Around the world are plants that produce fruits that look delicious but are deadly.
First up we have the paddy melon or scientifically the Cucumis myriocarpus.
Sometimes referred to as the gooseberry cucumber, gooseberry gourd, mallee pear or prickly paddy
melon this melon while looking like a weird mix of a watermelon or cantaloupe.
This climbing annual herb native to tropical and southern Africa produces a yellow fruit
with green stripes is covered with soft spines.
The presence of cucurbitacin, a biochemical compound with a bitter taste, can cause hair
loss, vomiting, nausea and food poisoning like symptoms.
Once a food for prehistoric beasts like the mastodons and mammoths, their bodies could
process the cucurbitacin and they would disperse the seeds in their poop continuing the propagation
of these plants.
After the ice age was over and these animals were wiped off the planet these are been a
decline in the spread of the paddy melon without their big furry friends to help them out.
Now you might be thinking animals of today could do the same job of the prehistoric beasts
but that isn’t the case as horses, sheep, pigs, cattle etc all fall incredibly ill after
consuming the paddy melon.
Currently the paddy melon grows in California and Australia were it is considered a weed.
For much time they would be confused with the Citrullus lanatus or the watermelon has
wild ancestors of this common fruit we enjoy were much smaller than cultivated ones today.
Despite the wild watermelons being smaller the paddy melon is typically even smaller
sometimes the size of a large golf ball.
Another giveaway is the unpleasant odor that waffs out upon opening a paddy melon not to
mention it looking like a watermelon but tasting bitter which should be a major red flag.
Widespread found in Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus, it has many…
MANY names which many of these I can’t say on this channel but you can take a look for
yourself on the screen.
“snakeshead, adder's root, arum, wild arum, arum lily, lords-and-ladies, devils and angels,
cows and bulls, cuckoo-pint, soldiers diddies, priest's pintle, Adam and Eve, bobbins, friar's
cowl and a few others.
Of these names the ones such as lords and ladies are in reference to this plant’s
gender likeness to male and female parts.
The most common name we are going to go with is wild arum fruit.
Purple spotted leaves appear in spring followed by a spike of flowers called a spadix.
Insects are lured into this little house around the spadix where they are trapped by a ring
of hairs which covers them in pollen.
Upon escape, they will go pollinate the nearby female flowers.
This spadix is most commonly purple but is sometimes yellow.
In autumn the female flowers produce these clusters of bright red berries that look incredibly
tasty but are extremely poisonous.
Being full of saponins and oxalates which both inhibit the absorption of essentials
the body needs, proteins in the case of saponins and iron and calcium in the case of oxalates.
On top of this these compounds have needle shaped crystals that irritate the skin, tongue,
throat and mouth which can cause throat swelling, burning pain, upset stomach and difficulty
breathing.
When consumed their acrid taste is followed by an immediate tingling sensation in the
mouth.
This plant is one of the most common causes of accidental plant poisoning seen at hospitals.
What is edible about this plant is the root which grows more than a foot underground.
It was once traded under the name Portland sago and used like salep or orchid flour to
make saloop a popular drink before the creation of tea or coffee.
Used as a substitute for arrowroot the portland sago root if not prepared properly is also
highly toxic.
Native to north america this wild cucumber vine isn’t like anything from the grocery
store..
Well unless you shop somewhere weird.This fast growing vine up to 25 feet or 8 meters
grows so fast that they are often used to grow along an arbour, trellis or fence.
Once they get a foothold in the land they are very hard to get rid of becoming an annoying
weed that takes over everything.
Inside the fruit are seed pods that contain 4 large flat black seeds.
Cucurbitacines the toxic substance discussed before with the paddy melon are also present
in the wild cucumber.
That’s the one that has food poisoning like symptoms, can cause hair loss, nausea and
vomiting.
The redoul or scientifically Coriaria myrtifolia is a fleshy black berry similar to a blackberry
but is toxic to eat.
It actually looks very similar to a surinam cherry just dark.
I dangerous one for youngsters to stay away from the redoul should be recognized as one
of the most neurotoxic plants in the western Mediterranean area.
Geographically, this species is confined to northern Mediterranean coastal Spain and Southern
France and penetrating into Italy as far as part of the Apennine Mountains.
The oldest known mention of this plant dates back to 932 when someone probably one and
realized soon after that was a really bad idea as Pepto hadn’t been invented yet.
Forming from 5 black fleshy carpels into one fruit, these fruit and their leaves contain
coriamyrtin a toxic compound that is known for nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, convulsions
and respiratory problems.
What this plant is used for are it’s tannins.
Dyes have been made from the redoul since the middle ages as it is able to transform
certain skins and leathers that are resistant to dyes.
It was also used as the basis for the manufacturing of some inks for writing but as tattoo inks.
Commonly called buttonbush, common button bush, button-willow, or honey-bells
This deciduous shrub produces spherical inflorescence clusters that are about half the length of
a finger.
The fruit produced a cluster of nutlets or achenes which is a simple, dry fruit.
These can look like a tasty lychee when they turn red but contain cephalathin which will
induce vomiting, convulsions and if that wasn’t enough, paralysis if ingested.
While toxic to humans, waterfowl and other birds eat the seeds and mallards eat the fruit.
Bees will also make honey from their pollen and hummingbirds will drink the nectar.
It is found from north eastern Canada down across most of the eastern United States and
in Mexico
The winged bersama or Bersama abyssinica is a sub African saharan plant that produces
a velvety purplish, moav fruit the size of a crab apple.
The purple on the outside with a yellow apple flesh inside, this woody fruit is fuzzy almost
peach like and has a bright red seed with a yellow hat in the middle of it.
Unusual and dazzling, all parts of the winged bersama are highly poisonous and have been
implicated in killing humans and livestock.
This plant has such a strong effect on the body lesser controlled doses of its roots,
leaves and bark have been made into decoctions to purge stomach worms, rabies, and malaria
but it isn’t recommended anyone try this.
The seeds from the fruit have been used as a substitute for soap.
The Jequirity bean or rosary pea is a slender climbing plant known for twining itself around
trees and hedges.
Producing a green bean pod with bright red seeds inside this plant native to Asia and
Australia is anything but edible.
Abrin the toxin present in the seeds if ingested, even a single seed, well chewed, can be fatal
to both adults and children.
Symptoms of poisoning include nausea, vomiting, convulsions, liver failure, bleeding from
the eyes, drooling, bladder failure and death, usually after several days.
This seed is more famous for its use in jewelry.
In Trinidad in the West Indies the brightly colored seeds are strung into bracelets and
worn around the wrist or ankle to ward off jumbies or evil spirits and "mal-yeux"—the
evil eye.
In places around the world it has been introduced where it wasn’t native to it has become
highly invasive and because of it’s highly poisonous contents it has been dubbed one
of the world’s most dangerous plants.
Clintonia uniflora or the Bluebead Lily or Bride’s Bonnet Berry had it’s plant genus
named after De Witt Clinton, an 18th-century botanist and U.S. politician.
This flowering plant in the lily family produces a single round blue berry that looks delicable
but it isn’t, it’s toxic.
Commonly known as bead lily, queen’s cup or bride’s bonnet.. who names these things…
they are native to the mountains of northwest North America like in Alaska, Alberta, Idaho,
Montana, Washington, Oregon, California and where I’m striking a pose here in British
Columbia.
The Bluebead Lily grows in the understory of coniferous forests like these ones I hike
in all the time.
It’s important to note this plant as they grow among wild blueberry bushes so children
might easily mistake these for blueberries.
The berries are mildly toxic and unpleasant tasting which will have a stronger effect
on children.
The leaves though of this plant are edible when they are young and taste like cucumber,
when older they become really bitter.
The roots on the other hand work as a natural mosquito repellant.
Being native to the west coast there is a similar plant the Clintonia borealis which
grows on the east coast and should also be avoided.
Native to much of Europe, where it inhabits the edges of forest, hedges and gentle slopes,
the european spindle or Euonymus europaeus produces a small red fruit wrapped in pink
leaves.
A popular ornamental plant in gardens, they are poisonous to not only eat the berries
but to even touch the wood.
Glycosides found in this plant can prove fatal if 30 pods are consumed.
Carpenters working with spindle wood have fallen ill from the poisons from this tree.
Vomiting, diarrhea, strong stomach pains, nausea and dizziness are all common side effects
coming in contact with it with more severe cases including kidney failure and unconsciousness
or death.
Symptoms need to be treated within 18 hours of ingestion if one is to survive this plant.
Producing a bizarre set of flowers in the summer and lasting well into the winter the
Eucomis autumnalis or the pineapple lily is a beautiful and toxic plant.
This plant develops an array of flowers or an inflorescent that is so densely packed
they merge to form one large cluster which is exactly how a pineapple grows.
The bulb of the pineapple lily is poisonous despite it looking like a yummy purple pineapple.
Apparently, when seeped into water or milk the juices of the pineapple lily can be used
to treat fractures and lower back pain.
I’m not sure how someone figured this out especially when they probably got sick from
eating the plant in the first place.
Rumor has it this juice is excellent at helping the body heal from all sorts of injuries as
well as inflammation, hangovers and excessive farting….
This plant exists naturally across a wide area of South Africa which is found in open
grasslands, mountain slopes, human marshes and forest margins.
The Doll’s eyes a wildflower found in mature forests from Georgia to Canada is one a strike
plant with a usual berry.
Growing off their bright pink stems are white berries with so-called pupils that appear
black but in reality are dark purple giving the appearance of a traditional chinese doll’s
eyes.
The pupil is the result of the black stigma or the end of the flower being the left over
part not grown over or almost like a scar of the development.
While visually appealing the doll’s eye or white baneberry as it is also called is
highly poisonous, not only the berries but the stem, stalk and leaves as well.
This member of the buttercup family has another related species the red baneberry which as
you can guess here produces red berries which aren’t as fun looking but possibly even
more enticing to eat but should be avoided as well.
The berries in both varieties contain cardiogenic toxins which an have an immediate sedative
effect on human cardiac muscle tissue, and are the most poisonous part of the plant.
Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death.
The berries are harmless to birds, the plant's primary seed dispersers.
Now for this episode’s riddle, the previous answer was a stamp.
See if you can get this one “I have two hands, but I can not scratch myself.
What am I?”
Hope you enjoyed this episode why not check out my episode on carnivorous plants and until
the next one, have a good one.