The popular myth is that members of the nightshade family are harmful, if not poisonous. Linda Black Elk puts this myth to rest. As an example of one of many plants in this family Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum) has edible black berries that Linda eats and doesn’t die! In fact, she tells us that it tastes like a cross between huckleberry and tomato. Indeed, many common edible plants including potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and even eggplant are all members of the Nightshade family.
Linda believes that these plants may be the subject of botanical racism, in that traditional plants often have the colonial reputation of being either harmful or useless, when in fact they were important elements of indigenous life.
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