Are black berries poisonous?

Question

My son is 8 and has been sick today. He has just told me that he ate black berries off a bush by the river yesterday. Can anyone tell me if they are poisonous Please.

Answer 1

no black berries are not poisonous, but if your son got  them off a river anything could of been on them. they are in the wild so i suppose an animal could have done its business on them, has your son had anythingelse to eat today, it could of been something passed its sell by date, anything he could of ate might have gave him sickness.

Answer 2

If they were really blackberries (they look like black raspberries) and not just black berries (which could be anything) they are not poisonous.

You really need to get him to tell you exactly what they looked like.

This is an edible blackberry:

http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/IMP/IMP17...

Answer 3

"blackberries" are not poisonous.  But there are some berries that are poisonous, that may be black.  Like pokeweed.  The berries are round, hang in clusters, and are dark purple to black.

Here are pictures of pokeweed berries.  Ask your son if the berries looked like this:

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=...

Answer 4

GET YOUR CHILD TO AN EMERGENCY ROOM RIGHT NOW!

I don't know where you live, but where I live, blackberries that you can eat, are ripe in late June and July.  I would have him take you to where the berries are and show them to you.  My bet is that they are Poke berries and they may well make you sick.  These are round berries that are found on Poke Weed Plants that are common.  The leaves are edible, but they have some toxins in them, enough to where anyone that I know who cooks them boils them once and pours off the water and then boils them a second time and pours off the water.

The following was garnered from Wikipedia POKEWEED

Toxic Principle Saponins, believed to be the primary toxic constituents, are present in the berry juice and other parts. Other toxic constituents have also been identified including the alkaloid phytolaccine (in small amounts) and the alkaloid phytolaccotoxin, as well as a glycoprotein. When pokeweed is used as food, the water in which it is boiled must be discarded.

Clinical signs

In humans:

The eating of nonfatal quantities of poke, perhaps of the shoots, may cause retching or vomiting after two hours or more. These signs may be followed by dyspnea, perspiration, spasms, severe purging, prostration, tremors, watery diarrhea (often bloody) and, sometimes, convulsions. If a fatal quantity is eaten, perhaps including roots, the above signs are followed by paralysis of the respiratory organs and other narcotic effects, culminating in the death of the poisoned person.

Answer 5

if they were black berries like these they are not poisonous

http://project1.caryacademy.org/echoes/0...

Answer 6

I don't know what kind of black berries they are. There are so many different types. You should take him to an emergency room but first probably call poison control.  They may be able to help you identify the plant. It could be poisonous.  Don't wait, it could be serious.