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Naturespeak

Poisonous Plants? Don’t be Ranunculus

By Bob Brett,

Whistler Naturalists

Blue berries, for juicy pies;

Eat ‘em now, and no-one dies.

White berries, a little pale;

Eat ‘em now, will your heart fail?

Red berries, stacked way up tall;

Eat ‘em now, you won’t see fall.

Red berries, take a good look;

Eat ‘em now? First check a book.

Roughly speaking, berries can be broken down into blues, whites, and reds.

As the fractured poem states, you won’t die eating a local blue berry. White and red berries are a little more trouble.

White berries were often called ghost or corpse berries by First Nations people, a not-so-subtle prediction for the fate of people who ate them. At worst, local white berries are deadly poisonous. At best, they’re inedible. Either way, not a great choice for your pie.

Red is probably the most common colour for berries, and the vast majority are edible: raspberry, thimbleberry, soapberry, bramble, teaberry, red huckleberry, and even bunchberry (a.k.a. dwarf dogwood or crackleberry). But be careful. Western yew shrubs produce a fruit that looks a lot like a red huckleberry. The fruit (actually an aril) consists of a highly poisonous seed surrounded by a juicy red covering.

Be especially suspicious if your red berries are "stacked way up tall". There are two local plants which fit this description, devil’s club and baneberry. Neither should be included in your dinner recipes.

Devil’s club, while apparently not poisonous to humans, is much better left to the bears.

Baneberry is a different matter.

The first warning is in its name – from an old Anglo-Saxon root meaning "murderous". According to Pojar and MacKinnon (in Plants of Coastal BC), all parts of the plant are highly poisonous, and "as few as six berries can induce vomiting, bloody diarrhea and finally paralysis of respiration."

To confuse matters slightly, baneberries can be either shiny red or shiny white, sometimes even on adjacent plants. Either way, don’t serve stacked berries to your dinner guests (unless of course they refuse to help with the dishes).

Lots of other poisonous plants grow here, but since they don’t have attractive berries they’re less likely to be eaten by an uniformed muncher. Examples include Indian false hellebore, poison hemlock, most members of the buttercup family (like larkspur and monkshood), as well as lupines and vetches.

Learning to distinguish tasty from toxic is a very compelling reason to learn your plants. It’s also likely to increase your chances of receiving a

return invitation from your dinner guests.

Upcoming Events:

Monthly Bird Walk – The next bird walk will take place Saturday, August 7th. Join Whistler experts in the monthly update of our feathered locals and migrants. For details, contact Michael Thompson at 604-932-5010.

Calling all Aspiring Nature Writers and Photographers– Have an interest in natural history? Want to educate others about your favourite flora and/or fauna? Write your very own Naturespeak article or send us your photos to accompany our articles. For more information contact Sorcha Masterson at 604-932-5089 or sorc_m@hotmail.com