DON'T CRY FOR ARGENTINA

REVIEWING NON-POISONOUS PLANTS

People are impressed by the imprimatur of The Hospital for Sick Children coupled with that of the Toronto Regional Poison Information Centre. Who should know more about poisonous plants than they?
You would think so.

 I am not impressed. I am appalled.

We are told that Holly is ‘poisonous to humans’.
Do they mean the genus Ilex? There are over 900 species of holly and an equal number of hybrids and cultivated varieties. Are we to believe that they are all poisonous? The genus alone is still not good enough. Since Linnaeus in the eighteenth century plant names are binomials. The correct name has two parts, first the genus then the specific epithet.
 I am yet to be convinced that any species of Ilex is toxic; if any are we deserve to know which ones, and to be given their currently accepted scientific name in full. I say currently accepted names as right at this moment there are teams of taxonomists busily changing many names based on new knowledge that shows a plants proper place in the botanical family tree.

 Recently I wrote about the confusion over the use of Snake Berry as a common name when presumably they meant Actea rubra; now I must tell you that all your beautiful late summer highly fragrant Cimicifugas are now to be known as Actea. No doubt they will soon be added to the roster of poisonous plants.  But I digress.

Back to Holly, the genus Ilex. How, you might wonder did they ever get their bad reputation? Where do these stories come from? Perhaps they had heard of the ‘black drink’ that native Americans used to make themselves vomit as a cleansing ritual before going into battle or as a religious rite. This was an extra strong infusion using the leaves of Ilex vomitoria (good name) the only North American plant that I know of that has a caffeine content. Early European settlers did not care much for the throwing up part so they enjoyed a much milder brew that they called Yaupon tea.

 The caffeine beverage of choice in Argentina and Uruguay is Yerba Maté that uses the leaves of Ilex paraguariensis that is drunk with much ceremony through a silver straw that has a strainer on the wet end. They drink lots of it and don’t spew a drop.

SEE ALSO Blogspot QUACK QUACK August 3, 2011

 Yerba Maté is served in a gourd-inspired bowl and drunk through a bombilla.

POISON PENMANSHIP

POISON: A substance that causes death or serious injury to a living organism, especially when this happens quickly from a relatively small dose; it does not discriminate and its effects should apply equally to all.

By this definition, an allergen is not a poison, since it does not usually kill; it affects some but not others.

Poison Ivy is not poisonous and should more properly be Skin-Rash Ivy. About 15% of people are immune to its dangers. This makes the plant a very common hazard with 85% as potential victims. In most other allergic encounters with plant parts, the numbers are beyond the decimal point.

Some sufferers are so outraged and believing that since it happened to them, that it will happen to others, they alert the whole tribe. In fact they might only be one of a very sensitive few; perhaps uniquely so. One person whose complaint I found on the Internet was so angry at their allergic reaction to Foxglove (they got hives) that they demanded that it should be treated like smallpox and be eradicated from the planet.

People new to gardening must be quite concerned to see so many popular plants readily available at garden centres although they are “known to be poisonous to humans’. With some thought they come to realize that they cannot be all that poisonous or they would not continue to be sold. Obviously the plants have already passed through many hands, from the growers and propagators to greenhouse workers who prune, deadhead and cut back in daily close encounters. They quite rightly ignore the doomsayers and dodge the falling sky.
It has been pointed out to me that I do not find any poisonous plants among the 72 names as given in ‘Information for Families-Plant Safety’ and I do not define ‘poison’. Note that the Hospital does not offer a definition either and no information. Their intent seems to be to scare people into sticking to our familiar vegetables and not to eat garden ornamentals. I could endorse that thought, I suppose.
 I did not give them all a clean bill of health. Where I believed that there might be cause for concern I have tried to explain and to reassure that in normal usage any toxic content can be safely disregarded.
 In trying to inform I have done a great deal more than this poor effort from Sick Kids’.
Are there any poisonous plants on the list? Perhaps a couple that might qualify but how are families to know which ones out of this miscellany? I have no intention to add to a list derived from garbled folklore or the problems that farmers must contend with in animal husbandry nor when used as self-medication for self-diagnosed ailments.
I am outraged to see in a publication addressed to families with a home garden, a warning about the dangerous potential of Delphiniums and Larkspur based on some awareness that a couple of weedy types have proven harmful to grazing cattle in some western States. There are 250 species of Delphiniums including Larkspurs and as many or more cultivated varieties. They are not poisonous to humans, not even the few that can harm animals. We are not cattle. We do not consume by the bushel nor graze by the acre.

STAR OF BETHLEHEM

 
REVIEWING NON POISONOUS PLANTS

The Hospital for Sick Children tell us that Star of Bethlehem is 'known to be poisonous to humans'.
Campanula isophyla.The white form is pictured above.
  Eucharis x grandiflora (See the white lily at the bottom of the page.)
Ornithogalum thyrsoides (below)                                                 .

CHOOSE YOUR POISON
Three different plants that are all called
                           Star of Bethlehem.
They all have other common names which is not unusual. The Campanula is a Trailing or Italian Bellflower and also comes in blue.
The Eucharis is a natural hybrid with and sometimes called Amazon Lily. It grows from a bulb.
Ornithogalum has a rather quaint name that is fun to pronounce: Chincherincheree. It is another bulb, but from South Africa and very important as a cut flower much used in white-themed bridal bouquets. The individual flowers are in a compact truss, deliciously fragrant and very long lasting. I have not thought about Chincherincheree for years but if memory serves I do recall that the flowers close at night.
  
   So which Star of Bethlehem is deemed to be toxic? No, I am not giving out prizes. Just answers. It is the Chincherincheree and I am told that it is strong medicine that can violently affect the heart. Do remember that you are most unlikely to find the bulb and will have a hard time wresting the flowers away from the young lady that catches the brides well-aimed throw. We really don't need so many of lifes' pleasures spoiled quite needlessly by hyper-anxious know- it -alls.
   Thanks to air-freight this beautiful flower is shipped to florists every day,
by the thousands, with never an untoward incident.

WHAT SNAKE BERRY ?

REVIEWING NON-POISONOUS PLANTS

  Snake Berry in Toronto’s Sick Children’s list of poisonous plants meant nothing to me.

 I’ve asked other plantsmen but they don’t seem to know the term either. When I ran it through the Google search engine it was identified as Actea rubra. News to me. I know the plant very well but I know it as Red Baneberry. That is the problem with common names. Sometimes they are only locally common.

 Lots of plants have a number of common names and on occasion one common name is used for a few quite different plants.

  The A.M.A. Handbook gives Snake Berry as yet one more name for Solanum dulcamara, otherwise known as Bittersweet Nightshade which, if I had my way would be Climbing Tomato. On doing some more checking I do see that they list Actea rubra as Snakeberry, one word not two.

 Are you following me? Snakeberry is Actea and Snake Berry is Solanum.

   I trust that all this squabbling over names does not bring lids to your eyes; it is not trivial. As parents are being told that these plants are poisonous it would be very helpful to have their scientific names.

   Once we have established which plants we are talking about we can proceed to the matter of whether they are toxic. When you subject Red Baneberry, (Actea rubra) to chemical analysis it will show a high concentration of oxalic acid as we also find in rhubarb leaves and in lesser quantities, in many vegetables such as spinach. The word‘poison’is highly inappropriate. It takes excessive amounts or the accumulative effects of long-term usage to affect your health. The body handles oxalic acid by combing it with calcium to form calcium oxalate crystals which are processed by the kidneys and excreted in urine. Continued usage could result in calcium deficiency or to kidney stones

   The bright red fruit of Actea rubra will be attractive to an exploring child who, quite naturally will want to discover if they are sweet and juicy. They will be disappointed and just as naturally will spit them out. Children, as I am sure you know, are fussy eaters with all their sensitive taste buds still intact. They do not readily poison themselves.

 If anyone ever tells you they were killed by Snake Berry: do not believe them.

RHUBARB FOOL

REVIEWING NON-POISONOUSPLANTS

When I asked if it was alright to put horse manure on my rhubarb an old gardener said that would be fine but that personally he preferred custard.
 His jocular answer was better than the advice offered by Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital as they warn us that rhubarbs’ large leaves are ‘known to be poisonous to humans.’

   Together with the Ontario Regional Poison Information Centre they publish an advisory called Information for Families – Plant Safety which is notable for its’ lack of information. Families are on their own.

   Rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid that can combine with calcium to form painful kidney stones; but so do the leaves of spinach, Swiss chard, beetroot tops and a number of other popular food items such as peas and potatoes. Susceptible types will be much more likely to accrete stones in the kidney or bladder from a diet of spinach than from the unappealing greens of rhubarb.

Speaking for myself alone I must say that rhubarb is not high on my list of favourites. The closest I get is the occasional purchase of a strawberry & rhubarb pie; even then I find that it still calls for a custard topping. Nothing appeals from the rhubarb leaves.

 Anyway, poison is hardly the right word. It takes a steady diet of an offending food item consumed over years before it would result in kidney stones. And when it does, would you call it a poison?

   A hundred years ago during the First World War a government agency in Britain exhorted the people to be mindful of food shortages and “that children were starving in Belgium.” As example it was suggested that those who liked and used rhubarb should not discard the leaves as was the usual practice but to use them too as a vegetable. This provoked strenuous complaints from many who knew its’ reputation as a cause of kidney stones or otherwise had learned that it was deleterious or even poisonous. Once being taken to task for their bad advice they responded by issuing corrections which in fact greatly exaggerated the plants’ dangers as they sought to undo any harm that they had caused. These stories are still echoing today. You would think that after one hundred years we could get the story right. Obviously we cannot look to Sick Kids’ Hospital for solid science and sensible instruction. They apparently know little and care even less.

Recipes for RHUBARB FOOL at www.canadianliving.com

SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN II

 REVIEWING NON-POISONOUS PLANTS

IS THIS SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN A POISONOUS PLANT?

IT IS A SPURGE: A EUPHORBIA. Just one of more than 1600 species growing world-wide. These include Crown ofThorns and the Christmas Poinsettia. Only a few are attractive enough and hardy enough for Ontario gardens. For the most part the others must be considered as unwelcome weeds.

If, by Snow on the Mountain they mean Euphorbia marginata it’s a bit over the top to state that the plant is ‘poisonous to humans’. Poisonous to me suggests death or serious injury not a skin rash however unwelcome. It is not a common reaction. In all my years I recall only one person who developed a skin rash from a Spurge and it was not Euphorbia marginata.

  I can think of no particular reason why this one species has been singled out from so many. Since someone apparently thinks that it is worth mentioning it would be helpful to add a few more common names. Gardeners are just as likely to find this annual plant as Summer Icicle or Icicle Plant. Even more informally I’ve heard it called Ghost Weed. It would be even better of course to call it Euphorbia marginata. Please don’t call it ‘poisonous to humans’ when the only treatment needed is sudsy hot water.

( Serious damage could result if you get the caustic white sap in your eye which does call for a cautionary note.)

   White-edged plants are usually a variety of a plain green species; not so in this case. Euphorbia marginata is the species. It self-seeds and can appear under the greenhouse bench or in other pots and around the garden.
   A skin rash may not be a trivial matter to those who are sensitive but to label it as a poisonous plant is to make a mountain out of a molehill.

SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN

Reviewing some non-poisonous plants.

Which Snow on the Mountain is intended by Sick Kids’ Hospital in their Information for Families – Plant Safety?

 We are told that a plant with that name is ‘known to be poisonous to humans’. When you enter Snow on the Mountain in a search engine you will find that there are two quite different plants: Aegopodium podagraria and Euphorbia marginata. Which one is supposed to be harmful? Perhaps it’s both. We are not given the scientific name and so must check on each of them.

Snow on the Mountain is not the commonest of common names for Aegopodium podagraria since you are more likely to find it being called Gout Weed, Bishop’s Weed, Ground Elder or even Herb Gerard. It is a native of southern Europe that was taken north by the Romans for its value as an early spring vegetable; as early as February in Britain. This would have been the all-green variety and not the green and white form as we know it today. When the plant flowers like those of Queen Anne’s Lace you will recognize its’ kinship to parsley and carrot. The common name Gout Weed is perhaps a corruption of Goat Weed. The genus name Aegopodium means Goat’s Foot. The specific epithet podagraria refers to the big toe, a common site of gouty arthritis. We do need and depend on the scientific name for every plant but there is no rule to ensure that the name is apt. In this case the plant has nothing to do with gout nor goats. Its' naming is a sorry mess.

     I can hardly leave the subject without mentioning that it is a persistent perennial that will be almost impossible to be rid of as each small piece of root becomes a vigorous new plant. It is a palatable vegetable although now quite overlooked and no longer thought of in that regard. It is not poisonous.

 So, if this is not the ‘poisonous’ Snow on the Mountain what about Euphorbia marginata?

(See my next blog spot) You might also go back to my article published in May 2011, CROTONS AND OTHER SPURGES.

MORNING GLORIES

Do you know why Morning Glories are described as poisonous? Probably not if you are of my generation or equally naïve. Apparently it is widely known that the seeds of Ipomoea tricolor are easily brewed into a home-made hallucinogenic drug with similar effects to that of LSD. Ask Jeeves or go to your favourite search engine and you will find full instructions; where to buy seeds in bulk, how to grind, infuse and filter the brew. Easy as making coffee.Best known and most readily available varieties are, Heavenly Blue and Pearly Gates, should you care to know the colour of the crack of dawn flowers. If you think that you might enjoy a light fantastic trip, this could be just your cup of tea. Not for me thank you very much.

You will not learn any of this from Sick Kids’ Hospital publication “Information for Families – Plant Safety”. The promise in the pamphlets' title is unfulfilled since they provide no information whatsoever. We are told only that it is a plant ‘known to be poisonous to humans’. Since all of the plants on their list are questionable including many that should be blameless and the rest need rescuing from superstition, misunderstanding and gross exaggeration that I wonder if families find any value in it.

My constant criticism is the use of the word ‘poisonous’ without a modifier of any kind. It would be helpful to know if the plant toxins were deadly, mildly or slightly poisonous or if in fact it is an allergen which affects some but not others. Perhaps the plant effects are dermatological when it should be termed a skin-poison. There is a good modifier. Some explanations would be useful such as, ‘very unlikely to cause accidental poisonings but must be intentional and self-afflicted, usually resulting from people seeking an intoxicating ‘high ‘from ornamentals like Jimson Weed , Morning Glory or the prohibited Marijuana. This could be put more briefly as ‘Poisonous if misused’.

              “All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison.

              The right dose differentiates a poison …”           
Paracelsus (1493-1541)

The dose makes the poison. The Hospital pamphlet does say, ‘Some of these plants will not cause serious poisoning unless a large amount is eaten’. They could admit that a large amount might mean consuming by the bushel or tying someone down and force-feeding them.

Telling a concerned parent that Delphiniums, Lupins and Morning Glories are poisonous demonstrates a complete lack of any understanding of plants and of people. One might as well aggravate a sworn teetotaller by pointing out that there is alcohol in bread; which there is but not so that it is a matter of any importance or worth mentioning.

PINK, NOT BLUE

Ask any horticulturist or any gardener to describe the plant known as Periwinkle and you will be told that it is a wiry-stemmed, sometimes evergreen, sub-shrub with sky-blue flowers; known botanically as Vinca minor. The flowers of Periwinkle are famously blue but you can dare to be different and seek the wine-red or white. A dissenter might suggest Vinca major; a trailing type much used in hanging baskets and containers. This form with variegated green and white foliage is tender and used only as an annual.

    The pamphlet ‘ Information for Families-Plant Safety ‘ that the Poison Information Centre co-publish with Sick Kids’ Hospital does not provide botanical names. Families have to do a lot of guessing. In fact it is very short of information; they tell you nothing. In their list of ‘plants known to be poisonous to humans’ they make an exception for Periwinkle, (Vinca). The one and only time that you are given the plants’ botanical name, and they get it precisely wrong.

     If there is a Periwinkle that might be poisonous (by their standards, not by mine) it would be Madagascar Periwinkle. Admittedly, it was once Vinca rosea, so-named by the great Linnaeus but changed to Catharanthus roseus by the English botanist George Don. This name change is not recent. Don died in 1846.

     Medical staff at the hospital will know the therapeutic value of Madagascar or Rosy Periwinkle. Two potent chemicals derived from this plant are vincristine and vinblastine which became the drugs of choice in the treatment of childhood leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease.

     The concentration of active ingredients in Catharanthus is so low that that it takes more than 250 kilograms of leaves to make one 500mg therapeutic dose. Rather more than the few plants in your window box.

     Only an ill-informed smart Alec or Alicia would interpret the medicinal use of Rosy Periwinkle as cause for a public alarm and to call the plant poisonous. It is a joke. Our world-famous Hospital for Sick Children is poorly served by lending their name to this shabby list.

     Garden Centres now offer so many plant choices that Rosy Vinca has lost its’ once prominent place in our summer gardens. Putting aside the plants’ value as a pharmaceutical (It is now grown world-wide for that purpose) to look at the plants qualities as an ornamental: Madagascar Periwinkle shows its’ Indian Ocean origins by revelling in heat and humidity. The open five-lobed flowers can be rosy pink or white, usually with a red eye. Grown in the sunniest spot in the garden it has the look of a small roundish 60cm shrub and will produce flower clusters all summer. The attractive leaves are dark green with a noticeable mid-vein that combines as an attractive package.

I intend to help this fine plant overcome the unwarranted slurs it has suffered at the hands of the uninformed. I cannot recommend Rosy Vinca too highly.

     This is an annual to die for, if you will excuse the expression.

POISONOUS PEONIES. WHO KNEW?

According to the Ontario Regional Poison Information Centre, peonies are ‘not non-toxic’. Now there is a quibble if I ever heard one.

 The American Medical Association does not mention peonies in their Handbook of Poisonous or Injurious plants. Very few of the books in my growing library mention the peony; when they do it would be a casual remark that peonies have been used medicinally most usually in Chinese Medicine. Everything appears in the Chinese Pharmacopeia including bears gallbladder and powdered dragon bones and is not a resource that I would normally refer to.

     In a telephone query to the Poison Centre we were told that the toxic parts of peonies are the roots. This matches the advice in Chinese Herbal Medicine, (Daniel P. Reid (1990) distributed in Canada by Random House.) This cannot be where Sick Kids’ Hospital is getting their information, although it would explain a lot. The Chinese in fact, have nothing but good to say about peony roots. The skin of the tree peony root ‘has highly effective antiseptic action against a broad range of germs’. The whole root of the white peony is tonic to the blood and yin-energy. The red variety promotes circulation of the blood.

The Poison Information Centre warns that handling the roots can irritate the skin and eating them can cause diarrhoea and make you vomit. Quite right too. That’ll learn you. When the grandchildren visit be sure that the garden spade and digging fork are locked in the shed.

     The peony of southern Europe is Paeonia officinalis. The name does not refer to a modern office but that there was commercial trade in the plant as a medicinal herb. When you read between the lines and note how often it is recommended for increasing  blood flow; that the intention was ‘to bring on the menses’. In other words, to provoke an abortion. The Peony Formula is still well known and used in Chinese and in so-called traditional medicine.

     The staff at the Poison Information Centre did not mention this aspect and we did not bring up the subject with them.

DEATH BY MISADVENTURE

The death of Andre Noble, a young actor full of promise, was a tremendous shock.

Apparently his untimely death was due to aconite poisoning.

     So much has been said and written about Monkshood being deadly poisonous that we have come to believe that such stories belong to the myths of times past. A modern case shows just how tragically real and yet how rare an event this was. With about a 100 species of Aconitum growing around the world and a population of 6.3 billion humans or 6.4 by the time I get to the end of this sentence; one would expect that there would be many such deaths.

     The young actor died on July 30, 2004 at the age of 25 in the countryside that he enjoyed so much, near Centerville on Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland where he was born and raised.

     I turned to the 2007 edition of the AMA Handbook of Poisonous or Injurious Plants, but his case is not mentioned. No human poisonings involving the living plant are cited. We are told that all parts of the plant are toxic, especially the leaves and roots but that human exposures are ‘relatively uncommon’. ‘However these plants are utilized in some herbal products (e.g., chaunwu, caowu, fuzi.)’ There are six references to scientific papers that in each instance refer to the use or misuse of Aconitine preparations in Asian medical practise. In the West, as far as I am aware, it is used only in so-called alternative medicine and in labelled water as dispensed by homeopaths.

The one and only time that I have ever heard of a gardener, grower or florist being affected by Monkshoods is an incident that took place in England in 1993. A man who sold cut flowers in the streets of Salisbury and Southampton was hospitalized, due, it is believed to handling Aconitum. If I knew more than that I would tell you.

So, what of the tragic death of Andre Noble? He knew and enjoyed the outdoors. This was familiar territory to him. He grew up there. At the time of death his stomach contents showed that he had consumed wild berries and green vegetation. The Aconitum that grows wild in Newfoundland is not a native but is an escape from gardens; Aconitum napellus. As an intelligent well educated young adult with an interest in nature, he would know Monkshood and its’ deadly reputation. What happened?

Andre and his friends were exploring and foraging on a small island when he became ill. He died on the small boat that was taking him to where an ambulance was waiting. Victims of Aconitine poisonings who get immediate medical attention can expect to make a full recovery within 24 hours. It was not to happen here.

A sudden death from a common naturalized flower was so startling and so rare that many questioned whether some other factor was involved. He was a vegetarian with a known interest in natural foods. “He was really into health foods, herbs and nature. I was in Toronto a while ago and went to a few health stores with him.” said his father. Questions still remain on this puzzling case. The best that can be said is that the chances of such a freak accident being repeated are somewhat more than six billion to one.

HAVE A VERY BERRY XMAS

     Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital lists Mistletoe as poisonous; of course they do. We must learn to disregard those spoilsports. I don't think that our Canadian Food Inspection Agency would let stores sell poisonous plants, Yuletide tradition or not.

      Most of us, even as untutored laymen have some understanding of the ‘placebo effect’. A patient seemingly experiences relief from symptoms and apparently benefits from the use of a prescribed medicine when in fact it is nothing more than a sugar pill. It is generally believed that such psuedopharmaceuticals really work but the reasons are still mysterious.

     Poison Control Agencies and people like me who write about ‘poisonous’ plants should now consider the ‘nocebo effect’.  Just as a patient obtains real benefit from a worthless pill when it is prescribed by a trusted physician or in a hospital setting, that the obverse could be equally true.

     Having been assured by a well-regarded authority that a plant part was poisonous someone might indeed show the unpleasant effects of poisoning from an innocuous and harmless source. The more trusted the authority, the stronger the nocebo response.

     If, as I assure you that mistletoe berries are not poisonous, why would they be listed as such? Most likely someone has heard that a substance found in the mistletoe plant is being used in the immediately discredited treatment of some cancers. As somebody once said, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. Still, I am aware that if you ‘search’ mistletoe you will be told that consumption of large quantities of leaves and stems can cause painful discomfort to the digestive system and probably diarrhea. Although it is beyond me how they could possibly know that, except perhaps by tests on animals.

     American Mistletoe is Phoradendron and an official symbol of the State of Oklahoma. All mistletoes are partial parasites (partial because they have their own chlorophyll) and live on many types of trees apparently without harming them.

   The Mistletoe of commerce is Viscum album and it will probably be English. It grows in continental Europe too but the English form is thought to be the best. It has lots of plump white berries that ship well and do not fall off in transit. The berries are not poisonous.

   The supply of English Mistletoe is now threatened. Nothing wrong with the mistletoe, they’re fine  Although the parasite can grow on many types of trees, in England their preference is the apple. So many orchards are now being lost to the urban sprawl of shopping malls and huge parking lots, that  mistletoes are losing their homes.

     Now that China is supplying the world with most of its' apples, it  appears that they will also be the source of this traditional Christmas decoration.      Shèng Dàn Kuài Lè.

I'M MAD AS HELL

    

     If you would like to make a small contribution to a healthier world, consider catering to the needs of butterflies and their caterpillars. A butterfly garden will not only provide great beauty from the plants, butterflies and hummingbirds which is reward enough but  give satisfaction in having done something worthwhile; a small penance for the many abuses that we have laid on our planet.

     In my home garden there is a dense planting of butterfly favourites with flowers for the imago and foliage for their larvae. Great magnets for enticing clouds of Monarchs, are forms of prairie Liatris. The 6 foot tall dense flower spikes of Meadow Blazingstar, Liatris ligulistylis and Kansas Gayfeather, Liatris pycnostachya bring in Monarch butterflies from miles around. That is fine for you and good for the adult/imago Monarch but does nothing for the caterpillar/larvae. Monarch caterpillars eat Milkweed and only Milkweed.

     If indeed, you want to do something truly worthwhile, beyond your own immediate pleasure, a butterfly garden needs foliage for the caterpillar. Carrot, dill or parsley is needed by the Black Swallowtail so I plant lots of parsley between the Agastache, Echinacea and the many milkweeds.
     The spectacular Giant Swallowtail is supposedly very rare in Ontario; nevertheless I am privileged to be visited by this rarity every summer, drawn to my garden by a Hop Tree, Ptelea trifoliata. Apparently this visitor from Florida can detect a solitary tree from a great distance. Cosmopolitan Painted Lady enjoys its’ world-wide distribution by not being so singularly fussy about the caterpillar food choices. A sure bet to bring the American Lady to set up home in your garden is by growing Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea

     Monarch Butterflies depend entirely on Milkweed of which there are many species and closely related plants from tropical America to as far north as 52 degrees. Monarchs returning each year from their Mexican winter roosts, fly ever further north in overlapping leapfrogging generations seeking Milkweed. They depend on it. In my garden there are Swamp Milkweed, Asclepius incarnata with pink flowers; a yellow form and a white. Asclepius tuberosa with pure orange flowers and shinier thicker leaves. Since the sap of this species is clear rather than white we call it Butterfly Weed not Milkweed. These are all good hardy perennials, but a Monarch Garden would not be complete without their top-of-the-list favourite; the Mexican annual sub-shrub, Asclepius curassavica known as Bloodflower. The bicoloured flowers come in scarlet and yellow or deep red and yellow. Both the Monarchs and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are daft about them.

 The most northern species is Common Milkweed, Asclepius syriaca found in abandoned fields, roadsides and ditches. It is not included in my garden proper but I am happy to know that it is close by.

     Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital in 'Information for Families' tells us that Milkweed are ‘known to be poisonous to humans’. Now you know why I am as mad as hell. I guess that I would not be allowed to choke someone but perhaps I could give them a good shake.

    My butterfly garden delights me and I would like to see more gardeners enjoying swarms of Monarchs on their favourite Milkweeds. It does not help to have them labelled as ‘poisonous to humans’. Most people know that the caterpillar and hence the butterfly derives protection from birds by being highly distasteful; due to chemicals in the Milkweed. (The butterflies are not totally immune to these poisons but they have a high tolerance.) Listing them as poisonous plants is not a public service but a disservice and the lists’ authors a public nuisance.

NOTE: Neither the first or second edition (2007) of the American Medical Association Handbook of Poisonous or Injurious Plants mentions Milkweed.

A LITTLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING

    George Russell of York was an allotment gardener who developed a passion for Lupins. (My preferred spelling is Lupins rather than Lupines.) For more than 20 years he saved seed from the best plants and ruthlessly destroyed the others. He began with Lupinus polyphyllus but added some annual species and a shrub lupin and let the bees do the cross-pollinating. It seems reasonable though; that once he had produced a pink such as Chatelaine and the white Noble Maiden that open pollination would need to be avoided. Russell Lupins were a sensation at the 1937 Chelsea Flower Show.

    It is a crying shame that Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children calls them poisonous. They are not alone. You can find lupins on many such lists. Go to Nova Scotia Museum’s Poison Patch museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/lupin for more misleading facts and fictions. The page devoted to lupins immediately ropes-in black locust, laburnum and scotch broom. You must read carefully since the most serious of consequences apply to laburnum alone and those perils are greatly exaggerated. They do say that the greatest danger of lupin poisoning is to grazing livestock. There are a number of wild lupins growing in cattle country and is part of the animals foraging diet. Under some very rare circumstances lupins are said to cause ‘crooked calf’ disease. It is claimed that contaminated milk has caused birth defects in humans. I don't beleive that for a moment. 

    Although it might bring us to the same result, it is quite possible that it is not the lupin plant itself that is the cause but that a fungus growing on the lupin that is the real source of the toxin. Note too that the flower used to illustrate the page is not a weedy wild form but a cultivated hybrid which is deceitful or at least unhelpful.

    We have come a huge distance from George Russell’s beautiful flowers and we appear to have got totally lost along the way.

PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT

Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis





Someday, we will fondly remember when mood- altering drugs were all botanical and not cooked from chemicals in a laboratory or a rented garage.

   Instead of tea, coffee, chocolate, marijuana, cocaine, opium, alcohol and nicotine, we now have the scourge of crystal meth. And worse. Meanwhile, parents are being alerted to the dangers inherit in Lobelias of all things. What an atrocity this Sick Kids’ list is. It is appalling. When this alphabetical roster was put together (by someone from the typing pool perhaps) it appears that no one thought to ask, “Are we doing the right thing in telling people that Delphiniums, Daisies, Peonies and Wisteria,( the whole silly list,) are ‘known to be poisonous to humans’? “ If they ask why, can we tell them? Does anybody know?”

   Do not for a moment suppose that the list derives from cases arriving at Emergency Admitting or treated in the wards of the hospital. They got the list from other peoples’ lists and probably from the, as yet, immature Internet. The literature on poisonous plants is intricately incestuous as one writer parrots the claims of another while they have been quoting someone else, perhaps even you. Everyone believing and depending that the originator or someone somewhere along the line knew what they were talking about. A circular recycling of arrant nonsense for the most part.

Indian Tobacco
Lobelia inflata

To simply state that Lobelia are poisonous (or anything else on the list) without explanation must fall short of anyone’s expectations. It is perfectly true that Indian Tobacco, Lobelia inflata is always described as poisonous although it is still touted as a remedy for asthma and bronchitis in the world of ‘alternative medicine’. It is a poor substitute for a smoke. The nicotine is minimal if any and its’ effect is described as ‘transient’. The University of Maryland has a special interest in Alternative or Complementary Medicine although I can’t decide whether they are for it or against it. Just don’t say that I sent you.

European settlers were bemused to see First Nations people smoking Kinnikinnick, a mix of all kinds of bark and leaves including this Lobelia. When there were no doctors and no pharmacies, folks had to cope with their ailments as best they could. The blue-flowered Lobelia syphilitica was obviously named with the hopeful idea that it would cure that sexually transmitted scourge. Lobelia and a thousand other herbal nostrums would be tried to that end. That was then, this is now.

 “Information for Families” could benefit many but they would hardly need advice about the Lobelias in their life. Indian Tobacco is a weedy form that I can not recommend for any reason but there are some beauties for the garden. Brilliant red is comparatively rare in perennials but you will find it in the hardy native Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis. Lobelia ‘Queen Victoria’ has rich red foliage in addition to the five- lobed tubular red flowers but is scarcely hardy due to its’ crossing with a Mexican form.    These are absolutely essential plants for the butterfly garden and the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds go crazy for the tall flower spikes. They demand moist soil. Water them, then soak them and water again. Then keep them moist.

EVERY BRIDE'S FAVOURITE

 I am perfectly delighted that the Republic of Finland chose Convallaria majalis as the country’s floral emblem in 1967 on the 50^th anniversary of their independence from Russia. Lily of the Valley flowers are perfectly formed and perfectly white. It is a perfect choice. Not that I know anything about Finland other than their famous architects, musicians and Nokia mobile ‘phones. My overall impression is that they are studiously serious people with probably the best education system in the world. My obvious question is, what does the Helsinki equivalent to Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital tell the public of the possible toxicity of Lily of the Valley ?

I always thought that ‘majalis’ referred to the month of May, but wondered about it. Dependent on latitude, elevation and snow cover, Lily of the Valley can be flowering by early March. I hate to tell you this but can do no other; majalis is Latin for a male pig; a boar or hog. A most inappropriate epithet for such an elegant flower with such enchanting fragrance. What was Linnaeus thinking? Pearls before swine indeed. Nevertheless, despite the awkward results of my fact checking, bunches of the sweet flowers are traditionally sold in the streets of Paris on May 1^st. apparently we are all wrong. I hope that I am correct in believing that ‘convallaria’ means ‘of the valley’.

Before Dr. William Withering introduce Digitalis to the world in 1786, Lily of the Valley was known to have heart stimulating qualities in some measure: not enough for clinical purposes and hardly enough to be called a poison, yet the idea lingers on in our folk memory. You would have to eat vast amounts of the plant and its orange-red berries to suffer any consequences. Now that we know that the plants specific epithet ‘majalis’ refers to a male pig it could very well be that we gained our awareness of Convallaria toxicity from ancient swine herds. We have already learned from the stories of Larkspurs, Buckeyes and St.John’s Wort, that veterinary science was always light years ahead of human medicine.

One maddening story that kept recurring while searching at many websites, is the warning that children have died from drinking the water in a vase that contained lily of the valley leaves and flowers. This is an outright falsehood. No such incident ever took place nor could it. People who tell such alarming stories should face criminal charges for spreading false news.

Convallaria majalis spread by rhizomes that stay connected and the plant seems prepared to go on for ever. In late summer a swollen bud emerges at the tip of a stolon forming a “pip’ which will form a new pair of leaves and a flower stem in Spring. The flowers do not set seed using their own pollen, they are self sterile. If you want to have berries you must introduce a plant from a different clone. Since garden centers are most likely all getting their plants from one major supplier you may have to go out of town or cadge from an old garden.

My favourite form of this old-fashioned plant is the pure white although in this modern world of choices a pink form can be found and even a double-flowered.  Typical of monocot plants the spear-shaped leaves have parallel veins. In the variety ‘Striata’ the veins are gold. The white veined is ‘Albostriata’.

When Kate Middleton became Mrs William Wales and Duchess of Cambridge Lily of the Valley was in her bridal bouquet as it has often been for many brides. With her Royal endorsment it is now to be de rigueur.

They are easily forced into flower indoors in winter where their intoxicating scent will be nicely captured, You should do that. You deserve it.

I'VE GOT A DATE WITH AN ANGEL...

Should Datura stramonium appear in your garden unbidden as it easily can, please enjoy it. Commonly called Jimson Weed or Thorn Apple it is a gorgeous plant. Unfortunately it is only an annual. The fast-growing plant with its’ many 4 inch unfurling white or violet-tinged flowers would be very acceptable as a perennial.

 Do not be dissuaded by any horror stories you may hear.  It does have a bad reputation as a producer of strange hallucinations. The abuser does not know the apparitions from their normally sane state. Some imagine that they have been dismembered and their body parts scattered about or that an army of insects are wriggling and scratching under their skin. If you like that sort of thing then this is the sort of thing you will like. It is not going to kill you but you just might wish you were dead.

      None of this happens to you or your children from the mere presence of Jimson Weed. You must be proactive and learn the techniques of poisoning your brain. All such knowledge is freely available on the World Wide Web so while young children will be perfectly safe, parents might be wise to monitor the Internet use of their young adults. The explicit information is all there.

   Angel’s Trumpet was once included with Datura but is now Brugmansia. They both produce egg-sized prickly capsules that split open in four parts with many small black seeds. The developing capsules of Jimson Weed can very easily be removed  or the whole plant might be dispatched once flowering is over and that it is only an annual after all. Better yet would be to allow the seeds to ripen and plant them where you want them and not rely on the whim of sparrows that drop them where ever they please.
     Brugmansia seed could also be saved but they are  very tender plants from South America (Zone 9). You would need a heated greenhouse with a sufficiently high roof to accomodate their height of 2 to 3 metres.
     It is an old joke and an obvious one but I will use it anyway. That if you ingested either plant then the next sound you hear will be angel's trumpets.

THEY ARE NOT SUGARPLUMS

Atropa belladonna
It is difficult to say Nightshade without coupling it with Deadly. The words seem joined at the hip. Deadly Nightshade does not grow wild in Canada. The late summer red-fruited vine that sprawls over the shrubbery in countryside or garden is Bittersweet Nightshade or Climbing Nightshade. The familiar wild plant is a tomato and I would prefer to call it Wild Tomato rather than any kind of Nightshade. Bittersweet Nightshade or my Wild Tomato is Solanum dulcamara. The so-called Deadly Nightshade is Atropa belladonna: a quite different genus. Both plants are included at the rank of Family, the Solonaceae, but so are Petunias.

There should be no confusion in identifying these plants in flower or in fruit. The flower of Wild Tomato has five swept-back purple petals and a pointed nose-cone of yellow anthers. The drooping clusters of berries are green ripening to bright red.

The flowers of Deadly Nightshade, Atropa belladonna are bell-shaped and will partly enclose the developing black berry. The baleful tones of Atropa add to their malevolent reputation. The flower colour is shades of brownish purple like calves' liver. The berry is green ripening to shiny black on a star of persistant sepals. The fruits are never red at any stage. (Go to Google Images and you will see the usual mix-up.)

I have had a long aquaintance with Atropa. When I first went to school and could not see the blackboard, the ophthalmologist dropped Belladonna in my eyes to widen the pupils to aid in tests of my vision. All lights were halo-ed and scintilating as if it was suddenly Christmas. Cleopatra used that pupil dilating trick on her Antony to make herself appear even more alluring. With her blurred vision any man could be handsome although she never met a man she did not like.

Atropa belladonna has a very long history as a poison. I am told that the black berries are sweet and so does not warn you of its harmful effects. Fortunately it is not a plant that Canadians are likely to encounter but we should all be aware of its dangers.

Atropa belladonna berries are never red.
Accidental harm from Atropa is hardly likely. As a prepared drug or medicine hope has been held for a beneficial use such as treatments for asthma and hayfever. Claims are made for its value as antidote to other poisons such Sarin gas and the pesticide Malathion.It has been misused by those seeking recreational intoxication. Users report no pleasure but only delerium and the worst kinds of side effects.

WORTS AND RUMOURS OF WORTS

Very occasionaly, as in every three or four years, someone will ask,
"What is a wort ?"  For example, St.John's Wort.
(My talking encyclopedia says it should rhyme with hurt.)

In their quaint English way with names, where Cholomondeley is pronounced Chumly and Featherstonehaugh is Fanshaw, the family name St.John's becomes Sinjins. But you, old chap, already know all that.

I tell them that it is just an old word for a plant other than those that already have good names; trees, shrubs, vines, vegetables, herbs, etcetera. Most commonly used where some medicinal benefit is claimed for the plant or at least a usefulness. I would cite Lungwort, Motherwort, Spleenwort, St.John's Wort, Soapwort, Toothwort and Woundwort.

This then would compel me to explain the concept of the "Doctrine of Signatures". The 'state of the art' medical practice 500 years ago as formulated and taught by the Swiss physician Paracelcus. The idea was that the Almighty had put a sign or 'signature' on certain plants to show how they were to be used for our benefit. Grey splotches on the leaves of Pulmonaria, the Lungwort, indicated a treatment for damaged lungs and all things pulmonary. I don't know what lungs look like but any splotches on mine would be more likely be brown. I'd rather not think of the health of my liver and which of two quite different plant forms I should use. Some publishers still don't know the difference as we can see from a recent book on Herbs. They describe the pretty woodland wildflower and then illustrate it with the non-flowering spore-producing weed of greenhouse benches and old pots that are both called Liverwort.

Visual indicators are not apparent to me in Motherwort, Soapwort and Woundwort but they apparently have earned the suffix for some claimed value or worth. Hold the leaf of St.John's Wort, Hypericum perforatum to the light and note the pinprick translucent holes that are imagined as the pores of our skin and only a fool would not realize the value of Hypericum for all things dermatological. I very foolishly thought that St.John's Wort combatted depression. Perhaps it is for those who are depressed at their wrinkles being a sign of aging.

The toxicity that results from consuming Hypericum perforatum (also called Klamath Weed) is an extreme sensitivity to ultra violet rays and a dangerous sunburn. If Sick Kids' Hospital staff don't know; let me tell them. Humans do not eat St.John's Wort. Pasturing cattle might. The white areas of a cow would be most sensitive to sunburning and be even worse on bare spots like the eyelids, muzzle and udders.

If this cooperage scouring list of plants 'known to be poisonous to humans' is the medical 'state of the art' in the 21st century; then I'm depressed.
The old word has been revived in the name of Harry Potter's school, Hogwart Academy although it is spelled a little differently.

One variety that will always be with us and never in short supply is the worrywort.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Jerusalem Cherry is not from Jerusalem
and it is not a Cherry.   Hence the name.
It is a Tomato, Solanum pseudocapsicum ; although the geneology is a bit muddled.

Popular around Christmas for the bright red berries contrasting with dark green foliage; they are also called Winter Cherry. After the December activities, the plants most usually get discarded with the tinsel, although with proper care and a good pruning in Spring, you could keep it attractive for a number of years. It is just not easy growing tomatoes indoors.

Winter Cherry needs the sunniest window and dependable steady moisture. The recurved petals are white or pale blue. The berries start green, ripening through yellowish before becoming cheerily red like Santa's suit.

How ever one celebrates the Winter Solstice ; as the Long Night, Christmas or Yule, Hanukkah or Dong Zhi, it is quite often a merry botanical time, featuring Tannenbaums, Cedar boughs, Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe and the Yule Log ; to whose ranks we can happily accept
 Jerusalem Cherry as a bright and cheerful ornamental.

   At Loblaw's, Sobeys's, Zehr's and most food suppliers you will see ranks and banks of these attractive plants that are bought and sold by the tens of thousands continent-wide as Christmas gets closer.

   Don't do a Google search on them. Those doom-sayers and nattering nabobs of negativity describe Jerusalem Cherry as if it was deadly.

  I wish they would stop it. When refering to Solanum as Nightshade it quickly becomes Deadly Nightshade which is Atropa not Solanum. I could remind them that their Housecat whether Persian, American Shorthair or Sphynx is in the same family as the Bengal Tiger.

    Winter or Jerusalem Cherry are meant only as ornamentals.
They are not a food item. Adults can take care of themselves but do protect the children.
The berries are not deadly but a few could cause an upset stomach. More than a few and you will be Squeezing the Charmin'.

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

The lady approached me with every retail workers' favourite question.

Do you work here ? she accused.

Reluctant to confess, I admitted only, Good morning Madame. Can I help you ?

What annuals do you have ? she threatened.

Annuals ? Well, yes we do have some annuals. Not a lot.

Then name some. You do work here don't you ? she tolerated.

We have Sweet Peas.

They're nice, but not today. Anything else ?

There's Kochia, I headscratched.

Never heard of it.

Looks kinda like (This place came highly recommended by some highly recommended people, she bridalpathed.) a young cypress or cedar. In the fall they go bright red. Some people call them Burning Bush, I kindled.

Sounds ghastly. What else ? You do work here don't you ? She looked over around and through me. There was no one.

Marigolds. We have lots of Marigolds. Great colours. Orange and brown and yellow.

And ? Citrus and rust and near butter. And ? There's tangerine and squash and pumpkin.

I'm asking for annuals not vegetables. Don't be smart with me young man.

Winning me over completely.

You do work here don't you ? She swivelled, but there was only me.

Herbs, I grasped. We have herbs. There's a couple of annuals in our herb collection.

Basil's an annual and so is Sweet Annie, I cringed. But more like vegetables, I quickened.

You don't seem to know much. Do you always work here ?

Where's that Paul Zammit when you really need him ?

BAUBLES, BANGLES AND BEANS

Information for Families - Plant Safety is a publication from the Ontario Poison Centre and Sick Kids' Hospital. A mere list of names that you may or may not recognise. All 'known to be poisonous to humans'. That's all you get. A name and an admonition. As information , it's not much. Does everybody know what Jequirity Beans are. I am a professional plantsman and I didn't know. They are the same as Rosary Pea that you will see further down in the list. Are you any the wiser ?

The beans or peas don't grow in Canada so it is not a plant that I should have been expected to know. Since they are quite pretty they often get strung on a thread or otherwise to make a necklace or as earrings. These can be purchased cheaply in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Returning vacationers who get a close inspection at the border will lose their souvenirs since they are not allowed in Canada. (If you have some other botanicals you may not be either.)

When parents have Internet access they can do their own research since the Poison Control Centre is being so parsimonious. Not everyone can easily do that. They might have given us a short description :-

 Small (3 to the inch) shiny bright red beans that are jet black at one end.

When you read this and recognise them; I hope you are not saying, "Those sound like the ones on the bangle that the baby is gumming on RIGHT NOW !

A colour photo' would have been nice.

The scientific name is Abrus precatorious. Precatory refers to pius praying, don't  you know? and the reference is to the practice of using the beans as a rosary, hence Rosary Pea.

You now know what they look like; so do avoid them or we will all be praying for you.

A SUBURBAN MYTH

Bittersweet Nightshade
Solanum dulcamara










In July 2010, a letter  in a newspaper caught my eye, as things botanical usually do. The subject was bittersweet nightshade, a climbing vine with small but beautiful flowers designed like a hurtling missile. The five swept-back rich purple petals and the nose cone of yellow anthers that meet in a sharp point sponsors my aeronautical imagery. Alexander Calder would have drooled over the balanced poise of their bright red berries in a green cup, gracefully suspended like carmine teardrops on a bronze wire.

Others do not see them quite like that but as an unwanted weed with "extremely poisonous" fruit; which appears to be the view of our letter writer. He was drawing attention to an evergreen hedge that was carrying a heavy crop of Bittersweet Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara. He suggested that the owner or the Parks department should remove them for the safety of the children going to a nearby school. He deserves credit for his concern but he knows and I know, as we have all known for generations that the berries are not poisonous.

Why do we persist in perpetuating these suburban myths ?

The newspaper editor went on the Internet to check and sure enough they were deemed to be toxic and very dangerous to children. How valuable and convenient the Blogosphere has become. You now merely have to search for an answer: find one that you like: and go with that.

If the berries are "extremely poisonous" as he asserts, a letter is a rather slow response. Should he not have summoned police, fire and ambulance or at least had the area cordoned off with yellow tape?

My strongest argument for believing that the fruits are harmless (apart from my own public consumption as I display just how smart I am) is the total absence in our parks and playgrounds of dead and dying toddlers.

An American professor of botany was lecturing on the Nightshade family which includes Tomato, Potato and Green Peppers among 3000 species world-wide. In this talk he was addressing those that can be found growing wild in the countryside such as Bittersweet Nightshade. He told his pupils that the fruit and foliage of Black Nightshade were poisonous. The flowers are white but the berries are black. A young man from Iowa spoke up and said that his family and their neighbours ate the fruit of Black Nightshade all the time. The teacher said he must be wrong as they are well-known 'to be poisonous to humans'. It is a credit to the teacher that he tells this story against himself as he later identifies the species and the truth of the mans' claim. The berries were enjoyed not only in Iowa but in Nebraska where they also used the 'dreaded' foliage like spinach ! Back to the chalkboard.

The Royal Horticultural Society (of all people) makes the same error in Index of Garden Plants where they describe Solanum dulcamara as highly toxic and call it Deadly Nightshade. The RHS is in error but I cannot blame people that quote such an esteemed source.

PIPPA'S SONG

(Google Image)

SINGING THE PRAISES OF CHRISTMAS ROSE

   I had just arrived in the range of perennial greenhouses where the staff were busily stocking the shelves with the 3000 varieties that this large nursery carries. It was mid April and I had entered through the Hosta aisles with over 200 different kinds looking so healthily splendid as those in the garden will be now that the rain has cleared the last of winter's snow.
   The air was fresh and clean and you could smell the awakening soil. Freshly showered and in a laundered shirt, with crisp creases in my pants I felt solid in my safety boots.

   I had been mouthing some half-remembered Browning...
   the year's at the spring...day's at the morn...the lark's on the wing...something,something...God's in his heaven all's right with the world.
  Then I heard a woman's voice calling to her friends that had gone a little ahead. "Don't touch these. They're deadly poisonous." " You mean the Christmas Rose?"   " Yes, she confirmed, the Helleborus." My crisp shirt wilted and my shoulders slumped , "What now? Where are people getting this stuff?   I had read  Hellebores' lore and medical history years ago and scoffed, but this 'poison plant' business was no longer a laughing matter.     Christmas Rose and Lenten Rose are not on the Sick Kids' list and I wondered how they had missed them. The four ladies shopping that morning were teachers who were being allowed to plant some perennials at the school. With the small sum of money provided they were also given a list of plants that would not be safe for children. They had come equipped with an Index Plantorum Prohibitorum.  What a way to start the day.

   Helleborus had been used medicinally but was abandoned as causing more harm than good along with other discredited practices such as bleeding and cupping and constant purging.
   Before refrigeration and other food-handling safety measures people were forced to eat things that would be a public scandal today. Rotting meat, stinking fish and putrid vegetables, that when they churned in your gut you were happy to get their residue out of your body through one end or the other. The use of purges and routine enemas were accepted as normal. Much of our folk knowledge of poisonous plants derives from those dismal days.

   The chemicals in Helleborus include a digitalis-like component as we find in Foxglove. You will have to read my story The Case of the Dorset Boy to realize how much it takes to create even a sub-lethal dose.
 How ridiculous.
   To make a case against Christmas Rose the minutest facts have to be stretched beyond breaking point. Nothing and nobody eats the thick evergreen leaves of Hellebore.
   You will not find Christmas Rose growing wild in these parts (Wouldn't that be nice?)   BUT, just maybe in Europe where they are native, cattle might eat them.  Even having only a bovine brain cattle don't touch them. BUT,BUT. Supposing that the Hellebores are not in the pasture but in a hay field and get harvested with the grasses and then fed to the cows?
   In that case if you are a neighbour to such a careless farmer I would suggest that you don't buy his milk. It is well known that drinking such contaminated milk will give you the 'runs'.   Is there anything else you would like to know ?

There are Furies at the Bottom of my Garden.

THERE ARE FURIES AT THE BOTTOM OF MY GARDEN

Go past the garden shed and then go straight ahead .You will know them at once by their snaky hair and the blood dripping from their eyes as they watch me cultivate my poisonous plants. Those that blister, itch and sting are the mildest of my sins. And I know that I will not go unpunished. I am watched by their baleful eyes as I plant peonies and periwinkle and potatoes and peaches.

Oh yes, peaches. Did no one tell you ? Whether it is in Dr. McGillicuddy's Peach Schnapps or a small cube of the fruit from a rip-top can, peaches are deadly. Peaches can cause anaphylactic shock which could be fatal. The young man who insisted that holly berries were poisonous believed that story readily enough as he himself suffered from the poisonous peach syndrome.

As far as I know, he is still with us but can no longer indulge in Fuzzy Navels.

One eejit who thought that he was smarter than the rest of us and obviously liked apples, made a collection of the seeds until he had a cupful. He sat down to enjoy this crunchy treat and never got up again.
 China now supplies the world with most of its' apples and with the southern hemisphere shipping north we can have them any time. I enjoyed them more as a seasonal treat and before I was warned about the seeds. But I'm so 20th century.

A seasonal harvest that I always anticipated was Ontario's largesse of Sweet Cherries but not with the same keenness now that I know about their content of prussic acid. My vegetable garden gets the same rigorous inspection and I did so enjoy onions, until I learned better. No more lettuce for me either, whether from Chile, Mexico, California or my own garden. Should you doubt me you can check this out in a pretty little book from England titled Plant Alert : A Garden Guide for Parents. The author obviously knows her stuff. She uses the correct scientific name, Lactuca sativa and shares with us her horticultural experience as she explains that all parts of lettuce are hazardous " especially the milky sap or latex." To guard against any possible misunderstanding we are provided with a good photograph of young lettuce in the rows of her garden.
  Knowing what she does it is surprising that she keeps growing them. It is amazing the lengths people will go to in the name of science. I have her book and there's more, lots more. This is just the tip of the Iceberg.

The strangest things infuriate my Furies. I did not plant the Creeping Buttercup or the Quack Grass but it appears that I am to be held responsible for their toxic roots. I mean, who knew ?