Please Don't Eat the Berries!

From Vitasta's Backyard Adventures

Dated: Nov 14th, 2020

So, I came home last night, and spent some time in the morning today scouring the backyard  and I saw this strange plant with "black berries and yellow flowers", so I took some photos and began investigating. However, I was getting mixed results. Some results said: Mirabilis jalapa L ( Beauty-of-the-night plant), when I focused on the flowers. But others said: Solanum nigrum ( common nightshade) when I focused on the small blackberries. Well, finally I discovered that they were two distinct plants growing close to each other, the yellow flowers and the blackberries did not belong to the same plant, and the plant with the blackberries, identified correctly by the App as either common or 'tall' nightshade, had very small white flowers that I had previously failed to notice. So, here're the plants below, and while I have been trying to figure out what kind of poison I can concoct with this plant at my disposal, I don't think this one is as deadly as the 'deadly nightshade' variety. 

But, I'm glad, I have a nightshade plant, I have a cat, and I'm beginning to feel like a somewhat proper witch 🧙‍♀️ 😄!

Mirabilis jalapa L (Beauty-of-the-night). This plant has these funnel shaped flowers, and apparently, they are also called "4 o'clock flowers" because the flowers open around late afternoon. I will check this and confirm in the update later today 🌼 

And now, the poison plant! 

So, this is Solanum nigrum (common nightshade), and according to Wikipedia, ingesting the berries is 'rarely fatal' and causes fever, confusion, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Unless you ingest a whole load of them, and then you can die of respiratory failure. 

Those are the tiny white flowers I missed in my first investigation. 

Bonus!

This is Cali, my brother's pretty cat. 

🐈 🧙‍♀️ ✌  💘

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