Plants of Assassination (Packet 10)

Dumbcane is a common houseplant in the U.S. and Europe that causes severe irritation and swelling the in the mouth and throat. What is the part of the plant that causes this?

calcium oxilate

What is the scientific name of dumbcane?

Dieffenbachia seguine

What does calcium oxilate do for dumbcane?

help regulates ions and deters herbivory

What plant was used as punishment on the enslaved in Jamaica and concentration camps?

dumbcane

What is the scientific name of itching powder plants?

mucuna pruriens

What part of the itching powder plants cause the irritation?

stinging hairs on pods

When coming in contact with itching powder, there is a histamine release that does what to proteins?

splits

The itching powder plant was used in senegal by putting it in people's food which caused what?

internal bleeding

Apricot plants contain what toxin in their pits?

cyanide

Cyanide was marketed as what kind of cure?

cancer

What is the compound in plants that releases as cyanide?

amygdalin

What is the scientific name of cyanide?

cyanogenic glycosides

Why can we eat sweet almonds but not bitter?

bitter almonds contain a significant amount of cyanide while sweet do not

Jim Jones & The People's Temple at Jonestown in Guyana ingested what toxin mixed with a fruit beverage that was a mass murder/suicide?

cyanide

What was the chemical used by the Nazis that contained cyanide that the used to kill thousands of people?

Zyklon B

The Chicago ___ Murders were a series of murders caused by someone lacing ___ with cyanide at the grocery store.

tylenol

What happens when someone ingests cyanide?

irregular heart rhythm, swelling lungs, heart attack

Can some people smell cyanide?

yes

What is the scientific name of belladonna?

atropa belladonna

What toxins do the plant belladonna contain?

atropine & scopolamine

Hawley Crippen used what plant to murder his wife after she had an affair?

Belladonna

Socrates was executed by drinking what plant that paralyzes the diaphram? Cattle fall victim to this plant a lot.

Hemlock

What is the scientific name of hemlock?

conium maculatum

What compound was traditionally used in Chinese medicine as a local anesthetic that causes tingling, numbness, muscle paralysis & heart rhythm changes?

aconite & pseudoaconite compounds

What are the two plants discussed that contain aconite compounds?

Aconitum napellus, Aconitum ferox

What is the scientific name of strychnine?

strychnos nux-vomica

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream murdered many people with what toxin and got out of jail because he was rich? He was later hung.

strychnine

Strychnine is an appetite suppressant that also causes the skeletal muscles to contract and respiratory arrest all while the persion is:

concious

One of the most toxin things to humans is what that is also a lectin? It is a dimer meaning it exists as two protein chains linked together.

ricin

Why cant you eat raw kidney beans?

lectin

Ricin inactivates what in cells?

ribosomes

Georgi Markov and Vladimir Kostov were both murdered by a contraption that shot a pellet containing what toxin?

ricin