Red V Black. Which berries are statistically more dangerous

[mountainm]

Been having an interesting debate with a guy on fb who got taught a rhyme

"red could be dead, black you'll come back"

Obviously it's not a rule to live (or die) by but...

[EDIT] the rhyme is not something to take seriously. I know this. Do not use it as a mantra with which to live your life. However the pedant in me would like to prove it either way. Soooooo if that post you're writing is to tell me that I must learn each in turn, yes, I know, please save your pixels for a more worthwhile thread. Otherwise if you wish to add some UK red or black berries to the list, or classify them as edible/poisonous then please feel free to jump in. Phew. [/EDIT]

Now in my mind if you include droops et all (raspberries and strawberries etc.) this doesn't ring true. ..and even if you don't. I think I'd draw the line at a damson though.

Haws are the most common red Berry? Ivy the most common Black? Or perhaps Bramble.

But either way there are far more haws around.

So by commonality i think red would be safer. By species? Not sure.

So anyone care to list as many Black and Red berries and droops as we can think of then we can see which are poisonous?

 

[mountainm]

Black

Bramble
Ivy
Tutsan
Black nightshade
Dogwood
Herb Paris
Deadly nightshade
Blueberry
Crowberry
Sloes (not a berry really)

Red

Lords and ladies
Rowan
Strawberry
Raspberries
Haws
Dogwood
Holly
Yew
Rosehip
Whitebeam
Honeysuckle
Guelder Rose
Black Bryony

 

[Toddy]

Cloudberry
Bittersweet
Cherries
Geans
Tutsan

Bird Cherries
Elderberries

 

[Toddy]

Just had a google for poisonous berries, and realgardeners.co.uk has a lovely site

http://www.realgardeners.co.uk/poisonousplants.htm

Loads of non native ones that are now garden perennials in that list.

M

 

[Harvestman]

All rules of thumb are to be distrusted when it comes to edibles, because you only need to get it wrong once to make yourself seriously ill, or worse.

They also only ever apply in regional circumstances. Would that rule work in South Africa, for example? I don't know. I'm not sure it even works in the UK or North America.

If you don't know with 100% certainty what it is, and that it is edible, then you shouldn't be eating it anyway.

 

[mountainm]

All rules of thumb are to be distrusted when it comes to edibles, because you only need to get it wrong once to make yourself seriously ill, or worse.

They also only ever apply in regional circumstances. Would that rule work in South Africa, for example? I don't know. I'm not sure it even works in the UK or North America.

If you don't know with 100% certainty what it is, and that it is edible, then you shouldn't be eating it anyway.

Of course. But that doesn't stop me being inquisitive anyway. Uk only please.

 

[Toddy]

I have to say that it doesn't hold true.
Yews are red, and we know that the arial is safe to eat, but supposing folks didn't and they munched a dozen or so, crunching and swallowing the seeds as they did so.
Not much recovering from that
Lords and Ladies though; very irritating, and much reported, but folks do recover from that.

I liked the premise that we had to list ones found in the UK, and then realised that we've imported a lot of weird stuff into our gardens over the years.

I'm a little stressed and fretting, so keeping me occupied is a good thing. Thanks for an interesting query Mike
I've been surfing the net for plants I know of that are of dubious repute. I keep finding really interesting sites
http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/default.htm

atb,
M

 

[mountainm]

I have to say that it doesn't hold true.
Yews are red, and we know that the arial is safe to eat, but supposing folks didn't and they munched a dozen or so, crunching and swallowing the seeds as they did so.
Not much recovering from that
Lords and Ladies though; very irritating, and much reported, but folks do recover from that.

I liked the premise that we had to list ones found in the UK, and then realised that we've imported a lot of weird stuff into our gardens over the years.

I'm a little stressed and fretting, so keeping me occupied is a good thing. Thanks for an interesting query Mike
I've been surfing the net for plants I know of that are of dubious repute. I keep finding really interesting sites
http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/default.htm

atb,
M

It's also tricky depending on your definition of berry too..

That's a good site..

I just thought there are more red berries around you can eat, what with haws and rose hips being around for so long and so prolific.

The only black berries I would trust without further investigation are bilberries and brambles. Brambles are common but short lived.

 

[Robson Valley]

Rhymes are wrong. Feed the berries to the neighbor kids as a test.
Seriously, there's a whole lot more to competent bushcraft than just berry color.
Learn the bushes, the shapes, the twig color, the details of the leaves.
We've got red, black, blue and white. Some will kill you.
You get really sick, it the middle of nowhere, you have a problem.

 

[Toddy]

Elderberries and blackcurrants are edible and black too though, Mike.

M

 

[Toddy]

Lily of the valley,
Butcher's broom,
Damsons.

 

[mountainm]

Elderberries and blackcurrants are edible and black too though, Mike.

M

Black currants aren't that common in hedgerows. Elderberries, well eating any quantity of them will give you a bad stomach unless cooked with sugars etc.

 

[Toddy]

I think that's area dependant really; we certainly have blackcurrant bushes growing wild here....they sprawl out into massive great things that root when any branch touches the ground; but we are damp and fertile here, so given half a chance most things will grow.

Elerberries are prolific and not every tree tastes bitter. Some are very sweet indeed, especially when very ripe. I was working through at Crammond several years ago, and we realised that the kids were covered in sticky purple juice. They'd found a Boortree covered in fruit and had started to use it to dye their tshirts....and then discovered that it was sweet biggest mess in ages, but the kids were fine. I admit that these children were as wild as the heather anyway, and had been reared in woodland protest camps for half their young lives, but they were still fine, and no upset tummies.
Normally, elders ? hmmm, can't say I'm fond of the berries. Ian makes jam from them, and loves it. I like the flourish but the berries are only fit for making robbs from I think.....and dye

M

 

[mountainm]

Rhymes are wrong. Feed the berries to the neighbor kids as a test.
Seriously, there's a whole lot more to competent bushcraft than just berry color.
Learn the bushes, the shapes, the twig color, the details of the leaves.
We've got red, black, blue and white. Some will kill you.
You get really sick, it the middle of nowhere, you have a problem.

You're missing the point, or taking it too seriously, or I haven't put my point across well enough. We know the rhyme is wrong. But I'd still like to stastistically prove it either way.

 

[Toddy]

So we really need four lists.

Safe to eat.
Toxic in some form.

for both Black and Red.

Sounds very practical

M

 

[mountainm]

So we really need four lists.

Safe to eat.
Toxic in some form.

for both Black and Red.

Sounds very practical

M

I thought we'd sort out black and red first, then classify as edible, inedible and poisonous from the plant.

 

[mountainm]

Damsons cross the line for me, they're small plums...cherries too I guess on that rational.

 

[Toddy]

I put them in because they can be really, really small. Bird cherries and geans are smaller than marbles, and cherries happily cross breed among themselves.
Damsons too; I know they can be as big as small greengages, but HWMBLT brought home some he'd foraged in Summer that were the size of small sloes.

I do take your point though, and it's reasonable to have some cut off size thing.

atb,
M

 

[mountainm]

And what is a Robb?

 

[Toddy]

It's a base syrup for medicines....like cough medicines.

M