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Re: Edible flowers ? poison

Hi Michael,

> I find tasting is one of the best ways of testing if something is
> poisionous. (Who was the brave person who discovered Oysters were > edible?!)

When Moira and I both worked at the Dept of Agriculture laboratories in
Kenya (many years ago) there was an entomologist there who was a "fungus
nut". He collected wild fungi (and there were still many undescribed
ones there then) and always tested them - with great care! - to see
whether they were poisonous, edible, or just nasty!

> Pyrethrum is not necessarily poisonous to humans. I will check it     > though

At the same place, both of us were involved in the analysis of the
active ingredients in natural pyrethrum, which was then an important
cash crop in Kenya. One of the scientists involved was known to have -
on occasion - made up and eaten a sandwich of the dried and ground-up
flower buds (the source of the insecticide) to demonstrate how harmless
it was to humans!

OTOH, another of the scientists there - the fungus tester in fact - was
allergic to pyrethrins and would get eczema on his hands if he handled
the powder. Personally, I never ate any <g> but I handled pounds and
pounds of it without any observable effects (and here I still am -
nearly 50 years later - so to most people it does seem harmless).

Tony
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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