We were at our friend, Myra's house here in Hawaii recently to borrow a book and I noticed a large familiar looking bush on the side of the house. It brought back memories.
Our daughter, Tiffany was about 5 years old (back in Illinois many moons ago) and was playing with her little friend, Kevin outside. I was in the garage. They found me there and said our neighbor, "Uncle" Leonard had told them to try some berries that were in the garden which he said were currants. I knew we didn't have any berries in the garden so I asked them to show me the plant. I suspected this was not good, but Tif said she'd only had one berry.
I called the poison control center and described the plant. They told me to quickly give the kids Syrup of Ipecac. I took the kids over to Kevin's house and his mom and I took them outside into the backyard and gave them Syrup of Ipecac which caused Kevin to vomit, but took Tif over an hour to get rid of the contents of her tummy onto our carpet instead.
I looked up the Popolo berries and found this article from the Bishop Museum.
The Popolo berries are black but I think the Bittersweet Nightshade in our garden which grew like weeds were red.
Myra sent me an article from Ke Ola Magazine and it's true. It is supposed to have medicinal qualities for a number of ailments.
There is a caution however:
According to Dr. Roger Baldwin, author of the book, Hawai‘i’s Poisonous Plants, “This plant is highly toxic on the mainland, but Polynesians have used a variety that is both nontoxic and delicious. Until about 40 years ago it was safe to eat wild pōpolos. Then the toxic mainland variety was introduced to Hawai‘i, so now it is not safe to eat wild pōpolos. If you grow the nontoxic Polynesian variety it should be safe to eat. The rule now is: don’t eat pōpolos unless you know they are nontoxic, and don’t ever eat pōpolos from the mainland.”
When I'd told "Uncle" Leonard about the berries he apologized profusely and said he'd seen birds eat them and thought they were perfectly safe.
I found this explanation on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden website:
Though toxic to people, bittersweet nightshade berries provide an important fall and winter food source for birds, who happily eat the fruit and spread the seeds. With this dissemination help, along with creeping, rooting stems, the plant has become a stubbornly noxious weed in much of the United States.
The caution in all this I guess is to make sure you're getting the correct variety from the nursery center or a friend who knows what they're doing.
Here, we call it 'deadly nightshade', and as fast as it is pulled up, it grows back, just like knotweed.
ReplyDeleteUsually if birds eat them I would think they were ok. Always better to check first thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh how scary! Interesting how plants have evolved and changed in just a few decades. I wouldn't have thought the same plant in Hawaii would have been safe at one time. I've seen birds eat a little red berry and appear a bit drunk when walking on the grass. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI guess it's like how birds are immune to the capsaicin in hot peppers. It never occurred to me to try eating those black popolo berries when I was growing up. I did try lots of other stuff though.
DeleteThat is scary and could have been so much worse. Glad the kids got rid of the poison.
ReplyDeleteWe are right on the edge of where it will grow here in the mainland U.S. I've read that it is rare that a human will eat enough of them to kill them but better safe than sorry. Good to hear the kids are alright.
ReplyDeleteI treat berries like mushrooms. Unless I know with absolute certainty what they are, I don't eat them.
it's belladonna and very toxic. i have it all over my gardens and though it is easy to pull up, you can never get rid of it. it has a very distinct smell too.
ReplyDeleteWe had to use syrup of Ipecac a few times at our house when the kids were young. Found my son who was 3 at the time feeding leaves from a philodendron to his sister who was 18 months. Memories...
ReplyDeleteI have always called it deadly nightshade so there was no incentive to give the berries a try. there was a small area of my yard in Jericho, VT, that never got mowed where it grew with a few other wildflowers.
ReplyDeleteI don't eat anything off bushes outside unless I'm sure of what it is. I think that comes from being a child at my grandmother's and eating what I thought was a tomato off a plant. It turned out to be a red pepper; it burned my mouth and I cried for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI happily eat processed foods after I read the labels. LOL
ReplyDeleteDeadly nightshade grows easily here. We usually pull it out when we see it in our yard. It is pretty to look at though, the purple flowers and the red to black berries. Around here we know what to eat and what not to eat. When in doubt, don't.
ReplyDeleteI seem to be somewhat familiar with the word, nightshade, from my British mysteries. I never realized that it referred to berries.
ReplyDeleteI don't eat things from bushes unless I know what I'm eating is ok.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Hmmm. I think I have that weed and was told by a friend that it was the popolo berry. So, am I to throw it away and not eat it?
ReplyDeleteGosh... I really don't know, but I wouldn't eat it unless I was absolutely sure.
DeleteI'll ask my friend who identified it. She also found another weed in my yard that she said was Uhaloa - very good for respiratory disorders - use 9 leaves in tea. I have portulaca growing wild and pakai - amaranth that is good for stomach disorders. Sometimes I have to be careful when I weed because some are beneficial herbs. Something of a dilemma since I also want a yard of nice green cut zoysia grass.
DeleteThis is a wonderful column that should share with the local paper or something!
ReplyDeleteThat is a bit scary!
ReplyDeleteI can recall our dad telling us just because birds eat some berries, they could be poisonous to people and we weren't to eat them. And this was back in the forties.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue is how kids behave with these situations. Bigger kids can take advantage of the little guys. It got you doing some research and I'm sure many people have thought twice about a few things.
ReplyDeletethanks for the warning!
ReplyDeleteWow! That was a scary experience!!.
ReplyDeleteYou never know what kids will eat
ReplyDeleteYes, birds eat many things that we cannot. Many animals do that as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, growing up on a cotton farm, we had nightshade plants. The flowers were so pretty, but I was told that the seeds or berries were poisonous and I was to never touch the plant or the seeds. My mother put the seeds down gopher holes in the fields as it was a way to poison the animal whose holes and tunnels could create havoc with irrigation water, diverting it away from the crops that needed it.
ReplyDeleteCertain things that are toxic to us are beneficial to other animals.
ReplyDeleteEvery summer I gorge on wild blueberries and see some other berries growing, but not know what they are, I leave them alone. That is so scary to learn about how nightshade has evolved from benign to poisonous!
ReplyDelete