In the Revolutionary War it was useful. British soldiers would come to Colonist’s homes and demand to be fed from their meager supplies of food. The people figured out that they could extract some of this and add it to the soldiers food and when they passed out they could capture them. It is known as Jimsom weed nowadays. We had it growing wild in the area around one of the barns.
@FreddieUK Read a medical mystery case where family members got really sick after eating dinner and had to go to the emergency room. Doctors were puzzled about what made them sick, it wasn’t a gastro virus and it wasn’t everyone in the family who had dinner together. They questioned them about what they had eaten etc. They had some sliced tomatoes from the garden but not everyone got sick that ate them. Come to find out their hired hand had did a little experiment after hearing he could graft a tomato plant branch onto a Jimson weed plant and it would grow and bear fruit. The tomatoes from the Jimsom weed were toxic. They were treated and nobody died but they sure got sick.
@cherokeepatti There was a case during the Civil war in which a group of soldiers cooked up a pot of Jimson weed. I can't remember what edible plant they mistook if for but it took a few days for it to wear off.
There's actually several plants in that family, some have medical and possibly recreational value, some not so much. I know Jimson weed when I see it, some of the others I know enough to say "yeah, it's related" but not enough to make a positive ID.There's one that grows as a vine and the seed pods resemble tiny tomatoes already.
@robb65 yes that’s probably how they found out it was toxic. It was later used as a weapon against the British soldiers who would go into homes and demand to be fed. They could easily be captured after they got sick.
