In article ,
dps wrote:
There are different varieties of nightshade. The black nightshade is
very common in my fields, but is not really poisonous. I have been told
that there is another variety here in New England that has red berries
instead of black berries that is much more toxic. It is more of a vine
than a bush. Fortunately, it's less common (at least here).

Being totally pedantic, there's an amazing amount of confusion around the
various 'nightshades'.

The plant that most north americans refer to as 'deadly nightshade' is
actually 'Solanum Dulcamara' [a european import, that tastes absolutely
dreadful, and has red berries] - and also called 'european bittersweet'

http://perso.club-internet.fr/leroux...01_12_2000.jpg

If the 'black nightshade' that we're talking about is the same one -
'Solanum Nigrum', it'd a low bushy plant, with fairly small black
berries about the size of currants. It's also an introduced plant,
and I believe that it's fairly poisonous.

http://perso.club-internet.fr/leroux...08_10_2000.jpg

'european bittersweet' and 'black nightshade' look awfully similar, and
I remember being warned to touch neither as a child, on the grounds
that they were both extremely poisonous [we had both growing
persistantly at the end of the fence].

True deadly nightshade, 'Atropa Belladona' is actually a shrub [I've
grown one that reached well over 6 feet, with a sturdy stem and large
leaves], and grows lovely large black berries that are about the size
of a cherry. I'm told, although I haven't tried it, that the berries
taste quite lovely. Poison control says that 6 berries will make an
adult particularly unwell.

http://www.uni-essen.de/botanik/Exku...belladonna.jpg

This photo gives some idea of scale:

http://www.erowid.org/plants/show_im...elladonna7.jpg

cheers!
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