eating one Eounymus seed

Today I was admiring some bright red bushes. And I did not know what
they were although I had learned a few names in my childhood hanging
around a nursery. I remember Lantana and Boxwood and Viburnum and
vaguely Eounymus.

And I saw some orange seeds on the bushes and decided to collect a few
to see if I can propagate next year. I was not sure of what bush it was
and had to wait to get home and search the Internet to identify. And is
usual of me to eat at least one seed, regardless of whether poisonous or
not. I know yew are poisonous. So I ate one of these orange seeds and
spit it out later for it was acrid. Later I found out it was Eounymus
and the seeds are poisonous.

But I suspect what they mean by poisonous is if eaten in large quantity
of say a bucket ful would kill you. I think scientists should do a
better job on something listed as poisonous. They should list as to how
much of Eounymus if eaten will come close to killing you.

When in the woods and seeing new plants for the first time with seeds on
them, I usually give them a sample taste test and if acrid or
unpallatable I spit them out and guess they are poisonous until
confirmed. I never sample mushrooms but even there, it is my
understanding that the deadliest mushroom takes a bit of quantity to do
harm.

I suspect there is not a single plant seed or leaf when eaten can kill a
person. I guess that these plant poisons have to be taken in quantity
such as the Yew berry in order to kill a person. So has any scientist
made a precise data sheet on poisons?

Archimedes Plutonium
[Only registered users see links. ]
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 03:03:58 -0500, Archimedes Plutonium
<[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote:


They jolly well do. It is your unique combination of ignorance and
inertia that keeps you from going to any bookstore or library and
reading more than you would ever care to on the subject.

Euonymus has been used in medicine for many years. Google turned up
many accounts of Euonymus toxicity, including several scholarly works.

Not all ornamentals are as safe. The lethal dose of ricin is approx.
200 micrograms. A single castor bean may contain as much as 1000
micrograms.


Do that in California, where castor bean is a common weed, and you can
wind up dead.


Many have. Because the occurrence of poisonous plants varies from
region to region, and because livestock poisoning is a significant
economic matter, the subject has been extremely well studied. For just
one of thousands of these works, see Fuller and McClintock, "Poisonous
Plants of California". For a very detailed online listing of some
important poisonous plants (from a source highly recommended to
someone who has so little sense as to ingest unknown plants), see
[Only registered users see links. ]

--
Chris Green

Interesting theory. Would you like to volunteer to eat increasing amounts of
seeds to see if they will kill you?

Ora



On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 03:03:58 -0500, Archimedes Plutonium <[Only registered users see links. ]>
wrote:

It is far more likely that Archie would rather smoke them instead!!!

<[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered users see links. ]...
of
<[Only registered users see links. ]>

Dear Archimedes,

try some Aconita plant on yourself - the leaves, the potato-like
roots, any part of it if you like.

It is a beautiful decorative plant. It will provide you with a
definitive answer to your questions.



Archimedes Plutonium <[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in message news:<[Only registered users see links. ]>...

Archimedes Plutonium <[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in
news:[Only registered users see links. ]:


There are plenty, you can order one from the USDA. A surprising
number of plants can kill you with only a bite. Datura, Hemlock,
Aconite, the list abounds. As far as mushrooms, some of them can
kill with only a mouthful, but you may feel fine for a week or two
before your liver dissolves. Not all poisonious things are so
courteous to advertise their danger with color or bad taste. I would
suggest that you limit your tasting to things that you know are
edible.

Sean

Archimedes Plutonium <[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in
news:[Only registered users see links. ]:


There are plenty, you can order one from the USDA. A surprising
number of plants can kill you with only a bite. Datura, Hemlock,
Aconite, the list abounds. As far as mushrooms, some of them can
kill with only a mouthful, but you may feel fine for a week or two
before your liver dissolves. Not all poisonious things are so
courteous to advertise their danger with color or bad taste. I would
suggest that you limit your tasting to things that you know are
edible.

Sean

Archimedes Plutonium wrote:


Yes. There are books and books and books on poisonous plants. I
suggest _The AMA Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants_. And
yes, there ARE plants that are so toxic that one seed (e.g., Abrus),
if chewed, can be fatal. Likewise, a small smear of Cicuta sap would
be enough to do you in.

M. Reed

Why should Archie bother doing real research when he can post incredibly
stupid questions in this newsgroup?

For him to do a simple Google search would be too much like doing work.


"Monique Reed" <[Only registered users see links. ].tamu.edu> wrote in message
news:[Only registered users see links. ].tamu.edu...

In article <[Only registered users see links. ] >, Muhammar
<[Only registered users see links. ]> writes
Don't try this - Aconitum (sic) is one of the deadlier plants.

Suggesting the consumption of Aconitum (Wolfsbane), even in jest, is at
best irresponsible - not only is it possible that AP might take the
proposal at face value, but so might some innocent browsing a newsgroup
archive in the future. I recommend you cancel the post, and contact
Google to have it removed from their archive.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley