- Potatoes are safe to eat when cooked, but the stems and leaves of the plants contain poison called solanine. If potatoes turn green, they may also contain solanine.
- Ricin is extracted from the seeds of the castor oil plant and is more poisonous than cyanide or snake venom. Even minute doses of ricin can be fatal.
- Opium is extracted from juice of poppy and contains morphine. Small quantities of both are used legally as painkillers and illegally as drugs. Both can easily cause death.
- The death cap is a highly poisonous mushroom. It is responsible for almost 90 per cent of deaths from eating fungi. The poison causes severe diarrhea and vomiting.
- Curare is extracted from the bark of certain trees and is used by South American Indian tribes to tip their poison arrows when they go hunting.
- Deadly nightshade is also known as belladonna. It contains a poison called atropine. Less than 10mg (0.0004 oz) could kill a child.
- Nicotine is a yellow oily liquid found in tobacco. About 50mg (0.002 oz) of nicotine would kill an adult within minutes.
- The leaves of the purple foxglove contain digitalis and eating just e few can be fatal. Digitalis is used in tiny doses to treat people suffering from heart disease.
Courtesy: whitakersworld
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