Vall d'Hebron, where he remained in the ICU for three days and two on the ward. "Luckily I'm fine, I suffered some side effect, like three broken ribs due to the massages to treat cardiorespiratory arrest," he explains.
Toni Elias remarks that she did not swallow anything, that just passing the Aconitum through her mouth was enough to trigger this terrible episode. "Tora blava grows everywhere but there are no warning signs of danger," he laments.
In Catalonia, it reproduces abundantly in Cerdanya, Berguedà, Alta Ribagorça, Pallars, Ripollès, Val d'Aran or Garrotxa, indicates the FEEC.
“We are not used to species with such lethality, it is sudden, half an hour after eating it by mistake and causes the first effects. A very serious French woman arrived at the hospital, with convulsions, delusions and very violent arrhythmias that caused fifteen cardiac arrests”, explains Iñigo Soteras. Fortunately, she was diagnosed on time and came out alive from the mishap.
