Unsafe Plants Bad For Health

Many different plants can be dangerous to consume. There are many recorded incidents of young and naive eating some bad leaves and having a near fatal experience.

Firstly is a very common berry called the Daphne berry. Sound harmless enough, but sounds can be misleading.

Back in 1887 a young British girl had swallowed a few of the berries; her mother had the sense to take her to a doctor. She was made to throw up and vomited 2 berries, and presently had no symptoms.

However when she arrived a few hours later with swollen lips, rapid heart rate, and was having trouble breathing. This time she vomited 14 more berries.

There is a dangerous chemical called mezerein that grows in the bark and in the berry. So in this case I suppose their bark is just as bad as their bite.

The leaves and stems also contain highly toxic substances. So you shouldn't ever eat any part of this plant.

The dangerous thing about these is the appealing look they have. So don't be fooled by this charlatan berry, it will poison and kill you if eaten.

Rhubarb plant is another one that has some interesting effects on health. Eating rhubarb pie won't kill you, but eating rhubarb leaves will.

This plant contains high level of toxic glycosides, which causes convulsions leading to coma and even death. The fruit of this plant has much lower toxic levels and is therefore safe to eat.

Back in world war two soldiers were told to eat these if they need to preserve their rations. This caused a lot of problems for the soldiers who were in the middle of a war.

An especially disturbing plant is the elderberry, it even sounds ominous. This plant comes in all different colors and types.

It can be blue, red, or dark purple and everything in between. This berry is also called the Mexican berry because it is prone to growing near more dry climates.

There was actually an incident where a religious group set up refreshments for all the members. The juice served was made by elderberries; consequently eight individuals were flown to a nearby hospital.

There are many dangerous plants that should be avoided. So the best piece of advice would be to not eat foods that grow wildly.

Unless you are a practiced horticultural expert that has an extensive knowledge of plants and which ones are safe to eat, I wouldn't go around picking wild berries and eating them.

In the book In to the Wild the man living in Alaska eats a poisonous berry and ends up dying. This was actually a real story made from a dead man's journal who was found out in the wild of Alaska.

Destry Masterson is a health and nutrition expert. She publishes articles for http://www.foodinsurance.com and recommends them for food storage. Contact Info: Destry Masterson - MyOnlineArticleWriting@gmail.com - Twitter: @DestryMasterson