Poisonous Food Plants

Usually, the commonly consumed parts of well-known vegetables and fruits are safe. Other parts may be toxic if not outright lethal. It is well-known that all of rhubarb plants are poisonous with the exception of the leaf stems (petioles). Much has been made about the poisonous properties of the green portions of tomato plants and potatoes. In fact, the water in which the former’s foliage is boiled and then allowed to cool makes a useful pesticide. But the saucepan it is done in remains permanently contaminated.,

Apple seeds – or pits – are on rare occasions reported to be used in suicide attempts. Since it takes at last a roasted cupful such is rarely successful. But the seeds inside the stones of such common fruit as plums, apricots and peaches contain the precursors of cyanide. One is unlikely to kill but in quantity . . . “One man’s peach is another man’s poison,” as P. G. Wodehouse knowingly suggested.

Here is a brief list some more important performers on the culinary stage

Modern cultivated selections of lima beans do not contain the same, but their original relatives from the Andes of South America most certainly did – and still do. Cassava is another such. One can only wonder how the original consumers learnt to rid them of such toxic qualities.

Mango, the delicious tropical fruit, can be consumed with impunity but beware of the peel. Some people are allergic to it and the sap of the tree is most definitely poisonous. In some areas of the world it has been utilized for just this property.

The list goes on and we haven’t even yet looked at those dangerous to dogs and cats. Here is a brief list some more important performers on the culinary stage:

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