SC - Poisonous Tomatoes?

Sat Nov 25 19:36:08 PST 2000

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In a message dated 11/25/00 9:45:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
vongraph at earthlink.net writes:

> I think some of it may also come from the fact that the leaves of the tomato
> plant are poisonous:) Very in fact.
> 
> Elric
> 

This is probably accurate but keep in mind that the tomato plant was first 
used as an ornamental. Today we have ornamental kale as an example of a plant 
that is perfectly edible but rarely eaten because it is grown as an 
ornamental. I would suspect that use as an ornamental first has something to 
do with it taking so long to be recognized as a 'fruit.' Tomato usage 
throughout it's history in the Anglo world is problematical. As late as the 
early part of the 20th century CE, physicians were still warning people that 
it  caused cancer if eaten. :-)

Ras
The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.- Solomon Ibn Gabirol

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<HTML>In a message dated 11/25/00 9:45:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, vongraph at earthlink.net writes:
 
 
 <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I think some of it may also come from the fact that the leaves of the tomato
 plant are poisonous:) Very in fact.
 
 Elric
 </BLOCKQUOTE>
 
 
 This is probably accurate but keep in mind that the tomato plant was first used as an ornamental. Today we have ornamental kale as an example of a plant that is perfectly edible but rarely eaten because it is grown as an ornamental. I would suspect that use as an ornamental first has something to do with it taking so long to be recognized as a 'fruit.' Tomato usage throughout it's history in the Anglo world is problematical. As late as the early part of the 20th century CE, physicians were still warning people that it  caused cancer if eaten. :-)
 
 Ras
 The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.- Solomon Ibn Gabirol</HTML>

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