URSED is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee…’ With these words, God put the natural world at odds with his disobedient creation, Man—and thoroughly so. From the slightly annoying stinging nettles, through the mildly toxic bittersweet and fool’s parsley to the dangerous lords and ladies and the lethal hemlock water-dropwort and foxglove, plants are out to get us. Even benign-sounding species can cause problems in certain circumstances: cyanide poisoning can result from alcoholic infusions of cherry stones, failing to cook or ferment elderberries or eating too many apple pips. Similarly unwise is nibbling your box hedge (buxine) or ferns (too many nasty toxins to list), gobbling up too many mallow leaves (nitrites) or eating several wild members of
