Poisoness plants and their uses

[Bushman5]

During our Canadian WS&S get together this last Sunday, BF Member JCA21 pointed out to us that FOXGLOVE plant is poisonous to us humans.......

of course, in my evil twisted little mind i thought about all the things i could do to former bosses with the liquid crushed and extracted out of the plant....but I'll refrain from mentioning them here

But one of the things you can do with foxglove is gather enough plants, use a rick or stick to smash and pulp them, then dam up a fish bearing stream and put the pulped plants into it. Fish kill! cook the fish and you have dinner (OBVIOUSLY do this in a SURVIVAL situ only...)

what other poisonous plants are out there that we WS&S nuts could use?

 

[jca21]

The "Common Foxglove" - Digitalis purpurea, is a big biennial herb with leafy, erect and unbranched stems.

Leaves alternate and are egg to lance-shaped, coarsely toothed with green and soft-hairy top, grey woolly bottom.

The flowers are pink-purple with deeper purple spots. The flowers are bell shaped.

Notes:

It contains cardiac glycosides and is highly poisonous, affecting muscle tissue and circulation. THe heart drug digitalis, derived from this plant is used today by hundreds of thousands of people suffering from heart disease.

Source: Plants of Coastal BC - Jim Pojar

edit: more information on cardiac glycoside poision

http://www.itg.be/itg/distancelearn...ne/47_Medical_problems_caused_by_plantsp6.htm

 

[scrumpy jack]

I think Yew trees are very toxic, may be you can get the same results using that??? Good topic BM 5

 

[jca21]

Poison-Hemlock - Conium maculatum

is apparently one of the most toxic plants that can be found in the pac NW. ingestion of leaves, roots or seed causes sickness and death readily. fatal poisoning is constantly referenced in my field guide and apparently this plant is toxic to both humans and animals with devastating results.

 

[dslteck]

........I wonder what any of the poison ivy (sumac and oak as well) would do to said person if they were ingested....

 

[scrumpy jack]

Hey jca21, i was out yesterday recording local edibles in a woodland not far from me and took this

i broke the stem and it smelt foul, really foul.is it hemlock or am i confusing it with ground elder?? I am in the UK i dont know if there would be much difference?

 

[haggismonger]

Algonquins used to dump mass amounts of poison sumac and poison oak down the dug wells of early american settlers. The first bioweapons used in north america! Buckeyes were commonly used ground up to poison fish, too. Larkspur is a pretty nasty poison, bad for cows, although sheep are unaffected, that's why in high mountain pastures, ranchers run sheep first before cows, because they eat it all out. Larkspur has the same effect on humans, that it inhibits the blood's ability to bind oxygen.

 

[jca21]

Jack, i am not 100% sure as i have never been to the UK and identifying plants from photos is always difficult. However,

the poison-hemlock has a "disagreeable" odour especially when crushed. what you have there sort of looks like poison-hemlock but without seeing it in person i would not be able to identify it 100%. because ground elder and poison-hemlock look alike i cant say for certain what it is.

the rule of them is if you dont know dont touch (probably shouldnt eat it either ).

a field guide of your specific region would probably be good place to start.

cheers,

JC

edit: now that i think about it i'm leaning closer to saying that its poison-hemlock and not ground elder but again i'm not 100% sure.

 

[scrumpy jack]

I sure dont fancy a nibble, expensive price to pay if i got it wrong .sweet cicely, ground elder, cow parsley are all so similar its scary. thanks JC.

 

[Fox Creek]

We have lots of Poison Hemlock here (Central KY). Also lots of wild Queen Ann's Lace (wild carrot). They look somewhat alike. We have some Yellow wormwood growing as an ornamental in the yard. I have wondered about that one. You also see wild Datura/Thorn apple/Jimson weed too. Now that is one that is not hard to miss! Very distinctive leaf with a spike sed pod. In high doses might be fatal, certainly a powerful psyco-active tha twill make you very sick and disoriented, Delerious (OK I give up on spelling. Why can't this have a spell check like MS Word?) I understand native Americans used it a sacremental drug before the much more reliable and much less toxic Peyote was available.

 

[EMT_Lee]

The hulls from Black Walnut (when they are still green) can also be pulverized and used to poison fish.

 

[smcclown05]

The hulls from Black Walnut (when they are still green) can also be pulverized and used to poison fish.

Beat me too it! I heard this many years ago but never tried it. I've also heard that soaking the green husks in some vodka for a while will make a good treatment for intestinal parasites.

 

[lambertiana]

The local Indians used the large buckeyes from the California Buckeye (crushed) to poison fish so they could be scooped up from the water.

Poison hemlock is not even native to North America, but it is widespread now. Here is a link to pictures taken at a local park near Visalia:

http://www.kaweahoaks.com/html/poison_hemlock.html

You can even be poisoned by brushing against the plant and picking up oils on your skin.

 

[kvaughn]

The large seed pods/ flower heads from 2nd year mullein can also be crushed,soaked and used as a fish poison in a survival situation.--KV

 

[pitdog]

Snowberries are poisonous but when squeezed onto a graze their juice acts as a natural Poly-sporin.

Holly leaves can be boiled up to a sicky goo and applied to tree branches where small birds land and get stuck.

Skunk Cabbage is not strictly poisonous but ain't recommended eating either, however it's crushed roots can be used to cure toothache.

BlueBell bulbs are poisonous but they can be chewed up into a paste and used as a kind of woodglue for sticking feathers to your makeshift arrows etc, just be carefull not to swallow the juice !

 

[coyotebc]

A decent book for those of you here in BC can be found at the Superstore.
It's called Edible & Medicinal Plants of Canada and it list some poisonous plants as well

 

[jca21]

i have that book. its quite a good read but heavy as a brick so i usually leave it at home. thats the one by amanda karst i believe

the jim pojar book is gold because it focuses specifically on my region which is the coast.

 

[Normark]

Hello

Scrumpy Jack...

As for your picture,, it looks like Allot of different things...If you can always take pictures of the entire plant,, including flowers,fruit,stems,leaves and stalk....

Hard to tell by just the flower sometimes....

Just because it doesn't smell good,, doesn't mean it isn't edible..

Highbush Cranberry smells like Ass,, but is edible....

Rick Marchand calls them Assberries... LOL

ttyle

Eric
O/ST

 

[Loosearrow]

During our Canadian WS&S get together this last Sunday, BF Member JCA21 pointed out to us that FOXGLOVE plant is poisonous to us humans.......

of course, in my evil twisted little mind i thought about all the things i could do to former bosses with the liquid crushed and extracted out of the plant....but I'll refrain from mentioning them here

But one of the things you can do with foxglove is gather enough plants, use a rick or stick to smash and pulp them, then dam up a fish bearing stream and put the pulped plants into it. Fish kill! cook the fish and you have dinner (OBVIOUSLY do this in a SURVIVAL situ only...)

what other poisonous plants are out there that we WS&S nuts could use?

Good question. One man's poison is another man's cure, it's all in the dose.

 

[coyotebc]

i have that book. its quite a good read but heavy as a brick so i usually leave it at home. thats the one by amanda karst i believe

the jim pojar book is gold because it focuses specifically on my region which is the coast.

It is a lone pine publication listed as written by; Mackinnon, Kershaw, Arnason, Owen, Karst and Hamersley-Chambers.
I think I paid $12 or $13 for it

It's a paperback