In article ,
says...

In article , writes:
| On 23 Jan, 17:44, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
| However, whether the berries are poisonous to humans is less clear.
|
| I've never came across (and I've read extensively on wild foods from
| agroforestry to 'free food') anyone eating ivy berries or suggesting
| to eat them. As far as I know they are toxic and not to be eaten. Why
| do you say it 'is less clear'. Do you think that it hasn't been proven
| or there is still some uncertainty about it? Because if there is I'd
| love to know - I've got enough, after the blackbirds, to still feed my
| family all winter!

I thought that my remark was quite clear! To paraphrase, I don't know.

To cut a long story short, there is good evidence that making a meal
of the berries might harm you (and Culpeper says just that), but
precious little detail beyond vague weebling about saponins. Given
that several of our common foods and spices are poisonous in
overdose, what do YOU think?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I don't know, but are they like yew berries in that the most toxic bit is
the seed which passes through the birds gut while the flesh is edible?
(at least for blackbirds!) The birds certainly will not touch them until
they reach the over ripe stage and are starting to drop.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea