skip to main content

Vegetable Gardening

Sunberries or some other poisonous nightshade berries?

12 years ago

Can anyone with some experience with sunberries help me figure out if these are edible berries, or one of the supposedly poisonous ones from the nightshade family?

{{gwi:115472}}

I also posted about this in my blog with more pictures if you wouldn't mind taking a look in more detail. I sure hope they aren't (too) poisonous, because I just ate a small handful.

Thank you so much in advance!

Here is a link that might be useful: Are these edible sunberries or something poisonous?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (12)

sandhill_farms
12 years ago
You may want to post your pics over on the "Name That Plant" Forum here on GW. They may be able to identify it for you. Link below...

Greg
Southern Nevada

Here is a link that might be useful: Name That Plant
thyme2garden
Original Author
12 years ago
Greg - thank you so much for your help! I just posted it over there in that forum as you suggested.
Related Discussions
Poisonous nightshade?
Q
Comments (2)
Looks like Solanum nigrum. Moderately poisonous are green parts of the plant. Ripe beriies are edible.
...See More
Black Nightshade, Solanum nigrum
Q
Comments (3)
The plants of the cultivore do make an attractive background with their umble like display of black berries, but it is the fruit that I dearly love. Possibly it is because I grew up with them, and my mother always blanched them in baking soda water before making pies. They impart a beautiful purple color to pies also. They have a bite, sort of like that in pineapple that makes them stand out, but I don't care for them raw off the bush. My daughter eats the wild ones that are sweeter. The cultivores won't grow well in the Texas heat and stink bug onslaught we have every spring. The flavor (and the bite) the tame ones give to apple pie is wonderful. Try using more apple and less wonderberry, and use the baking soda blanch. I have never noticed any difference in the plants, whether they are called Garden Huckleberry or Burbank Wonderberry. I think they may be a tetraploid of the wild Solanum nigrum.
...See More
Nightshades, Copper as fungicide and Copper poisoning
Q
Comments (27)
Dear Larry, You are absolutely right. Trans fat laden margerine has and will continue to kill people prematurely by the millions. Let me point out that I am not one of your American nutritionists, in fact I don't even want to talk to these people with miserable bachelor academic credentials, following guidelines set forth by their "American Dietetic Association" which is basically preaching the wisdom of big (processed) food corporations. I am a nutritional chemist and had to study for my degree for 8 years at the University of Berlin. Unlike American nutritionists I know how margerine is made and if anybody knew what they were eating they would puke. A roach is more intelligent about eating healthy. Put a blob of margerine on your windowsill and it will still be there in 2 years untouched by any insect. So if margarine was so bad for you where are your lawyers, why has nobody appologized including your American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, The Harvard Institute etc., all advocating to eat margerine instead of butter? As a member of the Weston Price Foundation my fat hero is Dr. Mary Enig. She was the first to fight the vegetable oil/margerine industry for promoting rancid fats. You would be well advised to read what this foundation stands for, click on the link below. Fortunately Europeans have always been suspicious of junk food science spread in America. Every single modern trend is a killer: Low fat - absolut rubbish and responsible for the high degree of diabetes in your country. Fat slows the absorption of sugar into your blood. Low Sodium - Again killing millions of people prematurely and responsible for millions of people suffering from astma and high blood pressure. Sodium in balance with Potassium is the most important mineral to stabilize your blood pressure. Drink milk for Calcium - what a joke, milk will deplete your body of vital Magnesium and CAUSE osteoporosis. US milk is full of puss, eat French cheese where puss count is regulated. Pop multivitamins and rest easy when eating junk food - people on multivitamins are 10% more likely to die early vs. people who don't take multi-vitamins. Eat soy - good luck, you need it. etc. etc. By the way beer is healthy but make sure it's additive free. I lecture at community events, my theme is "Challenging politically correct nutrition". You get the picture. Here is a link that might be useful: Weston Price Foundation
...See More
The other side of Poison Ivy
Q
Comments (9)
If poison ivy didn't cause rashes it would be among the most useful native plants for wildlife and landscaping. It is pretty, with shiny dark green foliage that turns a brilliant red in the fall. Birds live the berries, and many species of birds will eat them including a wide variety of warblers, vireos, and other birds that aren't usually fruit eaters. The plant grows everywhere from the coast, where it stabilizes sand dunes, to the forest where it grows up trees to form a large vine without harming the trees. It occurs in forms ranging from ground covers to shrub to climbing vine, and could probably be selected to create lots of interesting horticultural forms. Truly one of the great native plants except for one major flaw. As it stands, I kill every scrap that shows up on my property because with the slightest brush against poison ivy I get amazing oozing painful rashes that last for weeks.
...See More
loribee2
12 years ago
I sure hope they aren't (too) poisonous, because I just ate a small handful.

Then I presume you'll get your answer soon!
pippimac
12 years ago
That plant looks like deadly nightshade to me.
If it is, you're probably feeling pretty unwell right now.
Asking online about the toxicity of something you've already eaten seems...not ideal.
thyme2garden
Original Author
12 years ago
loribee2 and pippimac - thanks for looking and for your feedback! Most people (here on gardenweb and readers of my blog) seem to be in agreement that I have the weedy/wild variety, which according to some people can be poisonous. Fortunately, I have felt zero ill-effects after eating these berries today. Perhaps I didn't eat enough of them, or maybe the berries weren't poisonous after all. I have read documents that argue on both sides of poisonous/non-poisonous nature of the Solanum nigrum species.
happyday
12 years ago
So, how did they taste?
thyme2garden
Original Author
12 years ago
happyday - the berries actually tasted pretty good. They were very subtly/mildly sweet, with zero tartness (like how some blueberries can be tart). Unlike any other berries I've ever tasted, but very berry-like in texture.
pippimac
12 years ago
Whew. Looks identical to deadly nightshade. I'd do further research before eating more though: apparently poisonous nightshade berries are sweet rather than bitter, so don't use palatability as your guide...
thyme2garden
Original Author
12 years ago
pippimac - actually, after an active discussion (on my blog) we have decided that what I have are most likely black nightshade (Solanum nigrum), rather than deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna). While deadly nightshades have bell-shaped purple flowers and shiny black berries, black nightshades has white flowers (with yellow anthers) and dull purple/black berries.
laceyvail 6A, WV
12 years ago
We teach this to children. NEVER eat anything from the yard unless a grown up has told you they're okay to eat. If you were unsure of the identification, you should not have eaten them.
forpityssake
12 years ago
Thanks for the chuckle. I've been known to taste some "unknown" berries, myself. :)

I didn't know there was a difference in that type of night shade. Thanks!

I've yet to get the nerve up to taste a Poke Berry. The birds love 'em. They're intoxicating & the birds have been known to literally get "drunk" by eating so many.
t-bird
12 years ago
my reading says pokeberrys are poisonous to mammals - ok for birds, so don't continue on with this human test trial in garden!!!

Related Stories

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Sambucus Nigra Caerulea for the Birds

By Debbie Ballentine

Blue elderberry is a favorite of birds and other wildlife in its native California

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Sambucus Nigra

By Curtis Adams

Common elderberry is a highly adaptable shrub from the eastern U.S., with berries galore for wildlife and humans alike

FARM YOUR YARD Houzz Call: Home Farmers, Show Us Your Edible Gardens

By Stacy Briscoe

We want to see where your tomatoes, summer squashes and beautiful berries are growing this summer

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Snowberry Pleases Year-Round

Bright spring foliage, pretty summer flowers, white berries in winter ... Symphoricarpos albus is a sight to behold in every season

GARDENING GUIDES 6 Rockin’ Red Plants for Winter Gardens

By Paintbox Garden

Use the bright berries or branches of these cold-climate favorites for outdoor garden interest or container arrangements anywhere

GARDENING GUIDES How to Switch to an Organic Landscape Plan

By Falon Land Studio LLC

Ditch the chemicals for a naturally beautiful lawn and garden, using living fertilizers and other nontoxic treatments

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Asclepias Incarnata for a Butterfly Garden

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Beautiful swamp milkweed makes it easy to help monarchs and other pollinators in eastern U.S. gardens

HOUZZ TOURS Houzz Tour: A Luxurious Log Home in the Canadian Mountains

By Vanessa Brunner

Live-edge wood and other details reflect nature's gifts in a spacious family getaway nestled in the Canada's Okanagan Valley

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Mahonia Aquifolium for Birds

By Debbie Ballentine

Oregon grape puts on a bold spectacle from spring through winter and is ideal to brighten partly shady corners in the U.S. West

GARDENING AND LANDSCAPING 9 Ways to Make Your Yard More Fun for Kids

By June Scott Design

Draw the younger set outside while keeping grown-up spaces and style intact. Some of these ideas don’t even cost a dime!

Sponsored

39 Reviews

Leading Northern Virginia Deck/Patio Specialist- 10X Best of Houzz!

More Discussions

Cauliflower ? What to do?

10

A garden experiment against the coming cold

39

garlic is a LOT more cold tolerant than onion

8

Mature asparagus crowns

2

When to harvest these onions?

10