1. Two old ladies told me that their father permitted them to eat the young leaves of whitebeam. These had an almond-like flavour. However, they were permitted to eat only seven at a time as the leaves contained traces of a deadly poison [Wormshill, Kent, May 2003].

Images: main, planted, Dorchester, Dorset; April 2014; inset, Boxhill, Surrey, October 2020.