In article <tqubp1lla6e1ighl6s6jqf2i9lbk157srv@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 17:08:54 GMT, Siobhan Burke
<Minnaloushe@CARRIERearthlink.net> wrote:

In article <cs04p1poaigaroi4acuo12ovl0og96at93@4ax.com>,
stoney@the.net says...

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 12:34:40 GMT, Siobhan Burke
<Minnaloushe@CARRIERearthlink.net> wrote:

In article <1133471003.274814.15870
@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,

Robibnikoff wrote:

"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote in
message news:BbqdnR-GHen1dhfeRVn-gg@comcast.com...

snip

They might consider picking up the fruit before the
moose gets there. If this is too much for them, their
neighbors could help. Sheesh! I can't believe this is a
true story.

I could definitely see it happening. I remember when the
berries would
ferment on a certain bush by the libraries on the campus
of the University
of Florida. You'd always knew they'd gone over the edge
by the amount of
mocking birds that flew into the sides of nearby
buildings ;)

I bet they were pyracanthus berries. We had those bushes
when I was a kid, and was warned six ways from Sunday not
to eat the berries because they were poisonous. The birds
would eat the berries, then fall on their backs on the
lawn, drunk as skunks (I later learned). Always wondered
who came along and picked up the dead birds each night.

We had a yard full of those bushes when I lived in CA. The
robins were always getting plastered and passing out on the
lawn. We'd pick them up and put them in a box on the patio,
and then the dog started to do it. She'd watch over them
until they sobered up, too. Else they'd have been a
smorgasbord for the neighborhood cats.

When I attained adulthood, I finally managed to convince my
folks that pyracanthus berries were not only not poisonous,
but were good to eat. I've made jelly out of them, the
taste is rather like that of a tart apple.

Damn! I fell for the poison story. And I don't think that
pyracanthus will grow here (zone 5/6).

You mean Pyracantha?

http://www.mysterypartners.com/pix/snow0102.jpg

Dem's da bunnies. My catalogues only list species hardy to
USDA Zone 7--winter lows 0° to 10° F. Here in Zone 5 it's -20°
to -10°, on average. Sometimes it's colder. Thanks for the
picture--reminds me of that time in the seventies when we got
six inches of snow in Dublin, CA. :)

In the midwest there's a tree which has berries similar to these
only they're orange. Have no idea what the name of it is, but we
were told the berries were poisonous.

Remember that tomatoes were considered poisonous for a long time,
and in fact every part of the tomato plant except the berry is
poisonous. Perhaps some people tried to make a salad from the
leaves.