SLOBBER WEED

Pilocarpus pennatifolius
Actually, youre the one who will drool. The 1898 Kings American
Dispensatory reported on the plants powerful effect on the salivary
glands, stating that the secretion of saliva increases to such an extent as to
greatly embarrass speech, the person being often obliged to assume an
inclined position that the escape of the saliva may be facilitated. During its
salivary action one or two pints of saliva, and even more, may be secreted.
Dont try this as a party trick, however. The drooling is often followed by
hours of nausea, dizziness, and other unpleasant symptoms. Other plants that
make you drool include the betel nut, which produces bright red saliva, as
well as the Calabar bean and pencil tree, both of which also bring on
unpleasant and sometimes fatal side effects.


During slobber
weeds salivary
action one or two
pints of saliva, and
even more, may be
secreted.




Pilocarpus pennatifolius is known, along the Amazon river, as jaborandi. In
English, we call it by a translation of that word; "slobber weed." It
does exactly what it says.
In Brazil, it is occasionally taken to bring on sweat and to cure dry mouth. It
certainly does the latter. Someone who chomps down on slobber weed is
sometimes forced to bend with their head over a bucket as they bring up pints of
saliva. They drool continuously for hours. Some have to be kept hydrated by
doctors.
People used to think that this was the result of irritation to the mouth that was
flushed by saliva. Actually, slobber weed hacks your parasympathetic nervous
system. Tears, urination, digestion, and even sexual arousal are known to be
associated with the secretion of liquids. The parasympathetic nervous system is
in charge of that. It takes charge, in part, with the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine. This is remarkably similar as far as the nervous system is
concerned to the alkaloid pilocarpine, which resides in slobber weed. Once the
weed is ingested, the body reacts as if the parasympathetic nervous system has
issued an insistent command to produce drool.
This plant occasionally freaks out horse owners, as sometimes horses will eat
some of the weed and drool for days. Although it might be pleasurable to
contemplate adding a bit of slobber weed to someone's dish, things can get more
serious than just sweating and drool. Dizziness, nausea, and prolonged sickness
can also kick in. Perhaps it's best to just know your power over others without
using it.








Dieffenbachia spp.


DIEFFENBACHIA
Common houseplant. Contains calcium oxalate crystals that can burn the
inside of the mouth, cause drooling and swelling of the tongue, and
possibly lead to kidney damage.
Nicknames include dumb cane and mother-in-law's tongue. It induces
muteness by causing swelling of the vocal cords. It's not toxic but the swelling
can potentially choke the victim, so it's not really suitable for casual pranking.

Habanero Chile
CAPSICUM CHINENSE
Imagine: a pepper so hot that popping one in your mouth could send
you to the hospital. At first, your eyes will water and your throat will
burn; then youll start to have trouble swallowing. Your hands and face
will go numb. If youre particularly unlucky, youll go into respiratory
distressall over one fiery habanero pepper.
COMMON NAMES:
Habanero
Just a handful of peppers vie for the title of worlds hottest, and they
are all varieties of Capsicum chinense, commonly called the habanero.
The small orange Scotch bonnet variety lends its unique flavor to
Jamaican dishes. Another strain, Red Savina, earned a Guinness World
Record in 1994 for the hottest pepper, with a Scoville rating of over
500,000 SHU. But the hottest habanero in the world may come from
Dorset, England, an area not known for its spicy cuisine.
An English market gardener developed Dorset Naga from the seeds
of a Bangladeshi pepper. The best seedlings were selected and grown,
and after a few successive generations they had a pepper so hot that it
could hardly be used as a flavoring. You could hold the pepper by the
stalk and rub it against your food, but to do more than that would be to


tempt fate. Two American laboratories tested the peppers using a new
technology, high-pressure liquid chromatography. The heat levels
approached 1 million SHU. As a comparison, the pepper spray used by
police officers clocks in at 2 million to 5 million SHU.
Strangely, the active ingredient in hot peppers, capsaicin, does not
actually burn. It stimulates nerve endings to send a signal to the brain
that mimics a burning sensation. Capsaicin does not dissolve in water, so
grabbing for the water jug to put out the fire in your mouth is useless.
However, it will bind to a fat like butter, milk, or cheese. A good stiff
drink is also in order, as the alcohol works as a solvent.
But nothing could protect you against the power of Blairs 16 Million
Reserve, a so-called pharmaceutical grade hot sauce made of pure
capsaicin extract. A tiny one-milliliter bottle of the clear potion sells for
$199 and comes with a warning that it must be used
forexperimental/display purposes only and never as a flavoring for
food.