In sci.chem on Thu, 28 Oct 2004 07:44:05 +1000 "Peter Jason"
posted:

Yes indeed, fungii are notorious here.

There was a Vietnamese family in California a few years ago who found
mushrooms like they ate in VietNam. One meal's worth and two or three
had died, iirc. They may have looked alike, but they weren't alike.

"Sean Houtman" wrote in message
. 53...
Archimedes Plutonium wrote in
:

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?


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




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