Hello, I was hoping someone can identify this tree for me before one of my neighbours does something stupid. She wants to eat the berries, but has no idea what they are and I certainly am no botanist. I told her not to touch them until I can figure it out and frankly, I am lost. So here are some pictures. Also, I am in the lower mainland, if that helps. Thanks everyone!
Prunus laurocerasus may be. If so, than both, berries and leaves are toxic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_laurocerasus#Toxicity
Oh, wow. Yea, that looks like it. If not, it's definitely some sort of laurel. Thanks a lot for your input. I just informed my neighbour and she was kind taken aback, asking why someone would plant a toxic tree, etc. The property it resides on is that of a heritage house, and looks like it was planted about the same time the house was built. Cheers again
Someone needs to inform her that there are a lot of toxic ornamental plants. Cherry laurel (not a real Laurel) are very common ornamental plants, even in new plantings. So are daffodils, which are poisonous to animals and right at their level.
A lot of the public in first world countries think that all manner of things are regulated including where seeds are dropped and where snakes may travel. Even fairly well educated people are sometimes surprised when they discover potentially dangerous things in suburbia. Thank you for looking out for your naïve neighbor.
The berries are technically poisonous, but you'd need to eat quite a lot to be poisoned, and they taste so revoltingly bitter / astringent, that there's no way you'd ever eat enough to get poisoned. So in practice, it is safe. That actually applies to most poisonous plants, there's very few that are real dangers to people, combining high toxicity without a bad taste.
She's a nice person, just not really the sharpest knife in the drawer. The area I live in had a huge English population back in the late 1800s that brought all sorts of semi-exotic trees and shrubs with them when they immigrated here and built their houses. The house where this tree is was built around 1890. She was curious about this tree because about a block and a half away is another tree that produces a red berry that people of middle eastern and pan-asian descent harvest the fruits from. She was figuring since those berries are being eaten, then these ones must be ok. I wanted to tell her that that is not how biology works, but instead just said I'll look it up for her and not to touch them until I give her an update. It as just kind of weird to me because holly trees grow naturally here and she knew they were poisonous. Yea, she actually ate one while I was trying to look it up on my smart phone. And so when I said they were poisonous, she started to panic a bit. I told her she would have needed to eat a bowlful in order to become really sick by them, just to kind of calm her down..
