Winter has arrived, and it is the season when the small bright red fruits hang on the branches. In the face of the "delicious" that seems to be within reach on the roadside, I believe many friends have been moved. But wait, because many ornamental fruits are not edible, and may even be poisonous! We have compiled 5 kinds of poisonous fruits that are common on the side of the road and in parks, so don't pick them at random or try them at will.
1、金银忍冬Lonicera
On the streets of northern cities, you can easily see clusters of bright red and translucent berries, hanging from the branches of small trees on the side of the road, which is very attractive. They are the fruits of honeysuckle (also known as honeysuckle). They are called "gold and silver" because their flowers are white at first bloom and turn golden the next day. But don't confuse it with the honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), which is used to make tea, which lives mainly south of the Yellow River and is a liana with distinctly distinct calyxes and pure black fruit.
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Like other honeysuckle plants, honeysuckle flowers have nectar in them, and when they bloom, they can be plucked off the corolla to suck and eat - which is why honeysuckle is called "honeysuckle" in English, which literally translates to "honey, suck". However, whether it is honeysuckle or honeysuckle, in addition to the nectar of the flower, the part is toxic, and the fruit is no exception, if a large amount of accidental ingestion, it may cause dizziness, headache, nausea, and even vomiting and other symptoms, which can lead to coma.
The good news is that honeysuckle fruit is not very toxic and very bitter, and the risk of ingesting it in large quantities is not high. (As for why I know what it tastes like...... You'd better not ask. ）
2、冬青Ilex spp.
In the southern part of the continent, every winter there is also a small group of trees covered with bright red fruits, which are plants of the genus Holly in the family Holly. Native holly, iron holly, red-fruited holly, and medlar are commonly used in horticulture, and European holly, which is occasionally introduced as an ornamental plant, is also seen. Unlike honeysuckle, holly is an evergreen, and even in the coldest part of winter, its dark green leathery leaves are verdant.
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Some holly is more "friendly", with oval leaves, while others have sharp serrations around the edges of their blades that are quite hand-wrenching given the hardness of their blades. And the farthest on this road is the medlar bone, with the blessing of, its leaf tips and leaf margins are specialized into light yellow translucent long spines, which are daunting.
However, there is no need to regret that it is not easy to pick the fruit, because the fruit of holly is also slightly toxic, bitter and astringent, not to mention, eating too much can also cause vomiting and diarrhea. Ancient Westerners would even use the fruit of European holly as an emetic agent.
3、南天竹Nandina domestica
In the Yangtze River Basin, Nantian bamboo will also grow a large bunch of bright red fruits in autumn and winter every year. Nantian bamboo is a plant of the barberry family, and although the colorful stems and leaves grow quite like bamboo, the bright fruits still betray them.
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Unlike the previous two red fruits, if you accidentally eat more fruits of Nantian bamboo, something may happen. The whole plant contains toxins, which will produce highly toxic hydrogen cyanide after degradation, in addition to other toxic alkaloids in their berries, which will cause gastrointestinal reactions such as diarrhea and vomiting after eating.
The fruit is difficult to eat, so it is unlikely to cause cyanide poisoning caused by excessive ingestion in adults. However, for children and pets, it is still very dangerous, and birds have also been recorded to die from eating Nantian bamboo berries.
4、红豆杉Taxus chinensis
Equally deadly are the red "fruits" of yews, or strictly speaking, "cones". Yew, like pines and cypresses, is a gymnosperm and does not produce fruit in the true sense of the word. But each of their seeds is encased in a cup-shaped red fleshy aril, which also looks like a bit of fruit.
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Theoretically, the red aril is the least toxic, but eating too much may also cause poisoning, and the seeds wrapped in the aril are the most poisonous, and a very small amount can lead to severe poisoning symptoms. Yew poisoning can cause a series of heart problems such as tachycardia, slowed heartbeat, low blood pressure, cardiac arrest, and may even lead to death.
The paclitaxel contained in yew is widely used in cancer treatment, but paclitaxel itself has no use for cancer prevention and inhibition, only toxicity. Do not be superstitious about folk medicines, drink yew soaked water or medicinal wine.
5、珊瑚樱Solanum pseudocapsicum
Coral cherry, also known as four seasons fruit, jade coral, hairy leaf winter coral, has appeared more and more in urban flower beds in recent years. It is a fruit-bearing Solanaceae plant, with bright orange to bright red fruits that hang on the branches for three months, which is their golden signature. If you break open the fruit of the coral cherry, you will definitely think that the seeds inside are like chili pepper seeds - not surprising, after all, chili peppers are also Solanaceae, and its scientific name also says that it is a "fake chili pepper".
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Some people say that the taste of coral cherry fruit is okay, which makes it more dangerous because there is a greater chance of accidentally eating it. Fortunately, the toxicity of the coral cherry fruit is not violent (the toxicity of the stems and leaves is greater), and it is generally not considered fatal, but eating the fruit of the coral cherry tree by mistake can still cause a strong gastrointestinal reaction, resulting in nausea, vomiting or gastroenteritis.
As a botanical professional, I have tasted some plants that are not very toxic during my research and investigation, but I have never had the courage to taste the taste of coral cherry. After all, everyone should be more cautious when dealing with Solanaceae, and many of the most poisonous plants that smell and change color come from this group, such as mandala, belladonna, and alfa.
Why do plants grow when they are poisonous?
Of course, there are far more poisonous fruits in urban gardens than those listed above, and news of poisoning and hospitalization after eating garden plants also occurs from time to time. Some people may complain about why plants are poisonous and should be planted in cities, and wouldn't it be safe to plant them? But in fact, gardeners have to consider much more than "whether they are poisonous".
Different plants have different uses, and when it comes to gardens, good looks always come first. Some poisonous plants have beautiful flowers, colors, or forms, so they are used in garden landscape decoration to add visual appeal to the city. Almost none of the bulbous plants that support the early spring flower beds are non-toxic, including tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, lily of the valley, etc., and it is obviously impossible for us to abandon the whole gorgeous spring simply because of toxicity.
There are some poisonous plants that are highly resistant to stress and can thrive with very low management while maintaining an elegant appearance, making them a cost-effective choice. For example, oleander, although notorious for its intense toxicity, requires little care to maintain a wonderful plant shape and produce gorgeous flowers, so it is difficult to completely abandon it when designing a garden.
There are also poisonous plants that have established themselves culturally, such as rhododendrons, wax plums, ginkgo biloba, narcissus, etc. When doing garden design, it is difficult to skip the profound cultural connotation represented behind it.
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Do not eat the fruits of roadside garden food
In fact, horticultural plants are not all that dangerous. Many small red fruits on the roadside are non-toxic, such as the common begonia, flat-branched oak seed, fire thorn, heather, cinnabar root, etc. But to get these fruits in our mouths, we still face a series of challenges:
1. Accurate identification of plants requires a lot of knowledge and experience, relying only on the popular science of a few Internet articles, we may not be able to accurately distinguish between poisonous plants and non-poisonous plants;
2. Horticultural plants are bred more on ornamentality than taste, so their fruits are in most cases not good in taste and not worth eating at all;
3. The urban garden environment is often more seriously polluted, and garden plants may be enriched with more toxic substances such as heavy metals;
4. In order to maintain the beauty of the city, a lot of pesticides are often sprayed on the ornamental plants in the garden, and it is inevitable that there will be toxic residues.
For these reasons, we strongly recommend that you do not eat the fruits of roadside garden plants. If you are really hungry, it is better to put a flower pot on the balcony to plant some fruits, strawberries, raspberries, and tomatoes are very suitable for novices, but the yield is often restricted by the environment, and there is no way to eat it openly.