A while ago, I stumbled upon the information that the fleshy berries that yew bushes produce are edible. The literature said they are quite sweet in fact. But the seed inside the berry is deadly poisonous. I confirmed the information in several other sources. This is the time of year yew berries are ripe, so it’s always the time of year I think about tasting one, then chicken out.
Friday night I finally tried one. We were sitting around school waiting for the last kids to be picked up from an Activity Night when I noticed that the yew bushes in front of the Middle School building are covered with berries. My previous hesitation was partly due to the fact that there was no one around to help me in case I started to die. Since there were plenty of people there, I tasted a berry. It tasted like cherries! I was careful not to eat the seed, though, because of the “deadly poisonous” thing.
Here’s the wikipedia excerpt about the berries:
All parts of the tree are highly toxic—except the bright red aril surrounding the seed, enabling ingestion and dispersal by birds—due to cyanide and the toxic alkaloid taxine. The plant remains toxic, even when wilted or dried. Symptoms include staggering gait, muscle tremors, convulsions, collapse, difficulty breathing, and eventually heart failure. However, death occurs so rapidly that many times the symptoms are missed. Horses may die from a mouthful of yew, and a 1/4 lb of the plant will kill an adult horse in 15 minutes. The tree should be fenced off or removed from pasture land to prevent grazing animals from consuming it.
Pretty scary, eh? Just more evidence that I like to live on the edge!
We have some of those in front of our house! Every year when the berries come in I look at them and think, “Huh. Berries!” and keep walking. Will I try one now that I know what it is? Yeah, no. Not so much. But thanks for asking. 🙂
But they taste like cherries!
You are insane.
Stupid Brad. Were you actually thinking that Peggy or me could save you? You also left out the part about kids watching you and thinking it was cool! I hope they believed you when you told them the seed was deadly.
Do they give you diarrhea the way wild strawberries do?
Wasn’t that just something Mom said to us to keep us from eating them?
Well…it didn’t keep me from eating them…so…I speak from experience…
Hey, I didn’t witness this. Do it again & let me watch, now that I know the danger.
(I’m surprised you don’t have one of these in your garden … for your visiting furry friends.)
I thought you were standing right there next to me on the porch when he ate it! Maybe it was another chaperone.
I think you should consider the fact that your students can edit wikipedia before you trust your life to it.
Heh.
If it’s on the Internet, it has to be true.
So, do you not allow Wikipedia as a source?
Iz in your gardens eaten your
Mothers know best about wild strawberrys!