Know your stuff
If you frequent trendy coffee houses you may be familiar with yerba mate. This popular caffeinated beverage is made from holly’s South American cousin Ilex paraguariensisa. As we all know, just because one member of a family is stimulating, that doesn’t mean another can’t be toxic. But are …
No. They are not. I was as surprised as anyone to find the poinsettia’s reputation as a snatcher of young lives is undeserved. Why do we all believe it is so dangerous? Almost 100 years ago a child died in Hawaii, and someone said she was poisoned …
Ah, the winter holidays. Pretty trees and lights, eggnog and gifts, and kissing underneath a little sprig of leaves and berries. It’s ever so romantic, but is that mistletoe poisonous? Mistletoe literally means “dung twig,” owing to its usual means of seed dispersal. The mistletoe …