[DD.]

Don't sound so sorry about it!

[Swing Swang]

Trikidiki,

Thanks for looking this up. I do think that it's only part of the story though. Deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna) is potentially deadly because of the presence of the powerful alkaloid atropine, which is not found in potatoes or tomatoes. In controlled amounts it has been used for cosmetic purposes (DON'T TRY IT), and is still used in modern medicine.

A good description of atropine poisoning is given in one of the 'Shardlake' novels by CJ Sansom (query 'Dark Fire') which is worth a read.

SS

[Trikidiki]

I don't want to labour the subject but unless you know where solanine is produced it would be 'dangerous' to assume that the fruit is just going to be an ordinary tomato.

On a normal potato. If solanine is produced in the roots of a potato and translocated though the plant to the fruit it would likely make the fruits poisonous, which we know they are. Grafting a tomato plant onto the top of a potato is not going to stop the translocation of the solanine, therefore the fruits are as likely to be poisonous as they are on a normal potato.

If solanine is produced in the top of the plant and translocated downwards to the roots then I guess it would be safe to eat the fruit.

If you were given ordinary tomatoes that had been grown on land known to be contaminated with arsenic, would you eat them. After all they're only tomatoes! And by the assumptions stated in previous replies they would not absorb any arsenic into the fruits by way of the roots.

Anybody want to try it? 

By all means try it for fun. I just wouldn't advise you to eat the fruit. At the end of the day its your call, just wouldn't want anyone getting sick without eyes open.

[adri]

perhaps someone's pointed this out already but both the tomato and the potato came from South America...

close cousins.

Nick

[mumofstig]

http://gardenerschoice.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=229

You can buy them here if you don't fancy the grafting yourself, and sue them if they are poisonous..it's ok Trikidiki you've made it plain you won't be trying them 

[bonfire]

Have you tried planting the book?