On 25/10/19 20:50, Vir Campestris wrote:

Come to that, belladonna isn't even uncommon...

Not in my experience. I used to go on lots of natural history rambles in
Surrey and Sussex, particularly on the Downs, and I think we came
across Deadly NIghtshade on only two occasions in more than 10 years of
walks. In the "Illustrated Flora of Britain and Northern Europe" it is
described as "local", which is defined as "not widespread or continuous
in its distribution but restricted to particular localities". In other
words, if you wanted to see it you had to know where it was.

I doubt that there is much accidental poisoning by it now. It's really
children who might be most likely to suffer by eating the berries, but
how many children visit the countryside now where it /might/ grow?

As part of the pharmacy course I did more than 50 years ago we were
given 2.4 mg atropine (four 0.6 mg tablets) as part of our pharmacology
practical lesson. I was lucky - the effects started within 30 minutes
and had, more or less, abated by the end of the 3 hour session. Others
were less fortunate; the effects had barely started until they were on
their way home, with some feeling distinctly ill on the tube, suffering
from headaches and palpitations as well as hyperthermia (it was always
warm on the tube). Can you imagine elf'n'safety allowing that now?!

--

Jeff