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Summer tomatoes are tasty, but their cousins can be toxic

Some plants are tasty. Some are just pretty. Some are downright dangerous.

One plant family that has them all is the tomato family. Its plants can feed you, heal you, kill you, or send your mind places you've never been.

The family goes by the name Solanaceae. Plants in the Solanaceae are found worldwide, with the majority in Central and South America.

Here, we have numerous cultivated Solanaceae plants and a good number of weedy species as well. This family's kin includes peppers, eggplants, potatoes, petunias, tobacco — and of course, the tomato.

Plants are grouped in families by their similarities, and members of the Solanaceae are easily recognized. You may have noticed that the small yellow tomato blossoms resemble the white flowers of the peppers in your garden. And, the eggplant's flower is structurally similar to a potato's. The weedy ground cherry and climbing nightshade also share floral traits.

These are similarities that you can see. But it's what you can't see that can kill you.

Plants in the Solanaceae contain potent chemicals known as tropane alkaloids. The purpose of these chemicals is to ward off predators. If ingested, these alkaloids wreak havoc on humans and other animals. Most herbivores — humans included — have learned to avoid the dangerous parts of the plants, or pass them by altogether.

Just how powerful are these chemicals?

Eating one berry of the beautiful belladonna plant can cause death. This European plant was a key ingredient in “witches' brew,” which was absorbed through the skin to cause “sensations of flying, frenzy and flights from reality,” according to Judith Summer in “The Natural History of Medicinal Plants.”

Belladonna also has the effect of dilating the pupils. This was considered fashionable in 16th century Italy, where “the dreamy, intoxicated stare was the height of fetching beauty,” reported ethnobotanist Richard Schultes in “Plants of the Gods.” The name belladonna means beautiful lady.

Here in North America, we have the potent jimson weed and bittersweet nightshade. Both of these can pop up at the edge of your garden and along trails and roadsides.

Bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) is a lovely, small vine with intensely purple flowers, accented by bright yellow stamens. All parts of the plant are toxic, particularly the unripe berries.

Ingesting this plant causes lots of unpleasant problems — gastrointestinitis, dermatitis and phytophotosensitivity, to name a few. In large quantities bittersweet nightshade may cause paralysis, circulatory and respiratory failure, vertigo, delirium and convulsions. In other words, you can die from eating this plant.

Jimson weed is a formidable plant. Its scientific name is Datura stramonium, and it's closely related to the western Datura wrightii, which I've heard called both Devil's Trumpet and Angel's Trumpet (determined by the user's experience, I'm sure).

Both Daturas are referred to as “Sacred Datura” because of their role as hallucinogens in religious ceremonies. These and other psychotropic plants are believed to bring a person closer to the gods — or closer to death, which may be the same thing.

The common name Jimson weed comes from an event in Jamestown, Virginia. In 1676 British soldiers arrived in Jamestown to quell the colonial uprising. It is said that the colonists sneaked Datura greens into their food. What followed was a very bad trip for the soldiers.

“They turned natural fools upon it for several days,” reported Robert Beverly in “The History and Present State of Virginia,” published in 1705. “One would blow up a feather in the air; another would dart straws at it with much fury; and another, stark naked, was sitting up in a corner like a monkey, grinning and making mows at them; a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll. In this frantic condition they were confined, lest they should, in their folly, destroy themselves — though it was observed that all their actions were full of innocence and good nature. Indeed they were not very cleanly; for they would have wallowed in their own excrements, if they had not been prevented. A thousand such simple tricks they played, and after 11 days returned themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed.”

The story is humorous, but the Solanaceae is serious stuff. The dangers of this plant family were so ingrained in people's minds that it took many years before Europeans would try to eat a tomato. The Spaniards brought the tomato from South America in the 16th century, and in the early 1700s, Europeans took the tomato back across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. Here, it was viewed with skepticism, if not scorn.

“The Pilgrims considered growing tomatoes to be an abomination,” reported Ernest Small in “Top 100 Food Plants.” “Those caught with tomatoes were displayed in the public square and ridiculed.”

Years later, Thomas Jefferson tried to convince his countrymen that the tomato was not only safe to eat, but tasty.

People were right to be cautious about plants in the Solanaceae.

How did anyone figure out that the underground tuber of the potato is edible but the green shoots can be fatal? Or that the leaves of tobacco can be dried and smoked? Or that henbane will send you to oblivion?

We didn't always have the Food and Drug Administration with white-coated scientists in laboratories to test the safety of plants. For most of human history, testing plants was based on hunger, curiosity, and trial and error. There was a fair amount of superstition as well. Those who sampled a plant and lived to tell the tale passed on their botanical knowledge. Those who weren't so lucky — well, they took one for the team.

Tobacco (Nicotiana) is a cousin to the tomato. It's both sacred and profane, a cash crop and a health hazard. Its claim to fame is the highly addictive stimulant, nicotine. Prior to the development of the modern cigarette in the late 19th century, tobacco use in North America was primarily ceremonial. The pipe was reserved for special occasions. Tobacco was a spiritual offering, a gift, and a blessing. Today, tobacco (and the arsenal of chemicals in cigarettes) is a curse.

Potent plants in the tomato family have also been applied medicinally. Henbane was used as a narcotic to relieve pain in surgery and childbirth. Belladonna was used not only for the seductive beauty of dilated pupils, but for ophthalmology as well. Today, carefully controlled amounts of alkaloids from the Solanaceae can help reverse the effects of overexposure to pesticides. It's all about dosage. “How much” and “when” can determine whether a plant will heal or kill.

The Solanaceae is a powerful plant family. Its plants have provided both profound and profane experiences across the world.

Picking a big, red tomato, still warm from the sun, is summer ritual for many, and eating Grandma's special potato salad at a picnic is a summertime treat.

Enjoy these tried and true plants, and stay clear of their cousins.

Valerie Blaine is a naturalist with the Forest Preserve District of Kane County. You may reach her at blainevalerie@kaneforest.com.

Jalapeño flowers resemble the flowers on tomato plants. They are both members of the same family. The plant is not native to this area. Courtesy of Valerie Blaine
Ground cherry fruit, a member of the Solanaceae family which is native to Kane County, is edible. Courtesy of Valerie Blaine
Flowers bloom on a tomato plant, which is not native to Kane County. Courtesy of Valerie Blaine
Ground cherry flower. Courtesy of Valerie Blaine
Beautiful but dangerous: the blooming flower of the Jimson weed plant. Its scientific name is Datura stramonium. Courtesy of Valerie Blaine
The Jimson weed plant, a relative of the tomato, is native to this area, but you should not eat it. Courtesy of Valerie Blaine
The Jimson weed plant, a member of the Solanaceae family, is potent and poisonous. Courtesy of Valerie Blaine
The tomato is a delicious member of the Solanaceae family, but other members of the family can be inedible or even poisonous. Courtesy of Jan Riggenbach ¬
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