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THE POTATO HAS POISONOUS RELATIVES 
I SN’T IT ODD that the po¬ 
tato, which yields so much 
food for man, is a prominent 
member of a family of poison 
plants! 
i 
The potato is a member of 
the nightshade family. At 
the head of that family 
stands the deadly nightshade, a bushy plant well known 
in England. It bears cherry-like berries that have caused 
English mothers much trouble, for children are likely to 
gather and eat them. 
When Europeans came to America, they found a num¬ 
ber of plants which were promptly and properly set down 
as nightshades, but which did not exist on the other side 
of the ocean. 
One of these was tobacco. The formation of its leaves, 
flowers, and seeds set it down as a nightshade. The poi¬ 
son of this nightshade produced certain effects which had 
led to its use by the Indians for a purpose then unknown 
in Europe. The practice of smoking grew out of these 
nightshade qualities. Tobacco has since become one of 
the most widely used plant products. 
Then there is the tomato. It, too, is a nightshade. Its 
fruit was long believed to be poisonous. It was known 
as the love apple. It first came to be cultivated in gar- 
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