Top ten plants

[Moonraker]

Good point there in listing the chemicals found in that plant. And you remembered Taraxin which is a non-glycodic chemical which is bitter. In larger doses this chemical can make you throw up and it can have an influence on the digestion. I knew I was going to start a huge debate when I said the opposite of all the books.

My contact told me that you had to eat very large doses before it got dangerous. But he also agrees that the plant has/is been used as medicine.

The Taraxin can be removed through boiling. He also writes that the few leaves you put in the salad won't do any harm.

But I don't think i'll never change the way you look at the plant, nor will you. :biggthump

I don't think it's about trying to 'change the way' people look at plants as such, but rather to suggest and/ or provide reliable sources from which people can make an informed decision. And to make people aware of the 'potential dangers' as well as the potential benefits. And if you posted details which showed this I would certainly take notice! We all make up our own minds in the end

as for poisonous, well potatoes are related to nightshade and can contain poisons too, specially if green or sprouting but i dont see anyone tempted to stop eating potatoes

But that's the point Tantalus. Most people are aware of the dangers of eating the green or shooting parts of potatoes (although I wonder if even basic knowledge such as this is being lost to our children?). So people eat potatoes but they eat them safely because they are informed of the dangers. To put it into context:

The chemical in question is solanine, a toxin that forms in the sprouts and green parts of potatoes. You can avoid it by cutting away sprouts (“eyes”) from potatoes and peeling them below any green layer. And don’t eat any potatoes that taste bitter; the flavor might indicate the presence of solanine.

Solanine is a significant toxin, but you are unlikely to run into trouble with it in because we grow potato varieties that do not produce much of it. That is not the case in Peru, where potatoes originated, and some older varieties can contain high amounts. A 200 pound person would have to eat two pounds of fully green potatoes in a single day to consume a toxic level of solanine. Symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, drowsiness, mental confusion, shortness of breath, weak and rapid pulse, and, eventually, respiratory failure.

There hasn’t been a single case of solanine poisoning due to eating potatoes in the United States for more than 50 years.

However we are talking about wild plants and these are likely to contain much higher concentrations of such phytotoxins and people are unlikely to have been taught how to prepare them to make them safe or what they do because today people generally buy their food from supermarkets and the traditional knowledge is all but lost to most of us.

There is some excellent advice in this free downloadable PDF book relevant to plants in Britain:

The Fast Wildfood Cookbook

It also has some yummy recipes and do check out the great section at the end for uses of herbs and what foods they go well with.

hunger is also really very bad for your system, severer cases causing irrational thinking which in a bushcraft situation could be deadly

That is a very good point.

 

[Stew]

My contact told me that you had to eat very large doses before it got dangerous.

How much is a large dose? A bowlful? A sackful?

 

[TheViking]

How much is a large dose? A bowlful? A sackful?

As said before in this thread I cannot decide what a large dose is. Do you know it? He just said a large dose. But I will try and ask him and get back to that... :roll: