If you have children...

[davieG]

You should take the time to warn them about the dangers of Deadly Nightshade, when I was a kid several children died from eating the berries off this plant but these days the danger it seems to have been largely forgotten.

Merc

One of the world's most poisonous plants has been found growing beside a play area.

A large bush of deadly nightshade, which can be fatal for children who eat a few of its black berries, was discovered in the play area in Penny Park, off Upperton Road, in the city's West End.

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  A large deadly nightshade bush beside Penny Park, off Upperton Road, in Leicester – it has since been removed
  

Yesterday, after being alerted by the Mercury, Leicester City Council parks officers removed the plant from the site.

Parents of youngsters who play in the park expressed concern that it had been found in the play area.

Mika Dolgelo, 29, who lives in Hinckley Road, was with his one-year-old son Krystin in the park yesterday.

"Kids play here all the time and it's terrible it has poisonous plants," he said. "I hope it's safe now."

Andrea Murphy, 34, who has children aged two and five and lives in Upperton Road, said: "We use the play area quite a lot and I had noticed a plant with big, black berries.

"It's quite worrying that it was growing there."

Conrad Webbe, 43, of Upperton Road, said: "Most people wouldn't recognise deadly nightshade – I certainly wouldn't.

"It's a kids' play area and it should be better maintained."

Adrian Russell, director of environmental services at the council, said: "The plant is one of a number of potentially hazardous wildflowers that grow in hedgerows and gardens across the country."

The sweet berries are edible for many animals, including rabbits and cows, but for humans the plant – Atropa belladonna – is one of the most toxic found in the Western Hemisphere.

Its poison attacks the central nervous system, causing convulsions and, in some cases, death.

Historically, it has been used to poison arrow tips and was a common method of murder in the Roman Empire.

Peter Gamble, president of Loughborough Naturalists' Club, said: "Of all the plants that grow naturally in this country, it is definitely one of the most dangerous.

"All of the plant is poisonous and the berries can be deadly if they're eaten.

"The berries start off green but grow to be big, black and shiny.

"There aren't many cases I can think of recently but occasionally you do get kiddies taking the berries thinking it's fruit and dying.

"Fortunately, it's rare nowadays as people rarely eat berries in the wild.

"Deadly nightshade would never be planted deliberately, except perhaps in a botanical garden."

Anyone who has concerns about plants in parks or play areas can report them to the city council on 0116 252 7003.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Kids should be warned of the dangers of eating anything they find outside. My mum always told me don't eat any berries, because I didn't know the good ones from the bad ones. However, parenting skills seem to many people to be something other people should have - educating children is the responsibility of teachers, etc.

If you live in the country I guess you'd give a more comprehensive education as to things that are safe to eat, as you're more exposed to it.

[ADK]

Simple rule is to not eat anything you find outside.

[pSinatra]

There are a load of shrubs, plants & trees that are poisonous & not necessarily if eaten. Just touching them can cause irritation. They are not always rare. Horse Chestnut, privet, lily, hydrangea, laburnum, ivy, monkshood, daffodil, delphinium, foxglove, bluebell, castor oil plant, cherry laurel, christmas rose, hyacinth, lupin.............the list is endless.

I'm a professional gardener & it makes me wonder why I'm not already dead!!?

You could live your life in fear or simply do what others have suggested........teach your kids not to eat anything they find outside

[Parafox]

I used to lick salt off the pavements when it used to come in little blue bags in crisps and people occasionally dropped them.

Well, I did it once according to my mother.

Maybe someone had tried to kill a slug...

[Rincewind]

I think I learnt about Deadly Nightshade at an early age.

Don't remember any warnings, It's just something you picked up from family members or in the playground.

[Charl91]

See, I knew that from watching The Herbs

[Guest]

And there are thousands of wonderful things you can eat that grow outside.

I love to try out new eats.

Seaweed tasting is around the corner.

[sphericalfox]

Dingleberries

[Guest]

Foraging for the win.

[Daggers]

educating children is the responsibility of teachers

Bloomin' right. It's high time they did something in-between waiting for their next holiday.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Bloomin' right. It's high time they did something in-between waiting for their next holiday.

Get back to work, you're slacking!

[Daggers]

Get back to work, you're slacking!

I don't do that. I doing my own thing now.

[Trav Le Bleu]

I don't do that. I doing my own thing now.

Slacking - doing your own thing.

Same difference.

[Daggers]

Slacking - doing your own thing.

Same difference.

Pretty much

[Reynard Bleu]

I sometimes wonder how we did learn those skills and bits of knowledge essential to life but not on the school curriculum in the 1960s and 1970s? No Internet, facebook or twitter, only two TV channels, perhaps 3, in black and white too. Newspapers were for delivering not reading? Radio was either those wacky crazy guys on R1 or the Home Service. There is so much information available today how on earth did we manage? For my part I think it was from older siblings and through friends etc. I read a lot of books too.

[Captain...]

I sometimes wonder how we did learn those skills and bits of knowledge essential to life but not on the school curriculum in the 1960s and 1970s? No Internet, facebook or twitter, only two TV channels, perhaps 3, in black and white too. Newspapers were for delivering not reading? Radio was either those wacky crazy guys on R1 or the Home Service. There is so much information available today how on earth did we manage? For my part I think it was from older siblings and through friends etc. I read a lot of books too.

Common sense and good parenting, I learnt from an early age not to eat anything off any trees or bushes, I think from a good smack off my Mum for trying to eat a berry, like I had seen my Dad do.