loco plant
any of certain plants belonging to the genera Astragalus or Oxytropis that grow wild in western North America, particularly in the Rocky Mountains, and that if ingested damage nerve tissue. The substances responsible include miserotoxin, swainsonine, and selenium. Symptoms of poisoning include muscular trembling or incoordination, staggering gait, and impairment of depth and other sensory perception (loco is the Spanish word for “crazy”). In sufficient doses, these toxins produce irreversible changes in the central nervous system, including brain lesions and eventual paralysis, and may cause coma or death. Also called loco weed.