Comments on In the Garden and More: Rules for Having Poisonous Plants~

I never fail to learn from your blogs. Thank you s...

2010-06-10T19:01:16.785-07:00

I never fail to learn from your blogs. Thank you so much for sharing!

Thanks Poison. I err to the side of caution with r...

2010-06-09T12:02:38.033-07:00

Thanks Poison. I err to the side of caution with ricin~ Since I don't use poisons in the garden, some of these little darlings scare the bejeebers out of me!

Nice piece and you are absolutely right to say tha...

2010-06-09T11:10:51.397-07:00

Nice piece and you are absolutely right to say that knowing what's what is the way to sty out of trouble.

Just one quibble, though.

'Ingesting Only One Castor Bean Seed Will Prove Fatal!'

I know that's often said but that doesn't make it so. Though I would not recommend that anyone should try it, swallowing a whole castor bean intact is very unlikely to produce any symptoms. Chewing it would release the ricin it contains but the most likely effect would be to produce vomiting and diarrhoea. In 1985, a paper was published showing that of 851 reported ingestions during the 20th century only 15 resulted in death.