• idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    I was super proud of myself last month, because I saw the leaves of a potato plant for the first time and my first thought was that it looked like tobacco. Turns out, tobacco’s also a nightshade!

    Botany is fucking weird, but especially nightshades: staple carbs, deadly poisons, fucked up psychotropics, nicotine, capsaicin, a bunch of semisweet edible berries (from physalis to tomatoes to eggplants), and of course, peanuts.

      • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Yes, though you mostly need to watch out for raw/green potatoes, and most cases of potato poisoning are not fatal.

        I think most of the nightshades can be poisonous/deadly in some way- eggplants can be bitter enough to upset your stomach if you don’t prepare them right, tomatoes are just a mutation away from being poisonous, and peanuts are highly allergenic. AFAIK, only one person has died from capsaicin, but he had a heart condition. That one will still definitely fuck your digestive system up though.