Plants and Society 7th Edition by Estelle Levetin ,Karen McMahon

تمرين 11

Many cultures incorporate poisonous plants into their diets by devising methods to detoxify the poisonous components. Several cultures have evolved novel methods to process hydrogen cyanide from bitter varieties of cassava (see Chapter 14). Milkweed pods are a favorite food of the Omaha Indians; the cardioactive glycosides are rendered harmless during cooking.
Speculate as to how poisonous plants were first identified by indigenous peoples, why cultures chose to eat poisonous plants, and how methods of detoxification were devised for these plants to become a mainstay of the daily diet.