Bill Van made a recent post commenting on mushrooms and the inherent dangers. The taste test is not license to start ingesting small amounts of anything from lichen to redwood trees. Many plants evolved ignorant of the 24 hour rule ;O) Avoiding known groups with many poisonous members such as mushrooms altogether may be a prefered strategy. Some illegal immigrants died here in California after eating mushrooms. All the medical resources of a modern hospital couldn't reverse the liver damage. Knowledge of a few key plants for a given region AND WHERE THEY ARE is essential. I once went on a botony class hike to a major park named for one indicator species.The class was dumbfounded at not seeing a single specimen-until the instructor pointed to the canyon faces we were passing ( another lesson in occasionaly looking behind you on a trek) to reveal thousands. Anecdotal information is just that. Ethnobotonies, flora guides etc. need to tell which part and when they can be eaten. A conquistadore found himself lost and opted for a quick suicide by poisoning. He boiled a porridge of a known deadly root. He survived, and sutained himself on it until returning to his base. It is a food still suspect to residents of hospitals. It is Tapioca pudding ;O)