Potassium permanganate for plant health is reliable and irreplaceable. What are forest plants

Hello dear reader!

July, and especially August, is the season for a wide variety of wild berries. Strawberries and blueberries, currants, bird cherry, raspberries, and closer to autumn - lingonberries. Yes, and others ... You just need to remember that there are poisonous berries in our forest! Let them not be many, but poisonous berries need to know. And it is especially important that children know them well!

All sorts of ratings and TOPs are now in vogue. Well, I will also present a kind of TOP of poisonous berries. The criteria are simple - the poisonousness of the plant and its prevalence and accessibility for those who can, most often accidentally, out of ignorance, poison them. Well, let's get started...

It is a common inhabitant of deciduous and mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. Occurs very often. The appearance of the plant is peculiar, it is almost impossible to confuse it with another. A whorled arrangement of leaves, a single flower, and then a fruit, which is alone at the top of the stem.

The whole plant is poisonous - both leaves and rhizome. But the berries of the crow's eye are especially poisonous. Large, black, shiny, it really resembles the eye of a crow. And very attractive, especially for children. But the crow's eye berry is deadly! The substance paristifin from the group of saponins causes convulsions, disrupts the work of the heart. Which can stop!

In folk medicine, there are a number of recipes using the crow's eye for the treatment of certain diseases. However, you need to know:
Due to its extreme danger, the use of the crow's eye for any medical purposes forbidden!

Out of curiosity, "berries" can be enjoyed by children. In case of poisoning, urgent health care! Children with early age you need to introduce this plant and explain that you should never touch it.

Wolf's bast (wolfberry)

About this interesting forest shrub. Very beautiful in spring, wolf's bast is very attractive in August, when its large red berries ripen. However, the whole plant - and leaves, and bark, and fruits - is poisonous!

It should not even be picked up in order to avoid skin burns. Especially - to taste the berries. The result will be severe damage to the gastrointestinal tract.

Wolfberry, or wolf's bast

Wolfberry is a medicinal plant. It is widely used in folk medicine. Yes, and the modern pharmacopoeia is interested in this plant! But this does not mean at all that nature lovers should be “interested” in them (only through the camera!). And even more so, children should be warned about the danger of a wolf's bark!

May lily of the valley

Dangerous and such a very beloved plant, like lily of the valley!

May lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) is the only representative of the lily-of-the-valley genus of the lily family (however, here, too, taxonomy issues are quite controversial and are constantly being refined).

Lily of the valley is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, but especially in Europe. True, due to immoderate fees, the natural habitats of this beautiful plant are constantly shrinking. However, lily of the valley has long been a garden plant.

It is a perennial with a thin creeping rhizome. There are several leaves in the rosette, but the lower ones are very small and inconspicuous, similar to scales. But two large broadly lanceolate leaves with arcuate venation are hard to miss (and confuse with the leaves of another plant). Grows between the leaves flower stalk carrying a cluster of graceful fragrant flowers.

Many years ago, the author came across a small clearing (ten by fifteen meters) in the forest, the grass cover of which consisted almost entirely of lily of the valley leaves! True, it was already the second half of July, and flowering had long ended. it is not for nothing that it is called May, it blooms in May - early June.

Lily of the valley is not only an excellent ornamental, but also a recognized medicinal plant. Recognized not only by folk, but also by official medicine. Preparations from lily of the valley treat the cardiovascular system. The main active ingredients are glycosides convalatoxin, convallotoxol, convalloside. They are obtained from the leaves and flowers of the plant.

But an overdose of the drug can lead to disruption of the heart! Therefore, you should never self-medicate - it is very dangerous!

You can get poisoned just out of curiosity - by tasting beautiful red berries! Especially often this happens again with children! But for the fruits of the lily of the valley it is not necessary to go to the forest. And yes, it's rare! They are common in our flower beds!

Lily of the valley berries (photo from the Internet)

By the way, it’s also not worth collecting large bouquets of lily of the valley in spring, putting them in a vase in a room either - a large amount of substances released into the air is by no means safe for health.

Voronets spiked. Voronet krasnoplodny

Voronets spiky - perennial herbaceous plant from the buttercup family. As you can see in the photo, it has large compound leaves with leaflets serrated along the edges. It grows in shady forests - broad-leaved, mixed, coniferous-small-leaved. In such a secondary spruce-birch-aspen forest with an undergrowth of currants and raspberries. With a developed grass cover, I discovered it. The range of the spiky crow is almost the whole of Europe, the south of the forest zone Western Siberia and Altai.

The whole plant is poisonous! After all, his organs contain a whole set of alkaloids and transaconitic acid. Even juice that gets on the skin can cause burning and blisters. Berries are no exception. Adults can use them out of curiosity and out of ignorance. But above all, children suffer again! But even two or three berries for a child is a significant dose!

True, the plant itself warns of its danger. Its smell is very unpleasant!

Like many poisonous plants, it is used in traditional medicine. Official medicine does not recognize him!

From the berries of the crow, black dye was obtained for dyeing wool.

A close relative of the spiked crow is the red-fruited crow. But if he is an inhabitant of Europe, and in Siberia it is already becoming rare, then the red-fruited raven widely populates the forest zone in the Far East, in Eastern and Western Siberia. It is also found in the north of the European part.

Voronets krasnoplodny (photo from the Internet)

In appearance, it is similar to a relative, differing primarily in the color of the fruits - they are red.

Too strong poisonous plant! The high amount of alkaloids found in all organs of the plant make it potentially dangerous for the curious berry lover!

Although this crow "nobly" warns about itself with a smell so characteristic that it was named "skunk".

The plant is widely used in folk medicine. However, remember:

You need to be treated by specialists! Self-treatment is dangerous, because it can very easily turn into its direct opposite. And such a “treatment” with poisonous plants is especially dangerous!

The fruits of the black crow were also used to obtain black paint. Hence, by the way, the name. After all, “crow” just means “black”.

The whole plant is highly poisonous. Its constituent alkaloids of the atropine group can cause very severe poisoning. The result can even be fatal due to paralysis of the respiratory system and cardiac arrest.

Belladonna (photo from the Internet)

Its range is beech and hornbeam forests of Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Crimea, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, North Africa. AT Krasnodar Territory grown on plantations (for medicinal purposes). Although the plant is very poisonous, meet it in vivo most people in Russia are unlikely to have to. Although, of course, you need to know it! Therefore, in my rating of poisonous berries, its place is by no means the highest.

By the way, "belladonna" in translation from Italian - " beautiful woman". Yes and Russian name consonant. And this is due to the fact that the juice of the plant was instilled into the eyes to dilate the pupils and rubbed their cheeks to enhance the blush. Beauty truly requires sacrifice!

In thickets of bushes, along the banks of water bodies, along wastelands in the European part of Russia, Western and Eastern Siberia, bittersweet nightshade is often found in Ukraine and Belarus.

Its flowers are similar to those of other nightshades, especially potatoes. Oblong red berries are very reminiscent of small tomatoes.

Medicinal plant, very widely used in folk medicine and homeopathy. However, nightshade leaves and berries are poisonous! They should be treated by a specialist!

You should not eat berries (for the sake of curiosity). The glycoside dulcamarine contained in them acts like atropine, causing disorders of the central nervous system, respiration and heart function.

In addition to very poisonous berries, carrying great danger even if they are accidentally consumed, there are berries in our forests ... not that poisonous, but simply inedible. There will be no severe poisoning when using them. But trouble is almost certainly guaranteed! In my TOP of poisonous berries, these plants, of course, will occupy the last places.

The fruits ripen in August. These are black drupes, sitting on cuttings in the axils of the leaves. Buckthorn fruits and bark are medicinal raw materials. They are used by traditional medicine as an emetic and laxative (official medicine recognizes only the bark).

The fruits are readily eaten by birds. In humans, their use can cause unpleasant consequences caused just by their medical properties- that is, vomiting and diarrhea (diarrhea).

Widespread forest shrub with very attractive-looking red berries, sitting mostly in pairs (that's how - in pairs - its flowers sit on the plant). Forest honeysuckle is widely used in landscaping as an ornamental shrub.

Berries are eagerly pecked by birds. For humans, they are inedible, and the consequences can be similar to the consequences of eating buckthorn.

In Eastern Siberia, in the Far East, forest honeysuckle is replaced in nature by a similar species, but already with oblong blue berries covered with a wax coating. These fruits are edible. And the shrub was called edible honeysuckle. It is widely cultivated, often planted in gardens and parks. Sometimes it can get wild. bird-dispersed seeds edible honeysuckle they can also make an “escape to nature”!

In general, you need to remember a simple rule. In nature, you should never "taste" anything you are not familiar with! This applies to plants almost more than anything else. After all, they contain many substances, the presence of which in your body, and even in significant concentrations, can be very undesirable! So poisonous berries may well get caught.

You should also not self-medicate. I would especially not recommend using recipes from the Internet! If you want to turn to traditional medicine, then it's better to find a grandmother who "knows".

That's about all I have for today. And without that, I am writing a short post ... the third day. Not in a blogging way...

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Please comment on the article. It is very possible that you disagree with something. So let's argue...

Wish good mood and more positive emotions that prolong life!

59 comments on “ Poisonous berries. TOP dangerous berries of our forest”

1. Alexander Ivanovich

   Hello, Alexander!
   I read the article with interest. I know almost all these plants by sight. Yes, and I do not neglect the rule
   But I will definitely show these dangerous inhabitants of the forests to my grandchildren. They often go to forest areas with their parents.
   Thanks for the great article!

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2. blacksmiths

   Alexander, I once foolishly ate bearberry in the Kich-Gorodets region. It even seemed delicious to me. Then he vomited all evening.

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3. Alexander

   @ : Alexander Ivanovich, hello! Glad to see you on my blog! Absolutely right, it must be shown.

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4. Alexander

   @ : Alexander, hello! You are, of course, absolutely right. Bearberry is a berry, although not poisonous, but not edible. So she will find a place in my TOP ...
   Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. There is a lot of it in the Ostashevsk forests. But you won’t turn back there quickly ... Bearberry is a very good medicinal plant. Yes, and its features are very interesting. I just don’t really want to write an article with “borrowed” photographs. Maybe we'll meet again in the woods.

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5. Olga Bogach

   A much needed article! Children who grew up in the city do not know what can and cannot be eaten in the forest. Yes, and in cities there are bushes with pretty berries, from which there are poisonings. As a child, my daughter tried berries from a bush, it’s good that she didn’t get poisoned much, she didn’t have to go to the doctor.

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6. Natabul

   I didn’t even know that so many poisonous berries exist. But I know one rule: There is nothing in the forest!

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7. Igor

   Alexander, thank you very much for the article. As an avid mushroom picker and berry picker, such an article will be very useful to me. In nature, we often met raven eye, honeysuckle. Lily of the valley in the south.
   So we have one poisonous berry in the forest, which everyone bypasses. Honestly, I did not find it in your TOP. We call her "wolf's bast"
   Here is the image
   or here
   What is this berry?
   We have one friend she was very poisoned. Went to the forest. Well, there is nothing, he says: no lingonberries, no blueberries ... nothing. She take and eat these berries. In general, it was great food poisoning. Fell into a coma. But then somehow she got out.
   Now I don't go to the forest at all. Honestly, I don’t understand why, it’s so cool there!

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8. Alexander

   @ : Hello Olga! That's right, in childhood, adults explained such things to us in passing - you can’t eat this, this ...
   Concerning various berries in the city, you shouldn't eat anything there. Even obviously edible. Plants take in a lot of air from the air. harmful substances. And even they accumulate. The main goal of landscaping is to purify the air. And plants select those that can withstand this polluted air.

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9. Alexander

   @ : Well, there aren't many poisonous berries in the forest... But they are. And why not eat in the forest, say, strawberries, blueberries or raspberries? Yes to health! You can not taste unfamiliar berries!

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10. Alexander

    @ : Hello, Igor! I had to tinker a little with the publication of your comment, and still only one link passed, and that was changed (closed from indexing). The second, even closed, turns out to be a bat. Therefore, removed. Although both were opened from the admin panel.
    Essentially. Not quite, however, I understood how your friend could be poisoned at the same time by two completely different plants? In the first picture, undoubtedly, arctous is a plant of the heather family, close to bearberry, common in the tundra. Judging by the information that I found - inedible or inedible, but not poisonous. Like our forest bearberry.
    I haven't been able to pinpoint the plant in the second picture yet. This photo roams the Internet from site to site, one and the same, apparently. With signatures like "wolf's bast", "wolfberry". But this is not a wolf's bast (it is also a wolfberry)! The only thing these plants have in common is the color of the berries! Agree, this is not enough! Thus, it turns out that in the language of the military is called "disinformation" (that is, disinformation). In the case of poisonous plants - and the wolf's bark is very poisonous! — such disinformation is not safe, alas. That's why I wanted to post that picture.
    Perhaps I will do this when I can still accurately identify the plant.
    It is difficult to judge from a photograph what the life form of a plant is - what it is: a herbaceous plant, a lingonberry-type shrub or a shrub. If you have seen him in nature, please write.
    But most of all it looks like some kind of honeysuckle. And by the leaves, by their location. And by fruit.

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11. Alexander

    By the way, it is possible to fall into a coma after eating berries. Provided that a person is allergic to them. Unfortunately, sometimes he may not be aware of it! There are people who have an allergic reaction to raspberries, strawberries, etc. And, alas, it can pass not only in the form of red spots on the skin ... Maybe even anaphylactic shock, but this is fraught with consequences of the most serious. So your friend, Igor, should probably consult an allergist.

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12. Svetlana

    Why do some people eat nightshade? I know those. We have a lot of it. Maybe it can be of several types?

    Reply ↓

13. Alexander

    @ : Hello Svetlana! There is another nightshade - black. Here you can eat its berries, they are also used as a filling for pies. But only ripe berries, black, are suitable for food. The unripe, as well as the leaves, stems of the plant contain the poisonous alkaloid soladinin. Black nightshade has white flowers, not the purple ones of bittersweet.

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14. Igor

    @ :
    I don’t know, but this berry grows everywhere with us. People call it that. Unfortunately, I'm not a biologist, so I can't argue with you.
    Low growing shrub. Grows in the forest everywhere. It grows on the hills 50 meters from my house. Often comes across with lingonberries. But it is easy to distinguish - the berries are soft. Not like a strong lingonberry. You press these - they will immediately crush. They will come out with white pulp. The size of a lingonberry. The shape is imperfectly spherical.
    What else…
    And as for the coma... You may be right - an allergy. It was a long time ago, it is difficult to verify this fact.

    Reply ↓

15. Alexander

    @ : Igor, thanks for the description. I'll try to find something in the literature. But I say that it looks like some kind of honeysuckle. And of our honeysuckles, only one is edible - with blue oblong berries, it is with Far East, but very widely settled by man. The rest are inedible.
    And the plants in the photographs are really different ... I am writing about the second picture, the link to which I had to delete (it opens from the admin panel, after publication - “not found”). But this is definitely not a wolf's bast! There are a number of plants that have a local name " wolf berries"(By the way, the forest honeysuckle - too!). And since the country is large, it is still difficult to deal with all the wolfberries. Yes, it's not the name. Just don't take a berry you don't know for sure is edible! There are many perfectly edible mushrooms that we call grebes and never pick. And nothing bad happens to us. As they say, in this case it is better to overdo it ...

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16. Alexander

    @ : If you mean the first picture (the link from your first comment opens) - this is arctous. Creeping shrub, common throughout the Arctic. Close to bearberry. And apparently, like her, inedible. However, I read that the Eskimos eat ... But it was still not an Eskimo who wrote it. Yes, and many plants that we will never eat now were often eaten by our grandparents (and my parents, too), for example, during the hungry war years

    Reply ↓

17. Igor

    Alexander, and you can make tree-like comments. Probably not only I get confused in the comments. Where is the answer, and where is the question, I understand only by meaning. It's very difficult to have a discussion.
    Thank you.

    Reply ↓

18. Alexandra Polina

    I haven’t seen many of the listed berries - but you need to take note, you never know? In general, we try to follow the rule with the children - in the forest, don’t collect or eat anything you don’t know - for one edible berry - five dangerous ones come across.

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19. Alla

    And we ate nightshade in childhood, only black. And alive, thank God. But belladonna... now I will know what it is, otherwise I only heard and read it.
    In the forest, in general, I try not to take anything unfamiliar.

    Reply ↓

20. Alexei

    Interesting article! As a child, my father often showed me which berries were poisonous and which were not. Most often in the forests of the Tyumen region there is a crow's eye, less often - a wolfberry.

    Reply ↓

21. Vadar

    Nothing, there are so many poisonous berries in the forest! Thank you for introducing us to them!

    Reply ↓

22. Anatoly

    My parents took me with my brother of sizmalism to the forest. So in practice we have mastered the basic rule - If there is even a slight doubt, then it is better not to touch the plant. Be it berries, mushrooms, or flowers.

    Reply ↓

23. Galina

    Good night =)
    Interesting article, yes. I planned for myself similar topic open, and tell there that in our forests it’s not worth pulling into your mouth (and indeed, once again touching), but so far I don’t have time, and here summer is already running out, now, if I meet you in the forests dangerous, then I’ll write =) if, of course, I recognize plants =) after all, I’m still a botanist =)) and attentiveness is lame sometimes

    Reply ↓

24. Alexei

    The information is very instructive and the photos are a good visual accompaniment. Many have become very detached from nature. Therefore, poisoning occurs, because some poisonous berries look so appetizing.

    Reply ↓

25. Dmitry

    Familiar berries. From childhood, taught to pass by.

    Reply ↓

26. Alexander

    As a child, my friend and I ate some wolfberries, 10-15 pieces each, and nothing happened to us.
    It was we who then thought that these were wolf berries, but now from the article with pictures I realized that it was “forest honeysuckle”))
    We have a lot of crow's eye in the Urals, but as far as I remember, nightshade was dark in color. Toli blue or black. I also tried it))

Many people enjoy hiking in the forest. Often they are accompanied by picking berries. A fascinating activity, but in the process you need to be careful, because not everything that can be found is edible. And in order to avoid troubles that can manifest itself in indigestion or poisoning, it is worth knowing which berries grow in the forest, and which of them is edible.

Red and scarlet

Due to their color, they are the easiest to see, so the story should start with them. So, what berries grow in the red forest and are edible at the same time?

First of all, it is worth noting lingonberries rich in carbohydrates, carotene and pectin. This sweet and sour wild berry grows on shrubs - undersized evergreen perennials. The fruits are shiny, resembling small red balls (up to 0.8 cm in diameter). Ripens in late summer and early autumn.

Bone is a herbaceous plant with a maximum height of 30 centimeters. characteristic feature are long, sprawling shoots along the ground. The berry is a rather large combined drupe of 4 fruitlets with large seeds inside. The stone fruit ripens in mid-late summer, and to taste it resembles a juicy pomegranate.

Kalina is a small scarlet berry-drupe growing on leaf tree"groups". It is impossible not to recognize her. And it is better to collect viburnum after the first frost. Before them, it has not a sweet, but a bitter and sour taste.

orange

What berries grow in the forest and have this pleasant shade? Of course, cloudberries. It grows on herbaceous semi-shrub plants up to 30 cm high. The fruit is a prefabricated drupe, up to 1.5 centimeters in diameter. It could be confused with raspberries, if not for the delicate orange hue and tart-sweet taste. They are collected in July-August.

Rowan fruits are another edible berry in the forest. Grow in bunches (like viburnum) on tall trees sometimes reaching 10 meters in height. The fruits are dense, small, up to 1 cm in diameter. They taste juicy, but bitter, that's why they don't just eat them - they cook jam, compotes, pour honey or sugar.

Talking about what berries grow in the forest, one cannot but mention sea buckthorn. It is a large shrub, rather like a tree, with bright orange fruits that grow very interestingly. Looking at the photo provided below, you can see that the fruits literally stuck around the twig (in fact, hence the name). So you can't confuse them with anything.

blue shades

Perhaps the most beautiful "berry" color. And not rare. Everyone knows the amazing blueberry. Outside, it is blue, if crushed it will turn purple, and when you remove the skin, you can see that the flesh is green. The berry grows on a branchy shrub, the height of which is usually 30-50 cm (maximum - 1 m). It is easy to confuse it with blueberries (about it - a little later). But lighter stems and a broken receptacle distinguish it. And the blueberry berry has a sour, sugary taste.

What is blueberry? In fact, it can be distinguished from blueberries not only by the above-mentioned features. Of course, these are similar wild berries. Blueberries are still darker, and purple inside. By the way, you can conduct a verification test right in the forest: stain your hand with berry juice, then try to wash it off. It didn’t work, did the dark purple tint remain on the skin? So it's blueberries.

Honeysuckle is a wild berry that has a "blueberry" color, but an elongated shape. It resembles a bell - even the "bottom" is flat. The taste is unique - it has sweetness, bitterness, slightly sour shades. But the most important thing is that blue honeysuckle contains a complex of minerals and vitamins. And it ripens early - in early June.

black

In nature, this shade in its pure manifestation does not exist. But there are a lot of things that are close in color. For example, blackberries. The berry grows on semi-shrubs, the stems of which are covered with sharp thorns - therefore, it is worth grabbing tight gloves for assembly. The fruits are almost black, but are actually dark purple. There is a slight coating that is easy to remove. Blackberries are an interesting fruit. It first grows to its usual size (up to 2 cm), and then acquires a shade - it turns from green to red, then to brown, and then to rich dark purple.

Bird cherry and buckthorn are another almost black berries. They are often confused. The berries are small, round, grow on trees. But the fruits of bird cherry grow in "groups", on pink twigs. From the side it seems that the tree is decorated with long dark earrings. And buckthorn rarely grows - 5-7 berries on branches densely covered with leaves. Cherry has a pleasant sweetish-astringent taste. Buckthorn is bitter-sour and non-aromatic. It is used in medicine and added to alcoholic tinctures.

And, of course, one cannot fail to mention currants. Large berries grow on shrubs with lobed leaves. Currants are not only black, but also red and white. But the sweetest are black berries.

Other forest representatives

This is a strawberry - many go to the forest for this sweet berry. It grows in sunny glades, in the grass. Due to its resemblance to the well-known berry, loved by many with cream, it was nicknamed the "wild strawberry".

In coniferous sphagnum forests, many willingly go for cranberries. Absolutely all of its species are edible. Globular red berries are rich in vitamin C. Its amount is comparable to that of grapefruit, lemon and orange. Cranberries also contain vitamins K, B, PP and many other substances needed by the body. Perhaps this is the most useful marsh-forest berry.

Crowberry is an interesting delicacy. It grows on undersized shrubs, the leaves of which are more like needles. When viewed from afar, it may seem that this is a juniper. But no - it's a bush with edible berries. They are sour, and there is practically no pulp in them. Juice inside! Hence the name. Recommended for removing radionuclides from organisms and making delicious jelly.

What can't be eaten?

Poisonous berries are also enough. Above it was said about blue honeysuckle - and so, there is also red, growing on large bushes. Its berries are round and poisonous, like the fruits of a wolf's bast. Only these are even more dangerous. They look like sea buckthorn - only red and round, they also stick around a twig. You can’t even touch them - the poison is too strong, it can quickly penetrate the skin.

Crow's eye is a berry very similar to blueberries. Just don't confuse him with her. Because it grows very unusually: one (!) berry on a stalk, surrounded by four major leaves. However, in the photo above, everything is already visible.

And finally - the spiked raven. Currant-like berries are hidden under large jagged leaves with an unpleasant bright aroma. Crow berries should not be touched, as well as the plant itself - its juice can cause ulcers and even blisters to appear on the skin. And getting inside will provide severe vomiting and suffocation (fortunately, passing).

So you should carefully look at what you want to put in a basket. The list of wild berries (both edible and poisonous) is very large, but the brightest representatives in every sense of the word were provided above.

Do you want to teach your child to understand wild berries? This question is especially relevant in the summer and autumn, when your child is resting in the country, in the camp, with his grandmother in the village. Of course, today publications produce a lot of all kinds of reference books, but it can be too difficult to put a child behind a book. Whether business a computer! We hope that our short informational article will help you find out the main signs of poisonous and edible berries.

By the way, this information will also be useful to parents, many of whom are not great connoisseurs of the gifts of the forest. After reading the article, you can go to the forest. After all, it is there that you can use the most effective way of learning. Find living "visual aids" in the forest. Show the baby a berry and tell everything you know about it. Children have great memories! Explain which berries grow in our forests and which do not. Show your child plants that should not be touched at all. We are sure that after several similar lessons, your little one will never put a poisonous berry in a basket.

What edible berries grow in the forest: description and photo

20 edible wild berries

Poisonous berries in the forest: how to teach a child to distinguish between inedible and edible berries?

I poisonous forest berries: distinctive signs and symptoms of poisoning

Chairman of the regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society I.V. Pantyushov:

Some berries are quite difficult to distinguish. Edible ones are rich in nutrients, have a sweet and sour taste, but often look like poisonous ones. Usually, edible berries attract birds and animals, so if you see a large number of pecked berries, seeds, peel residues under bushes and trees, then most likely the berry is edible. But this is not a 100% guarantee. Especially poisonous are the berries of small ovoid-spherical shape, which attract attention with their beauty. Often they are slightly flattened laterally. Unlike edible berries, poisonous berries are usually bitter, tart, or astringent in taste. However, it is worth remembering that some fruits are poisonous to such an extent that 3-5 berries are a lethal dose, so you should never try them. Therefore, I advise you to simply walk past an unfamiliar bush or tree with dubious berries.

Reminder for parents

• Do not pick or eat berries that you see for the first time.
• Do not leave children unattended in the forest.
• When going into the forest, be sure to take a first aid kit with drugs that will help provide first aid in case of poisoning with berries.

First aid for a child with berry poisoning: how to help the victim?

• Urgently wash the stomach. To do this, you can use a 2% soda solution. If there is no soda, give a few glasses of ordinary drinking water to drink.
• To accept Activated carbon- 1 tablet per 10 kg. weight.
• Accept any available adsorbent - "Smektu", "Polysorb", etc.
• Give milk, egg white to drink, vegetable oil or any other enveloping agent.
• To relieve pain, you can give an Anestezin or Dikain tablet.
• Fill the loss of fluid with Hydrovit or Regidron solutions.

After providing first aid, try to take the patient to the nearest hospital or first-aid post.

Russian forest! You cannot find other landscapes so rich in colors, tones, shades, as the forests of Russia. Proverbs, riddles are composed about the Russian forest, songs and poems are dedicated to it. How many works are dedicated to him by Russian artists and writers.

Its importance in human life cannot be underestimated. Forests protect water bodies from shallowing, fields from drying out. The forest is a rest from the noise and dust of city streets, coolness in the summer heat.

In addition, our forests are rich medicinal plants, mushrooms, berries. Residents of cities and towns in the season of collecting wild plants rush to forest glades, clearings.

But in addition to a wonderful pastime, nature is constantly testing a person. It is not enough to love her, admire her. It should be well known and understood. After all, many people know about cases of poisoning due to accidental consumption of poisonous inedible plants.

In order not to spoil your mood, not to harm your health, let's talk today about forest plants with inedible fruits. Although the harvest season for most berries and fruits has already passed, this topic is very important. The winter months will quickly fly by, spring will end, summer will come, and we will again go to the forest for berries. But next time we will be more careful, we will learn to distinguish healthy edible forest fruits from poisonous ones. This is especially important for our children.

So, consider the most common forest plants with non-edible fruits in our forests:

. The plant is one of the most toxic. Hemlock root is very reminiscent of appearance crap root. The smell is also very similar. The leaves of the plant are similar to parsley leaves, the seeds are sometimes mistaken for anise fruits.

The plant prefers to settle in wastelands, along roads, in forest ravines, in glades. Often it can be found in gardens, orchards. Hemlock contains toxic alkaloids, especially the coniine contained in the plant is especially dangerous.

(cicuta). The plant smells deliciously of carrots, however, the taste is the same. Its tubers look like turnips or turnips. The plant is large, its tubular stems can reach one and a half meters in height. Milestone poisonous grows along the banks of reservoirs, rivers, lakes, found in swampy meadows. And it can grow right in the water.

The plant is poisonous. It contains the strongest nerve poison - cicutotoxin.

(daphne, wolfberry, wolfberry)- one of the most dangerous plants Russian forest. Moreover, the berries of this shrub are especially poisonous. But when in April the low daphne shrub blooms, you will admire! One wants to inhale the aroma of fragrant scarlet flowers, the smell of which resembles lilacs.

But the aroma is so capable of intoxicating that you can forget the way home! Thistle grows in a leafless forest, in clearings brightly lit by the sun.

The plant is poisonous without exception. Its bark contains the poisonous yellowish resin meserein. But the berries of the wolf's bast are the most dangerous.

Ten to fifteen pieces of berries eaten is a lethal dose for a person. In addition to meserein, the berries contain coccognin, which can cause very serious poisoning.

If a person is poisoned, he has a spasm, his pupils are dilated, he has lost consciousness, you should immediately clean his stomach, give him ice water to drink. After vomiting, solder with jelly, a decoction of flaxseed. After that, the patient should be urgently taken to the hospital.

It is children who most often suffer from wolf's bark. Out of ignorance, the berries can easily be mistaken for red currants. Therefore, explain to the children that berries are inedible, dangerous, and red currants do not grow in our forests.

. A wonderful pretty plant is actively used in medicine. Drops prepared from the plant soothe, strengthen the heart. But lily of the valley is also a poisonous plant. Especially dangerous are its inedible red fruits, which are often seen in the August forest.

The plant has an intoxicating smell, as if warning: dangerous, do not come near.

- the grass is a close relative of the lily of the valley. The name of the plant was due to the black shiny berry at the tip of the stem. Always one fruit per whole low bush, black in color with a bluish veil.

Of course, the fruit of the plant is inedible. The plant contains the poisonous saponin parastiphin. The fruit damages the heart, the leaves have an antispasmodic effect, the root can cause vomiting.

Naturally, contact with the plant is unacceptable! Show it to the children, explain that the plant is very dangerous.

Voronets its appearance resembles an elderberry. The whole plant has toxic properties. The fruits of the crow are black or red, hanging in small tassels. They are inedible and can cause severe poisoning.

Walking through the forest, breathing in the fresh forest air, do not lose vigilance. Forest plants with inedible fruits can cause serious harm to health.

In addition to those listed, there are also fruits of the marsh calla (they are red, similar to the cob), bought officinalis with dark blue fruits, bittersweet nightshade growing between shrubs.

Be careful, protect children from contact with unfamiliar plants. Teach them to identify plants with inedible fruits. Remember, whoever can distinguish them is out of danger in the forest.

Forest berries are much healthier than cultivated berries. Wild berries grow in nature, are not treated with drugs, do not contain radionuclides and heavy metals. Wild forest berries give a full range of minerals, vitamins and other useful elements. However, in the forest you can find not only, but also inedible berries. Let's take a closer look at which berries are inedible and why it is better not to eat such wild berries.

Juniper berries are inedible, and Cossack juniper berries can be very seriously poisoned

Juniper - inedible berry

• Common juniper- an evergreen large shrub or small tree up to 3 m high. The trunk is covered with grayish-brown flaky bark. The leaves are needle-shaped, linear-subulate, prickly, strongly spaced and collected in whorls of three. Flowers - in the form of a dioecious cone, blooms in June. The fruits are a juicy cone-berry, in the first year of life they are green and ovoid, and in the second year they are black-blue, spherical, with a shiny wax coating, equipped with a three-beam groove at the top. The size of the cone is 7-9 mm. Its pulp contains 2-3 greenish-brown trihedral seeds that ripen in the autumn of the second year. Grows in soils with moderate or high humidity, prefers coniferous, especially compound forests, found in clearings, clearings, edges and forest clearings.
• Juniper Dahurian- a less common species, found in small groups or singly in some areas of the Khabarovsk Territory. It grows on rocky slopes, placers and rocks.
• Siberian juniper is a densely branching shrub up to 1 m high with shortened internodes, due to which the whorls of leaves are much closer together. The leaves are shorter and broader and pressed against the branches. The cones are larger and have a more pronounced bluish tint.
• Juniper Cossack- a widespread shrub with very thin branches of the last order. The bark is reddish-gray, the leaves are rhombic, "tightly adjacent to the branches and to each other, they have a hole on the convex side. The fruits are round-oval, up to 7 mm in diameter, brownish with a bluish bloom, contain 2-6 seeds inside. Poisonous!

Juniper berries are inedible

Juniper berries (cones) are not used for food, but are used in Food Industry in the manufacture of fruit drinks, sweets, gingerbread, beer and some alcoholic beverages, and needles and fruits - for smoking meat products. Special care should be taken with Cossack juniper, since all parts of the plant are poisonous due to the content of a significant amount of poisonous sabin oil. Even small doses from this plant, taken orally, cause vomiting, diarrhea, and large ones cause damage to the kidneys and central nervous system (loss of consciousness, convulsions, paralysis). Possible fatal outcome.

Juniper as a medicinal plant

Juniper belongs to strong medicines and has long been used in folk medicine for a wide variety of diseases. Juniper was used for edema, diseases of the kidneys, bladder, cholelithiasis and nephrolithiasis, malaria, gout, rheumatism, stomach diseases, pulmonary diseases (tuberculosis, bronchitis), and some skin lesions. In places where juniper grows, as noted, the air is particularly clean and healing, and this is due to the fact that the plant emits strong phytoncides.

AT modern medicine juniper fruits are used as an antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and disinfectant, diuretic, diaphoretic, analgesic, stone-dissolving, choleretic, expectorant, digestive aid.

Harvesting of juniper cones is carried out in autumn during the period of full ripening by knocking down or shaking off on a tarpaulin spread under a bush. The fruits are sorted, lightly dried in the open air and dried in attics, in sheds or under a canopy. During drying, they must be stirred frequently. It is impossible to dry in ovens or dryers, because with rapid drying, the berries lose their medicinal properties.

Elderberries - not poisonous, however - inedible

Elderberry red - inedible berry

Elderberry - herbaceous, shrubby, woody plants growing in temperate and subtropical zones. There are about 40 species. In Russia, 11 species grow, in particular Siberian red elderberry - medicinal and ornamental plant. It is a shrub with a height of 1.5 to 5 m. They are found in sparse, coniferous and mixed forests with sufficiently moist soil, along the edges, shady slopes of ravines and river banks. The bark of the branches is grayish-brown. The leaves are opposite, unequal-pinnate, compound, with 2-3 pairs of leaflets. In spring, the leaves take on a purple hue due to the increased anthocyanin content. The flowers are small, greenish at first, later yellowish-white, collected in large panicle inflorescences sticking up.

Red elderberry berries are inedible

The fruits of red elderberry are bright red, fleshy in the form of berries with fleshy pulp and yellowish seeds. Leaves, bark and flowers have an unpleasant smell, and the berries are unpleasant in taste. The berries are not poisonous, but they are not suitable for human consumption, although they are readily eaten by birds.

Elderberry as a medicinal plant

In official medicine, elderberry has not yet found application, and in folk medicine it is used to obtain an analgesic, diaphoretic, antitussive, emetic, diuretic, laxative effect.

Buckthorn berries are inedible, but buckthorn bark has medicinal properties.

Buckthorn - inedible berry

Buckthorn - a plant in the form of a tree or shrub up to 4.5-5 meters high. It is found in forest clearings and clearings, loves wet places next to alder. Flowering begins in May - June and blooms all summer until September. Therefore, on one bush or buckthorn tree, you can see flowers, flower buds, green, red and black berries at the same time. Having met such a plant in the forest, even an ignorant person will immediately understand that this is a buckthorn.

Buckthorn berries are inedible

Buckthorn berries are inedible for humans, no one collects them, and they all remain for seeds. But buckthorn berries are a delicacy for a bear, devouring them in large quantities. Willingly eat buckthorn berries and birds. They are the sowers of buckthorn in the forest. Many consider buckthorn fruits to be poisonous, this is due to their strong emetic and laxative effect.

Buckthorn as a medicinal plant

In addition, the bark has medicinal properties and is used in medicine. In medicine, a decoction or extract from buckthorn bark is used as a good laxative for spasmodic colitis and atonic constipation, for regulating intestinal activity, for hemorrhoids, rectal fissures, etc. Buckthorn bark is part of the gastric and laxative tea.

The bark is harvested in May - June, during the sap flow. AT medicinal purposes it is forbidden to use fresh and freshly dried bark, which can cause harmful effects in the gastrointestinal tract. Fit for therapeutic use the bark is considered after one or two years of storage.

The bark and berries of buckthorn are of economic and industrial importance. In industry, buckthorn berry juice was previously used to make yellow and green watercolors. Due to the significant content of tanides in the bark, it is used for tanning leather.

First aid for berry poisoning

The very first aid in case of poisoning with poisonous or inedible berries consists in stimulating vomiting - this procedure will free the stomach from poisonous contents. To do this, the victim needs to be given 2-4 glasses of water (activated charcoal can be added to it - 2 tablespoons per 500 ml, salt - 1 teaspoon per 500 ml or potassium permanganate). The procedure will have to be carried out several times. In the presence of medicines it is recommended to give the patient activated charcoal, tannin, as well as any laxative and cardiac remedy. In the presence of seizures will have to use chloral hydrate. If there is no first aid kit, you can give the patient black crackers, starch solution or milk. It does not hurt to also do an enema (if possible). The victim must be wrapped warmly and taken to the doctor.

Poisonous berries in pictures