My child just ate this plant. Is it OK?

 


My 3 year old was just eating the little purple berries off of this
plant here
in Dublin. Can anyone tell me the name of this plant and if
it is poisonous?
Thank you.
[image: http://www.jovenk.com/elsewhere/PA080097.jpg ]
[image: http://www.jovenk.com/elsewhere/Photo117.jpg ]




--
Skeeker

 

Skeeker wrote:

Not very good pictures (no offense) but it looks like American
Beautyberry to me. /Callicarpa americana/  Search for it and see if the
online pictures match what you have.

The stuff is a native plant where I used to live.  I don't think the
berries are edible, but I can't find anywhere that says they are toxic.

Bob

 

On 10/11/2009 10:54 AM, Skeeker wrote:

When in doubt, take your child and a branch of the plant (with berries)
to the nearest medical emergency facility.

--
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>

 




    Your photos lack enough details for accurate identification but
your bush certainly closely resembles Callicarpa americana, AKA
"American Beauty Berry" or "French mulberry", which is widely
distributed throughout the eastern U.S.A. and the Gulf (of Mexico)
coastal states from Texas to Florida (although, different sources cite
different ranges) and seems to be cultivated as a garden plant in the
"British" Isles. Seeds available from reputable seedsmen. A Google
search on "beauty berry" Dublin (quotes included) produced (I dunno
Dublin, Where):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jusfi/1386765601/

"beauty berry" Ireland produced:
http://www.gardenstew.com/about3109.html

    The plants pictured appear to be identical to the native beauty
berry bushes growing in my yard here in peninsular Florida, U.S.A. "My"
berries are the color of those shown in the referenced photo, although,
the plants here have begun to lose their leaves due to drought. As
Autumn progresses, the berries darken. When fully ripe, they are
favorites of birds, providing forage for migratory species. Most years,
thanks to the birds, I have to reduce the number of new plants on the
4-acre tract that I inhabit in order to prevent their overrunning the
place.
    The berries have almost no flavor but the second wave of European
settlers in Florida (largely English and Scots), as well as throughout
the Eastern US, are known to have made jelly from beauty berries, a
practice that I know first-hand to have persisted among country folk
well into the 20th Century. I guess you know by now whether what your
kid ate killed her/him ;-)
--
the Balvenieman
Running on single malt in U.S.A.
Peninsular Florida,
USDA zone 9b