Adam's apple

[Stinger]

Jef,

I am told that tongue apples, (Aleurites fordii) are absolutely delicious but I
haven't tried one because they are also known to kill within an hour.

Stinger

veldkamp wrote:

> Dear All,
>
>         Someone put forward the following proposition: Any fruit that tastes good
> must be safe to eat.
>
>         My question: does anyone out there know of an apparently deliciously
> edible fruit that will poison and sicken or kill those who eat them?
>
>         Obviously excluded are fruits like grapes, olives, strawberries, etc. to
> which some people are allergic.
>         Borderline cases are Taxus baccata, where the 'flesh' is quite edible, but
> the 'kernel' very poisonous, and Blighia sapida, where there is a red
> membrane between the lobes of the quite edible lobes of the aril.
> Beech-nuts (Fagus silvatica), when eaten in high quantity are reported to
> make you ill because of minute cyanide contents. I never found enough,
> apparently.
>         Also excluded is Cycas cicrcinalis, cause of the Guam disease leading to
> dementia, paralysis, and death.
>         What I'm looking for is the bang-you're-dead (or ill) situation, a bit
> like what the apple did to Adam and Eve, or Sleeping Beauty.
>
> JeF
> Dr. J.F. Veldkamp
> National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden Branch
> POB 9514
> 2300 RA Leiden
> The Netherlands
> e-mail: veldkamp at nhn.leidenuniv.nl
> fax: + 31 0715 27 35 11

--
Gerald "Stinger" Guala, Ph.D.
Keeper of the Herbarium
Systematist
Fairchild Tropical Garden
11935 Old Cutler Rd.
Miami, FL 33156

http://www.ftg.fiu.edu/