DS has eaten wild berries he found on a tree - help

[Hoohaahoo]

I don’t have a photo of what he has eaten but it was shaped like a cherry but smaller. It had a pip in the middle and was dark red. It came off a tree, no idea what the tree looks like.

Does anyone know what berry this could be and is it safe? Dh is being very blasé about it but I am worried.

It sounds like a wild cherry but as others have said you need to know for sure. You must locate the tree and confirm if it is a cherry or not.

Possibly cherry tree bark, but poor picture. Get out of the car a take decent pics of leaf, berry and bark!

It looks like it might be a cherry. Can you can get a closer pic of the fruit and the leaves?

You're DH is being a fool, no-one should eat berries they don't know, especially red ones.

I was thinking the bark is cherry-ish too.

Fuck knows. It could be any tree, if he won’t show me j can’t check, there are thousands of trees round here.

I’m going to have to assume it’s safe or he would have spat it out. The branch he brought back has no spikes or anything on it. I know spikes usually mean keep away.

Looks like a cherry tree. It is certainly cherry season now.

If your DH is blase is he prepared to eat an equivalent amount just to be sure?

If you can’t positively identify what he’s eaten, it’s hospital.

Yew tree berry seeds for example, can be found growing in parks - and apparently taste quite nice. A couple will kill you. Just because it’s in a public place, doesn’t mean it’s automatically safe.

Probably a cherry
In general if the leaves aren't glossy the plant isn't poisonous.

There are plenty of deadly berries - laburnum and nightshade spring to mind (it's not those) so no you aren't over reacting

Hospital if you can't identify what he's eaten!

You should assume it's not safe not that it is safe!

Cherries have stones not pips.

Cherry trees have quite distinctive smooth bark with kind of wrinkles horizontal

From now on, you need to teach the message that "berries are for birds", and we must leave them for them to eat.

DO NOT ASSUME it's safe! My ds ate a juicy red berry caught on the buggy wheels when he was small. It was a yew berry. He did not spit it out (the whole point of a berry is to be tasty so birds and animals eat them then disperse the seeds within). The branches are not spiky. NHS Direct said straight to A&E. They kept him in.

Why can’t you take your ds back to identify the tree? And take a proper photo of the leaves.

Your dh is being highly irresponsible BTW.

There’s an app that can identify trees & plants.

This wasn’t my doing, I have always said not to eat things you find.

I don’t need a telling off for this.

I’m going back out to find the trees he’s pointed out.

He said it was these ones.

I would take him to A&E op, sorry.

Take a picture of the fruit to FB and search for ‘emergency poison help’. There is a group on there with worldwide members and loads of experts who will respond with knowledge and expertise to tell you if you should be worried. It’s a brilliant group.

When I was a child I did the same thing. My mum promptly gave me salt water to make me sick. While my friends mum looked them up and they were fine.

I am in no way suggesting that salt water is v a good option. But if I were you I would find them and do a google picture search in the first instance.

Sorry op I wouldn't just assume it was safe either. I think you need to go back out and find the tree, get some berries from it and get someone to identify it just to be sure. Nobody is giving you a telling off because it happened, I'm sure he isn't the first child to do it, but I do think you need to try and find out what it was.

A picture of the berry itself would help but as a general rule all berries are for birds and never to eat anything. I’d probably play it safe and go to the hospital, in fact I’d have already been there I think. Or at least rung out of hours and got a picture of the berries or the actual berry itself and brought it along.