Urgent Harm minimisation alert

[waterboy 2.0]

Solanum nigrum - black nightshade would be my guess

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by waterboy 2.0

[oncewhywechange]

4 hours ago, Glaukus said:

Yeah datura is the #1 candidate 

young datura leaf looks nearly the same. Must of be a million seedlings throughout the crop.

 

[fyzygy]

Thornapple, jimsonweed - a kind of "nightshade" according to the ABC - seems like a very non-specific plant ID, under the circumstances.

I guess the media didn't want to mention the D word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura

or nominate a particular culprit (if known). There is no entry for "thornapple" or "jimsonweed" on Wikipedia. Rather:

 

Datura is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae.[1] They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's trumpets[2] (not to be confused with angel's trumpets, which are placed in the closely related genus Brugmansia). 

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by fyzygy

[Strontium Dawg]

12 hours ago, fyzygy said:

Thornapple, jimsonweed - a kind of "nightshade" according to the ABC - seems like a very non-specific plant ID, under the circumstances.

I guess the media didn't want to mention the D word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura

or nominate a particular culprit (if known). There is no entry for "thornapple" or "jimsonweed" on Wikipedia. Rather:

 

Datura is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae.[1] They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's trumpets[2] (not to be confused with angel's trumpets, which are placed in the closely related genus Brugmansia). 

 

Articles on ABC today did mention D.strammonium, but I guess outside circles like ours, common names are more likely to be remembered than Linnaean nomenclature.

[fyzygy]

D. stramonium has frequently been employed in traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments. It has also been used as a hallucinogen (of the anticholinergic/antimuscarinic,  deliriant type), taken entheogenically to cause intense, sacred or occult visions.^[2][8] It is unlikely ever to become a major drug of abuse owing to effects upon both mind and body frequently perceived as being highly unpleasant, giving rise to a state of profound and long-lasting disorientation or delirium(anticholinergic syndrome) with a potentially fatal outcome. It contains tropane alkaloids which are responsible for the psychoactive effects, and may be severely toxic.^[2][9]

 

 

^ How easy would it be to generate commercial interest in a RoundUp®-ready, genetically-modified baby spinach variety?

 

I saw footage of the vast monoculture baby spinach empire. I guess on more sustainable organic farms, especially permaculture setups, where everything is probably weeded and harvested by human hand (and eye), your chances of contamination would be much lower. 

 

Thornapple refers to more than one Datura species (and possibly other spp. besides); it's too idiomatic. Jimsonweed and thornapple could be synonymous, or not. ABC TV news treated them as identical spp. Just way too vague. I can appreciate that ABC online and radio were probably more specific. 

 

They also mentioned "nightshade" but not as often. I didn't hear the word Datura once, from ABC TV, let alone stramonium. Just saying. Not much by way of a positive "plant identification" -- "thornapple"

Edited December 22, 2022 by fyzygy