Woody Nightshade
I wouldn't go picking and eating them though if I were you... 
...they may not kill you, but they'll certainly make you rather sick. 
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la_spice
- Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 08:20:30
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Usksider
Pro - http://www.usksider.co.uk
- Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 08:22:23
Good for him... and for you too for a job obviously well done.
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The plant in Chaucer's days was known as Dwale, which Dr. J. A. H. Murray considers was probably derived from the Scandinavian dool, meaning delay or sleep. Other authorities have derived the word from the French deuil (grief), a reference to its fatal properties.
Its deadly character is due to the presence of an alkaloid, Atropine, 1/10 grain of which swallowed by a man has occasioned symptoms of poisoning. As every part of the plant is extremely poisonous, neither leaves, berries, nor root should be handled if there are any cuts or abrasions on the hands. The root is the most poisonous, the leaves and flowers less so, and the berries, except to children, least of all. It is said that an adult may eat two or three berries without injury, but dangerous symptoms appear if more are taken, and it is wiser not to attempt the experiment. Though so powerful in its action on the human body, the plant seems to affect some of the lower animals but little. Eight pounds of the herb are said to have been eaten by a horse without causing any injury, and an ass swallowed 1 lb. of the ripe berries without any bad results following. Rabbits, sheep, goats and swine eat the leaves with impunity, and birds often eat the seeds without any apparent effect, but cats and dogs are very susceptible to the poison.
Belladonna is supposed to have been the plant that poisoned the troops of Marcus Antonius during the Parthian wars. Plutarch gives a graphic account of the strange effects that followed its use.
Buchanan relates in his History of Scotland (1582) a tradition that when Duncan I was King of Scotland, the soldiers of Macbeth poisoned a whole army of invading Danes by a liquor mixed with an infusion of Dwale supplied to them during a truce. Suspecting nothing, the invaders drank deeply and were easily overpowered and murdered in their sleep by the Scots.
According to old legends, the plant belongs to the devil who goes about trimming and tending it in his leisure, and can only be diverted from its care on one night in the year, that is on Walpurgis, when he is preparing for the witches' sabbath. The apples of Sodom are held to be related to this plant, and the name Belladonna is said to record an old superstition that at certain times it takes the form of an enchantress of exceeding loveliness, whom it is dangerous to look upon, though a more generally accepted view is that the name was bestowed on it because its juice was used by the Italian ladies to give their eyes greater brilliancy, the smallest quantity having the effect of dilating the pupils of the eye.
Another derivation is founded on the old tradition that the priests used to drink an infusion before they worshipped and invoked the aid of Bellona, the Goddess of War.
The generic name of the plant, Atropa, is derived from the Greek Atropos, one of the Fates who held the shears to cut the thread of human life - a reference to its deadly, poisonous nature.
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Usksider
Pro
- http://www.usksider.co.uk
- Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 20:38:20
Gosh Jack.... Did you know all that, or did you crib it? Come on now, own up...
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Oh i cribed it ..i am a squaddie for gods sake i was chuffed to learn my army number let alone anything else
Its not what you know its knowing how to find it!-
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Usksider
Pro
- http://www.usksider.co.uk
- Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 21:18:19
Ha! I knew it.
Hair... always look for the hair...
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- http://menomamauk.blog.co.uk
- Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 12:00:10
They are pretty and please my eye but I would not be eating them!
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Usksider
Pro
- http://www.usksider.co.uk
- Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 20:40:57
Very wise too... they do look appealing, but as Jack says can be pretty nasty things...
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thehomelyyear
Pro - Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 17:16:58
Very informative, Jack Frost. Wasn't that a strange case lately where the writer and his family were poisoned by mushrooms? Thankfully, I think they all recovered.
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Usksider
Pro
- http://www.usksider.co.uk
- Wednesday, 17. Sep, 2008 @ 20:49:33
Funny things mushrooms... I collected some one morning and had a really odd experience. Couldn't understand it because I'd been eating the same type of mushrooms for years. Then I found out they have an adverse effect with alcohol and of course on this occasion I'd had a heavy night the day before.
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We found those amongst the brambles too so I had to quickly explain which ones were poisonous.
Louis has just spotted this picture and said "those are poisonous" so he obviously took note.