The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #168318   Message #4067105
Posted By: Jack Campin
03-Aug-20 - 08:20 AM
Thread Name: Mysterious unsolicited seeds from China
Subject: RE: Mysterious unsolicited seeds from China
Many years ago I heard an episode of the Beechgrove Potting Shed radio phone-in gardening programme where a listener was asking about a thorn apple she'd been induced to grow. That's the English for Datura stramonium. The BPS panel had never heard of it and insisted on mishearing the name as "fawn apple". They finally worked out that it was trouble. I already knew about it, though I'd never seen one, from the psychedelic culture. It's an anticholinergic hallucinogen, producing delirium lasting anything up to days with totally realistic hallucinations and some risk of death or permanent brain damage. Used in some cultures as an ordeal poison. Probably what you'd want to spread around if you wanted people to be afraid of imaginary immigrants and believe in Brexit.