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Re: Deadlyish nightshades (was Re: A Potato Question)

If no one wants the fruits of their potato plants, I'd be glad to take 
them for the seed they contain.  I've grown potato seedlings before and 
while most of them are worthless, they are a fascinating experiment in 
how much a given progeny can vary.  Remember, Luther Burbank selected 
the Russet Burbank potato from a small group of seedlings of Early Rose 
potato.  I've gotten some that were different enough to be worth growing 
as ornamentals. 
-Lon Rombough
http://www.hevanet.com/lonrom
Richard Callwood III wrote:
> 
> Joshua Ben David wrote:
> > NO! THEY ARE NOT EDIBLE! Potatoes are members of the highly poisonous nightshade
> > family and anything but the tubers should NOT be eaten.
> 
> I did hear about someone who had died from eating the berries off a
> close relative of the potato, so i would stay far away from those potato
> berries.
> 
> On the other hand, i think we have to be careful about how we generalize
> about the nightshade family.  Each member seems to have a different
> method of poisoning people.  After all, the berries of tomatoes,
> peppers, and eggplants are quite edible.  In fact, eggplants are in the
> same genus as potatoes.  Tomatoes were once thought to be poisonous,
> probably based on their family relationship.  Their leaves *are*
> poisonous.  And potato tubers *can* be poisonous if you're careless
> about how you grow them.
> 
> What this all seems to say is that if you can't find a certain body part
> of a given nightshade plant in the produce section, then DON'T EAT IT.
> You may wish to avoid those tomato-like cardboard objects too! ;-)  I'll
> leave it up to you whether or not to inhale the smoke from burning
> tobacco leaves (also in the nightshade family).
> 
> One nightshade flower that looks pretty in the square foot garden is the
> petunia.  Since i haven't seen any petunias in the produce section, i
> wouldn't eat them.
> --
> @->-`-,----------------------------------------------+
> |  Cousin Ricky      USDA zone 11, Virgin Islands    |
> |  rcallwo@uvi.edu   formerly zone 6, Massachusetts  |
> +----------------------------------------------------+
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