Richard Mabey - Food for Free- gives a number of uses for the flowers and the berries, doesn't mention odour, except of the young leaves, and doesn't mention poison. Geoffrey Grigson - The Englishman's Flora- includes customs and beliefs, and mentions the tree's stink. Leaves again. Not the flowers.

I rinse them to get rid of the bugs, and also look out for the white spiders which match the flower colour.

Penny