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["bluestem_farm@juno.com" <bluestem_farm@juno.com>]

Berries red, have no dread,
Berries white, poisons in sight
I'd never heard this little jingle before, but it refers I'm certain to 
sumac; poison sumac has white berries, while staghorn and other non-hazardous 
sumacs have red berries.  At least around here.  Folk wisdom works well as 
long as you take it in context.
By the way, I've never heard of anyone eating the red fruits of nightshade 
and living to tell about it.  I've heard (but never dared try) that the BLACK 
nightshade berries are edible.
Muffy Barrett

Title: All Red Berries Edible???

    Jerry, in a letter to Deb (yesterday) wrote:

There is an old saying:
Berries red, have no dread
berries white, poisons sight.  

    Apparently whoever coined that jingle never ate the red berries from Sambucus racemosa.  Who would suspect that elderberries might contain cyanide?  And then, there are white currants which are very edible.  There are alot more red and white berry exceptions so whomever believes in that "old saying" would pass up some good eating but soon die of poisoning.

Jim Fruth
Pequot Lakes, MN