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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 27, 2014 22:00:15 GMT -5
A few years ago I sent someone some potato seeds. They planted them and sent me back seed. She told me that they had purple berries, which I thought was unusual for potatoes. So this spring I planted the seeds, and they outgrew all the other potatoes as seedlings, so I planted them in their own row. But they grew looking like garden hucklberries. As I was getting ready to till the field this fall, I tasted the berries. They were sweet as could be. I tasted a clump or two of berries from each plant as I saved seeds to make sure that they were good tasting.
About 6 hours later I woke up with stomach pain like I haven't had since a couple hours before my appendix was cut out. So I turned on the computer, and looked up the name of the species and the expected symptoms and progression of nightshade poisoning which starts about 6 hours after consumption. Then I went back to bed, after finding a magic marker and writing the name of the species on my chest: "Solanum nigrum".
....I at least wanted my family to know what killed me....
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Post by philagardener on Nov 28, 2014 8:31:12 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse , we continue to be impressed by your meticulous record keeping . . .
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Post by ottawagardener on Nov 30, 2014 10:38:12 GMT -5
I'm glad you survived… and you sure know how to tell a plant poisoning story  We eat the Solanum complex that grows here all the time without death or pain. Glad about that. |
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Post by darrenabbey on Dec 9, 2014 18:22:13 GMT -5
I'm glad you survived… and you sure know how to tell a plant poisoning story We eat the Solanum complex that grows here all the time without death or pain. Glad about that. The same here. This may explain the persistent idea that they're poisonous... because some actually are. Joseph's story does concern me, as plant poisons tend to be polite in that they taste bitter. This case did not seem to have a polite poison. |
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Post by steev on Dec 9, 2014 20:35:49 GMT -5
Amanita mushrooms seem to be uniformly delicious, then most will destroy your liver and/or kidneys. I think the bitter poisons tend to be alkaloids, from plants, whereas mushroom toxins are mostly proteins, as are animal toxins from fish, insects, and herptiles.
One might speculate that our cousins that can neither flee nor fight just want us to go away, whereas our cousins that can flee, if prevented from doing so, will resort to more terminal solutions.
I'm not sure that the defense similarities between fungi and animals aren't clues to relative kinship; I've relatives who seem like toadstools.
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Post by darrenabbey on Dec 10, 2014 0:33:58 GMT -5
Amanita mushrooms seem to be uniformly delicious, then most will destroy your liver and/or kidneys. I think the bitter poisons tend to be alkaloids, from plants, whereas mushroom toxins are mostly proteins, as are animal toxins from fish, insects, and herptiles. I don't touch mushrooms as a rule, because their poisons are very impolite. Because their poisons don't advertise themselves, it isn't entirely clear that they're evolved to be poisonous... the proteins we find toxic may have some other role in their physiology. |
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Post by zeedman on Dec 10, 2014 16:32:43 GMT -5
I don't touch mushrooms as a rule, because their poisons are very impolite. Because their poisons don't advertise themselves, it isn't entirely clear that they're evolved to be poisonous... the proteins we find toxic may have some other role in their physiology. Or... their role could be to turn us into mushroom spawn. |
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Post by darrenabbey on Dec 10, 2014 19:43:05 GMT -5
Or... their role could be to turn us into mushroom spawn. Most such toxic fungi habitually feed on cellulose-based materials... but maybe they want a little spice in their life. |
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We eat the Solanum complex that grows here all the time without death or pain. Glad about that.
