OK this is scary...

Here is Clancy picking flowers during a recent camping trip, it looks innocent and harmless enough, unless you know that the flowers he is picking are from a Foxglove or Digitalis Purpurea plant. I never would have known that this plant is poisonous except that my mom saw the pictures of our camping trip and calmly warned me not to let him play with that plant! I googled Foxglove and the Wikipedia entry caused me to utter a hurried prayer of gratitude that Clancy didn't die from this seemingly harmless activity.

Just to give you an idea, here is the portion of the Wikipedia entry that describes the toxicity of the plant:

"The entire plant is poisonous (including the roots and seeds), although the leaves of the upper stem are particularly potent, with just a nibble being enough to potentially cause death. Early symptoms of ingestion include nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, abdominal pain, wild hallucinations, delirium, and severe headache. Depending on the severity of the toxicosis the victim may later suffer irregular and slow pulse, tremors, various cerebral disturbances, especially of a visual nature (unusual colour visions with objects appearing yellowish to green, and blue halos around lights), convulsions, and deadly disturbances of the heart."

So, I guess while I was a little shaken by Clancy picking up a slug on a recent trip to a blueberry farm, I had no idea about his earlier brush with a potentially lethal plant. I guess it is just a testimony to me that Clancy is being protected by a power greater than my constant worrying and hand sanitizing.