Jimson weed, of course, is the substance that Carlos Castaneda and his brujo tripped with. At one point Castaneda asked his brujo if they had really flown in the air? His brujo replied with something like "you tell me." This response is typical religious thinking, if such can be termed thinking at all. Religious thinking seems to hold that you can make something real if you believe in it fervently enough. Nature however refuses to change in spite of your heartfelt wishes. For example, some months ago, I was walking along when a sudden dip appeared in the paving under my feet. I nearly fell on my face. I had believed that the pavement was flat and wasn't watching my footing. Nature refused to cooperate and make the pavement smooth for me. So, based on my own experience, even though I was not there, I can assure Castaneda that he did not fly.
Hawthorn berries make a delicious jelly. Tastes kind of like honey.
Sweet Gum trees exude a hard, clear jelly when they are injured. Before the wide availability of chewing gum, people used to chew this jelly. The tree I found had no injury, so I created one in the hope of tasting the gum.
Spice bush berries were used as a substitute for allspice. The plant comes from the same family.
Most parts of pokeweed are deadly poisonous. The juice from the berries is not poisonous but the seeds are. Just about the only parts of the plant that are not poisonous are the young shoots in the Springtime. The PA Dutch eat them as a Spring tonic. Tastes kind of like asparagus. The shoots are safe enough as long as they are under a foot tall and have no redness in the stems.
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