@officeladythyme
replied to your photoset “Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) Like their evergreen cousins the…”

can you eat these lol

Contrary to the invitingly exotic sweet smell they give when crushed (kind of reminded me of Magnolia seed coating for sweet smell), the majority of sources say “no they are too toxic” (especially the berries, some “herbalism” texts say you can make tea from the leaves but with so many warnings on toxicity I really wouldn’t). Apparently it produces a chemical that’s similar to caffeine, so when poisoned they say its akin to caffeine overdose.