Herb Lore

What's the climate? - that would make a difference too.

Lily-of-the-valley might do--it's a springtime plant that grows in France. Check out the symptoms of poisoning here.

What about a nice toadstool risotto or omlette? Maybe she could substitute some toadstools for some mushrooms they have on hand.

Dogsbane would give them a good case of the barfs for about 24 hours.

Cascara aka bitter cascara

You might research the various types of types of datura. (Like Jimson Weed)

They can cause disorientation which lasts for hours, but aren't fatal except in high doses. It would totally incapacitate someone, and you could also have some fun with descriptions of effects.

mayapple

will damn near kill you. it grows in the u.s.--farther east than kansas--iowa, missouri, like that. jimpson weed will really screw with the mind. it grows in the southwest. it blooms about now. pretty plant. the seeds are in a prickly burr shaped pod. of course there is alwyas peyote. and in an indoor setting there is a plant called "dumb cane" --decorative but supposed to cause numbness or inability to speak. my grandmother used to grow that as a houseplant. we were always going to experiment with it on our littler cousins. kind of glad we didn't--s6

rugcat said:

You might research the various types of types of datura. (Like Jimson Weed)

They can cause disorientation which lasts for hours, but aren't fatal except in high doses. It would totally incapacitate someone, and you could also have some fun with descriptions of effects.

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I second the datura. You could have a lot of fun with that.

datura

used to be planted as an ornamental in my old college. came the hippy days and it was exterminated because of its 'powers and abilities.'. this summer i was visiting the campus and had to grin when i saw it was back in the campus flowerbeds.--s6 ps--i think this is what my dad called jimpson weed. hell on cattle.

shakeysix said:

will damn near kill you. it grows in the u.s.--farther east than kansas--iowa, missouri, like that.

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An addition about the mayapple--the fruits are edible, but the rest of the plant (including the seeds in the fruits) are poisonous.

Tomato and potato plants are related to the nightshades. It's the leaves you want to avoid eating. There's a story that potatoes took a long time to catch on in England after their initial introduction because some royal chef didn't realize it was the potatoes you eat, not the leaves, and served a mess of potato greens up to the queen or king or whoever. It made everyone who ate it sick. Sorry I don't have the details on that story!

I think it was in France where the potato grower had troops to guard the fields - just so the peasants who were suspicious of the crop would think it was valuable and get in to steal it!