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What is the purpose of being poisonous and is not being poisonous a relative weakness?
(piefed.blahaj.zone)
this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2026
36 points (95.0% liked)
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I know something about poisonous berries.
They're not poisonous to birds but are to mammals with teeth.
If a mammal would eat them they would crush and destroy the seeds. Birds do spread the seeds though.
We have an invasive Arum Italicum here which has poisonous berries and I thought that was stupid but apparently it's targeted deterrence and it's not stupid.
birds are practically immune to most berries, something to do with thier digestive system, and different receptors for those poisons. they can eat Yew "berries" with no ill effect.
Isn't that the same with capsicum (chili), which wants to be eaten by birds? Until some very dumb mammals came along and said "Oi, noice pain! Me like!"
yeah peppers, marijuana, tomatoes
we like all of that
swallowtails on specific aristocholcia plants, pretty toxic to humans believes its a nasty carcinogen too, but only native butterfly larvae can it, while some aristocholcia that are non native are too toxic even to native butterflies that can eat it.
Tomatoes? What's their defense mechanism?
wild ones protect themselves from tomato hornworms, by releasing a volatile chemical to alert nearby predators, and parasitoid insects. also some produce "Trichome" hairs to prevent cuscuta parasitic plant from latching on. plant defense against parasites is also fascinating.
they're pretty interesting
from poison that disappears the moment the fruit is ripe, to attracting wasps that kill insects, to starving caterpillars that start eating them.
Have you ever touched a tomato plant? The smell is amazing. It's also sticky.
They're closely related to potato plants ( nightshade ) and if you didn't know, potatoe plants make "tomatoes" if you let them flower.
Wait but I've eaten green tomatoes? Are they only safe when they're fried? Or is it more of a mildly sore tummy situation?
Feel free to elaborate on those insect interactions if you feel like it, those sound useful as a gardener.
Hold the fucking phone
I've been growing both these plants for years. And i had no idea about this. Potatoes growing tomatoes? I might need to see this for myself. I assume they're anaemic little things, but still.
Love the smell of toms of course, i didnt know that was a defense mechanism, i thought they just kinda had that smell.
Another fun fact about tomatoes is that since they're in the nightshade family like tobacco, they contain a small amount of nicotine.
So...tomacco?
I believe the proper term is tomatticcus tobaccus but, to each their own.