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Poisonous plants

Katherine Pyle wrote:

>Probably true. But that one <Fly Agaric> is SO poisonous that a very
>little bit will do you in. And it looks enough like certain very tasty,
>edible mushrooms to warrant a warning. In the San Francisco area,
>several people die every year from eating wild-picked >mushrooms...
usually a variety of agaric.

Katherine - I think you are confusing Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) with
Death Cap (A.phalloides). Fly Agaric is the classic fairytale mushroom and
is not actually that poisonous because the two alkaloids it contains
(atropine and muscarine, I think) counteract each other. However, it isn't
what you'd call edible! It fluctuates greatly in number, and seems to
prefer birch woodland. It's a magical sight when it is common.

Death Cap is indeed extremely poisonous, and is quite common in Britain in
autumn (trust those Aussies to start these conversations at the wrong time
of year! :). It has white gills, unlike edible mushrooms, most of which
have dark gills. Amanita citrina is a nice lemon-coloured species which is
also quite common down here; however, it isn't very poisonous, so it isn't
so glamorous. I have yet to see the exotically named Destroying Angel,
Amanita virosa, another species marked 'Deadly poisonous' in my mushroom
book. It is a sort of luminous white all over. I think I'll stick to
boletes!

BJ's example of the deadly nightshade is an excellent example of a plant
that is extremely dangerous because as well as being poisonous, it has
lovely succulent berries which look very appetising to an unsuspecting
child. However, most poisonous garden plants aren't in the least dangerous
because they aren't attractive. The hysteria about monkshood could equally
well be applied to poppies, daffodils, snowflakes, delphiniums, peonies,
hellebores, clematis, potatoes, columbines, hyacinths, ferns,
rhododendrons, laurels, daphnes..... need I go on? A safe garden would be
a very dull garden indeed. 

It's clearly much safer to tell your children to play in the middle of the
road. The flower garden is far too dangerous.

Tristan
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