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.