What was the name of the plant that the guy in "Into the Wild" ate that killed him?
Curious about the appetite suppressing properties of the plant, and how much must be eaten to cause death.
You apparently saw the film instead of reading the book. See the following…
You may be thinking about Hedysarum alpinum, a historically edible plant commonly known as wild potato (also "Eskimo potato"). Check here for more information: /www.adn.com/intothewild/story/219344.html.
Chris McCandless may or may not have died of poisoning–his autopsy revealed extreme decomposition but "no broken bones or internal injuries, no subcutaneous fat on his body, and the muscles had withered significantly prior to death. His body weighed 67 pounds, and starvation was posited as the most probable cause of death". Jon Krakauer, "Into the Wild", Chapter 2.
Penn’s on-screen excerpt from the ethno-botany guide Chris was using, indicating otherwise, is a complete fiction, for all that this plant lore text actually states is that the wild sweet pea “is reported to be poisonous” (Tanaina Plantlore, Priscilla Russell Kari, p. 128). The rest of it is simply made up. And so, even if McCandless made a mistake of botany, something that even Krakauer claims is unlikely, he would not have been poisoned as it is portrayed in the Penn film. Indeed, the author of Into the Wild is right on the mark when he states: “For three weeks beginning on June 24, McCandless had dug and safely eaten dozens of wild potato roots without mistaking H. mackenzii for H. alpinum; why on July 14, when he started gathering seeds instead of roots, would he suddenly have confused the two species?” A good question for Sean Penn.
tifilms.com/wild/call_debunked.htm
It was wild potato, Hedysarum alpinum.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild
You apparently saw the film instead of reading the book. See the following…
You may be thinking about Hedysarum alpinum, a historically edible plant commonly known as wild potato (also "Eskimo potato"). Check here for more information: /www.adn.com/intothewild/story/219344.html.
Chris McCandless may or may not have died of poisoning–his autopsy revealed extreme decomposition but "no broken bones or internal injuries, no subcutaneous fat on his body, and the muscles had withered significantly prior to death. His body weighed 67 pounds, and starvation was posited as the most probable cause of death". Jon Krakauer, "Into the Wild", Chapter 2.
Penn’s on-screen excerpt from the ethno-botany guide Chris was using, indicating otherwise, is a complete fiction, for all that this plant lore text actually states is that the wild sweet pea “is reported to be poisonous” (Tanaina Plantlore, Priscilla Russell Kari, p. 128). The rest of it is simply made up. And so, even if McCandless made a mistake of botany, something that even Krakauer claims is unlikely, he would not have been poisoned as it is portrayed in the Penn film. Indeed, the author of Into the Wild is right on the mark when he states: “For three weeks beginning on June 24, McCandless had dug and safely eaten dozens of wild potato roots without mistaking H. mackenzii for H. alpinum; why on July 14, when he started gathering seeds instead of roots, would he suddenly have confused the two species?” A good question for Sean Penn.
tifilms.com/wild/call_debunked.htm
References :
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