Some similarities to : Solomons Seal.

The leaves, flowers and berries of this plant are very poisonous. It prefers to grow on limestone, or on sand. It is sold as a garden flower, from where it may escape into the wild. The flowers have a sweet fragrance. Despite it not smelling of garlic, the leaves of this plant, which come before the flowers, have been mistaken for those of Ramsons and eaten, often with fatal consequences.

Now said to belong, not to the Lily Family, but to the Ruscaceae family, which has itself now been moved into the Asparagus Family.

A green dye can be extracted from the leaves of this plant.

The naturally occurring alkaloid (found in Cinchona species, such as the Quinine Tree) quinidine is used medicinally to counteract the irregular heartbeat causeded by ingestion of parts of Lily of the Valley plant. Quinidine is a cardiac depressant, and acts by controlling the cardiac rhythm. Sparteine, another naturally occurring alkaloid found Broom and in some other members of the Pera Family, acts similarly and is also used medicinally to treat heart arrhythmias and poisonings by cyanogenic glycosides. It acts by blocking the Na⁺ channel.

CARDENOLIDES The plant also produces a valuable pharmaceutical drug, convallotoxin, a cardiotonic drug, a digitalin-like substance. Of all the naturally occurring cardiac glycosides, convallotoxin is the most potent. Because of this Lily of the Valley is very poisonous, ingestion of parts of the plant will typically produce burning of the mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, headache, dilated pupils, slow and arrhythmic heartbeat, sometimes resulting in coma and death. The same toxins are present in other members of the Lily family, for instance Star of Bethlehem. Convallotoxin resembles Digoxigenin which is found in Foxglove. Besides Convallotoxin, which is the main toxin representing 40% of the total cardiac glycosides in Lily of the Valley, 37 other cardenolides (cardiac glycosides) have been isolated from i, amongst them Convallarin, Convallamarin and Convallamaronin, which are used medicinally.

NON-PROTEIN AMINO ACIDS Azetidine-2-carboxylic Acid is a non-protein amino acid (NPAA) meaning that it does not occur in natural proteins. It is the homologue of Proline, which is a natural amino acid found in proteins. Azetidine-2-carboxylic Acid occurs in Lily-of-the-Valley as a poison which seems to be devised to act as an analogue to Proline, and because of this can accidentally be incorporated into proteins in place of Proline, where it may disrupt the normal function of the protein. Azetidine-2-carboxylic Acid is therefore toxic. It occurs in the rhizomes and leaves of Lily-of-the-Valley, and also in some species of Solomons Seal. To a much lesser extent in Sugar Beet. Proline, one of the natural 21 or 22 amino acids, is a non-essential amino acid, meaning that although we cannot live without it, humans do not need to consume food containing Proline since humans are able to synthesize it within their bodies. [Proline is only shown for comparison with Azetidine-2-carboxylic Acid and does not occur in Lily of the Valley].

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