Not that I'd be tempted with this one, but I'm reminded — this is my first summer in a home outside Asheville, North Carolina. And I'm finding a surprising number of plants which grow in my hillside yard are edible and medicinal ... but not this one:
"Cuckoo Pint" is described as "highly poisonous."
(P.S. I've learned that "pint" here has a rather, um, colorful etymology.)
I'm in the mountains of North Carolina. Wikipedia tells me Cuckoo Pint is not native here. But there are several in the overgrown bank behind my house, as are a few other non-native plants in the area.
I also have a Rose of Sharon flowering in the front yard, which I read is native to China, but there are a number of them in my neighborhood.
i had the misfortune to eat one of its young leaves once, as it was in a local salad bag with its semi-lookalike ramsons (wild garlic) and husband didn't think to examine each leaf when he washed the salad. (why would he? but you can bet he does now!)
it was not a pleasant experience.
yikes!
This is a leaf from the Cuckoo Pint.
(And that original picture was from last spring; there are several more of the plants in that location here now.)
very yikes. i felt pretty rubbish for a few days and drank *a lot* of charcoal!
the young leaves look much more delicate than that and much more like wild garlic. and they often grow together, so eek! i don't eat wild garlic now (or anything which it in), just in case ...
Cab
bodhidave
laen🪻