Framing the Dialogue

Have you ever gotten one of those green-edged potato chips.  I have always heard that you should not eat those or any potato that has a green skin, but I never knew why.  It seems that our versatile tuber is a member of the deadly nightshade plant family and the green comes from prolonged exposure to sunlight.  The potato contains the poison called solanine and the green can indicate a higher level of the dangerous chemical.  You can relax as cooking the potato will eliminate most of the solanine.  I had also been told not to eat a raw potato because I’d “get worms;” they were wrong about the reason, but not the potential ill affects. 

Wicked Plants was a title that immediately attracted my attention in addition to the cover art.  Needless to say the book by authorAmy Stewart contains many stories of death and destruction and dark secrets of poisonings.  One thing that I found most interesting is how many common plants that we consume are poisonous at some point or have really deadly cousins.  This is a highly readable book and will entertain as well as teach.  She doesn’t just talk about deadly plants, but also those that may make us high, low, and experience severe rashes.

Some facts that I found particularly interesting are that it is true that if you eat poppy seed muffins before a drug screening you could have a positive result.  I had always heard that.  The other is about one of the most fearful movies of my youth.  Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds was actually inspired by a plant.  It seems that in 1961 birds ate anchovies poisoned by a large algae bloom causing them to act erratically one night.  When residents investigated the birds were attracted to their flashlights and rushed toward the people…hence the movie and many fearful evenings of my youth.

Getting back to the deadly nightshades.  It seems that we eat a lot of them and other sumptuous nightshades are tomato, eggplant, and pepper.  God bless the poor souls who gave of themselves to differentiate between the good and bad.