Adam's apple

[Soulej at AOL.COM]

There is a "blue berry," (Vaccinium) [Ericaceae] that I heard of.  From the
tepui's of Guiana.  Normal bluberries are not deadly, but an exception was
discovered....

The botanist on the team told me the story.  They were stuck, helicopters
couldn't get in, and they were starving. So they made meals from what they
had available.  The ornthologist threw birds into the pot, the mouse guy
donated a few rodents (after saving the skins and making measurements). And
the botanist donated a bowl of blue berries for desert at lunch.  As they
were dropping into uncontrolable slumber the botanist realized that he had
poisioned them all.  He forced people awake and caused them to throw up.

He wonders to this day if they were poisioned to death or if they would have
woken up ok.

The botanists name,,,,  works in Latin America, really knows his stuff.  I
first met him in Mexico, worked on Flora Veracruz.  It will come to me soon.

Lammers must have heard the story too, since he wrote:
Wasn't there a new species of Vaccinium that caused some problems for the
Cerro Neblina expedition a few years ago?  Don't recall the details, but
the assumption was that all known species of the genus were OK, so the sp.
nov. should be, too.

If anyone knows the name of the botanist and can refresh my memory I would
appreciate it.

Jacqueline Soule, Ph.D.
Tierra del Sol Institute