The purple and yellow flowers of the Bittersweet Nightshade are lovely, but they defy my attempts to photograph them. A few blurs attest to the color, but you can at least see the fruits clearly. These will turn red, and are compared to tiny tomatoes. The Solanum and Atropa genera are both within the Solanaceous family, which includes tomatoes and potatoes, along with a variety of drug plants, widely used in traditional medicine.







The Nightshade fruits are not to be eaten, but Lammas marks the start of the harvest season. Its symbol is bread, made from the first ripened grain. These wild grasses have grown heavy with what the Europeans call corn, (we apply the term only to our exaggerated form), but ages of cultivation have bred the specialized agricultural forms which we grind to make our bread.







Other fruits, or, more properly, fruiting bodies, are available for harvest, but defy our cultivation. The damp weather has encouraged plenty of fungi to come forth. We regard them as intermediate between produce and poison. Some are considered delicacies; others can kill. Know them well before you presume such an intimacy as eating one.











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