There are many things that look enticing to the beholder yet hide some most dangerous flaw. The enchantress Circe turned men into beasts and the Sirens' songs drove sailors to their deaths. The female Praying Mantis devours its lover as do some species of spiders. Deviousness is not restricted to either mythology, the animal world nor fictional plants such as the carnivorous Triffids and the plant in The Little Shop of Horrors (This link includes access to the entire original movie if you have a fast Internet connection). We have potentially dangerous plants in our own back yards as well as in our homes. How about some woods denizens with names like Death Angel Mushrooms, Death Cap Mushrooms and Destroying Angels? Even benign names may hide danger, such as Dolls Eyes (Baneberry) or Angel's Trumpet (Datura). Hemlock did in Socrates.
A local farmers market has a vendor each year selling "Moon Flowers". No mention that this is a Datura, all of whose parts are poisonous. Its flowers open in the evening, giving it that name. By morning the flower still has a delicate, sweet odor belying its danger.
In this season of Halloween it may be appropriate to dwell a bit on what may hide, not under the bed at night, but rather out in the open behind a false face.
[Pumpkin15[1].gif] [Witch-cauldron21[1].gif]
A scowling Jack-O-Lantern or a witch happily stirring her cauldron of "eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog" may not be there to warn you of impending danger. It may lurk behind an innocent looking flower.
There are some plants that have useful medicinal properties as well as being potentially dangerous. Foxgloves are one of these. Digitalis was first extracted from foxgloves. On a recent trip across the center of Vancouver Island I was surprised to see [Foxgloves.jpg] an abundance of Foxgloves growing as weeds alongside the road. I have never seen them growing wild back home. The insidious purple loosestrife, goldenrod, queen Ann's lace and wild mustard are more common where I live.
Some plants have a notorious history. Not only Hemlock. The seeds of Brugmansia were used by Shamans in Central America to brew a tea to give to the wife of a deceased chieftain to numb her into
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