Gardening - oct.qxp_Layout 1 23/09/2021 11:36 Page 1
Poisonous but beautiful blue-hooded aconite or monkshood (Aconitum napellus) made headlines in 2009 after a woman laced her ex-lover’s curry with poison derived from the plant
One man’s poison
While the RHS lists well over 100 plants that can cause us potential harm, serious poisoning is uncommon in the UK and many powerful plant substances are used in homeopathic medicine. The difference is in the dose, says Elly West
78 TheBATHMagazine
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OCTOber 2021
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iSSUe 224
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According to Christian mythology, the poison hemlock plant became poisonous while growing at the site of Jesus’ crucifixion
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W
hen we sit in the garden listening to the birds and enjoying the colours and scents of our carefully nurtured plants, one would hope they are doing us nothing but good and encouraging only positive thoughts. But throughout history, plants have been misused for misdeeds and responsible for fatalities, harbouring some of the most deadly poisons known. Long before modern drugs, chemicals and warning labels on cleaning products, the great outdoors would be the first place to look if murder was on the mind. Symptoms of poisoning were similar to those of many diseases, and given the difficulty of finding the poison in the body, criminals in days gone by had a good chance of escaping punishment. Stories of poisoning run through history and make interesting and often gory reading, from Ancient Greek and Roman times, through the Middle Ages and into the Victorian era. Royals wary of assassins would have ‘tasters’ to confirm their food was safe to eat, and it’s said that Louis XIV was so afraid of being poisoned that he employed 324 servants to monitor his meals. Some of these stories can be traced to Atropa belladonna, more commonly known as deadly nightshade – a herbaceous perennial in the same family of plants as tomatoes and potatoes. It sometimes pops up as a weed in gardens, and can be found in woodland and along paths and banks. All parts of the plant are poisonous, but it’s the shiny black berries that pose the real danger. During the Renaissance, a beauty tonic was made from the leaves and berries to redden the skin and dilate the pupils, which gave rise to the name belladonna, or ‘beautiful lady’. However, the berries contain atropine, which can also cause paralysis, hallucinations, convulsions and death. The Roman emperor Claudius was famously poisoned with deadly nightshade, at the hand of the serial killer Locusta who was hired by Claudius’ wife, Agrippina the Younger.
However, as with many potent plant-based substances, its powers have also been harnessed for good, and it has many modern-day medicinal applications including being used in pain relievers and antiinflammatories, and by eye surgeons to dilate the pupils. Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is another dangerous plant with a long history of misuse. Although it’s not native to this country, it can be found across the countryside in ditches and along riverbanks. This tall green plant is often mistaken for harmless cow parsley, with its feathery leaves and umbels of white flowers, however hemlock has distinctive purple blotches on its smooth green stems. All parts of the plant contain poisonous alkaloids that can be fatal even in small amounts when ingested. Just touching the plant can cause a skin reaction, but eating it can cause a slow death by paralysis, leading to respiratory failure. According to Christian mythology, the plant became poisonous while growing at the site of Jesus’ crucifixion. His blood touched the plant, turning it toxic. In Ancient Greece, hemlock was used to poison condemned prisoners. Socrates was famously sentenced to death by hemlock, as punishment for corrupting the minds of young men in Athens, and forced to drink the poison by his own hand. Despite the Royal Horticultural Society listing well over 100 plants
