OMG don't eat henbane!

[marshlander]

Have you sean this news item? Anthony Worrel Thompson aparently got muddled when he was interviewed and suggested readers make salad from henbane when he meant to say fat hen! The mistake eas not picked up 'til after the magazine had gone to print.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/arti ... alads.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... foodsafety

[Ratty]

I heard it on the radio today! What a fool!

[Millymollymandy]

Yes I saw it on the telly too!

[hedgewitch]

Poor AWT!
Having worked in the publications and media world I have to stand up for him and say the responsibility is down to the researchers and editor.
You wouldn't believe some of the mistakes that get "through".

[shell]

ooooh mind you last year i put st john`s wort into my spagetti bolognaise instead of oregano, my good friend and mentor in the gardening dept gave me lots of herbs and did tell me which were which,unforunatly i didn`t label any and thought i would remember,i didn`t no-one seemed any the worse for it in fact the opposite really,wouldn`t recomend it though,and this year i`m much more knowledgable,in fact i did a basic medicines from your hedgerow course and have invested in a good few books on herbs and their uses,and i know the difference between oregano and st johns wort,and the herbs for cooking are at this present time being transfered to hanging baskets and pots,the rest medicinal are still in the ground,not that i`m too daring with those as without training it could be dangerous,but i have a good few basic plants growing,and just thrown down milk thistle seeds as none growing round here,and i will put sticks with names on next to all,hmmm any-one for lunch??

[jim]

Doesn't henbane induce hallucinations of flying? (as well as killing hens of course.)

Let's not go down the conspiracy theory road ..... but could it be that AWT was attempting to persuade thousands of tourists that they'd flown away on holiday already? ...... as part of doing his bit towards reducing CO2 emissions?

No, even i find that one silly ....

Love and Peace
Jim

[QuizMaster]

It is scary what grows in the hedgerows.
My particular horror is foxglove, which grows all around us.

My girls are aged 4 and 2.5, they are used to picking and eating mint and peas out of the garden. I've caught them munching on dandelion and clover.
And foxglove is so pretty!

[Andy Hamilton]

Apparently most casualties from wild food in this country are from the Apiaceae aka Umbelliferae family. So hemlock and fools parsley for instance. That stuff really does grow anywhere I am sure if you teach your girls them what makes you sick and what is ok they will be fine.

I once picked a load of poison Ivy berries and was going to make them into Sloe Gin. Glad that I checked.

AWL is a bit of a wally, but he got the country talking about wild food so it had a silver lining.

[mrsflibble]

My particular horror is foxglove, which grows all around us.

mmmm digitalis-ey goodness hahaha! sorry. mad moement.

[design321]

I wouldn't worry too much about the children eating foxglove. In one of my books the author sampled it to see what it was like. It causes excessive salivation and is bitter and anyone putting it in their mouth would more than likely spit it out immediately.

[Andy Hamilton]

Well design321 I would not be so complacent.

Have a look at this from Wiki.

Toxicity

Due to the presence of the cardiac glycoside digitoxin, the leaves, flowers and seeds of this plant are all poisonous to humans and some animals and can be fatal if eaten.

Extracted from the leaves, this same compound, whose clinical use was pioneered as digitalis by William Withering, is used as a medication for heart failure. He recognized that it "reduced dropsy", increased urine flow and had a powerful effect on the heart. Unlike the purified pharmacological forms, extracts of this plant didn't frequently cause intoxication because they induced nausea and vomiting within minutes of ingestion, preventing the patient from consuming more.

The main toxins in Digitalis are the two chemically similar cardiac glycosides: digitoxin and digoxin. Like other cardiac glycosides, the Digitalis toxins exert their effects by inhibiting the ATPase activity of a complex of transmembrane proteins that form the sodium potassium ATPase pump, (Na+/K+-ATPase). Inhibition of the Na+/K+-ATPase in turn causes a rise not only in intracellular Na+, but also in calcium, which in turn results in increased force of myocardial muscle contractions. In other words, at precisely the right dosage, Digitalis toxin can cause the heart to beat more strongly. However, digitoxin, digoxin and several other cardiac glycosides, such as ouabain, are known to have steep dose-response curves, i.e. minute increases in the dosage of these drugs can make the difference between an ineffective dose and a fatal one.

Symptoms of Digitalis poisoning include a low pulse rate, nausea, vomiting, and uncoordinated contractions of different parts of the heart leading to cardiac arrest and finally death.

[jim]

On the subject of foxgloves, the Ancient Celts used to smear the juice onto the edges of swords and spears before battle, much to the disgust of Julius Ceasar. Primitive chemical warfare,

Love and Peace
Jim

[Sky]

It's funny how children seem so removed from their environments these days, I'm only in my 40's and never ever would I be so silly as to put foxglove in my mouth. I did know from before my memory started that if you rubbed a nettle sting with dandelion leaf it would make it better though

[invisiblepiper]

OOh - those Scots were a nasty lot!

[invisiblepiper]

Actually - Sky is right - I cannot believe how little kids know about plants - not even able to identify common trees by their leaves - we learned that at school - and I'm not THAT old!