When I was little my sister and I, and everyone we hung around with, believed that common sumac (the kind with the big red conelike flowers) was something horribly deadly called "Poison Sycamoe." If you touched it, you would die. Imagine my surprise when I read in a nature book that you could brew the red flowers into a lemony flavored tea!

Anon

My son, Matthew was convinced that the machine we used for cutting his nanny's grass was called a "LAWN LOWER"- and who's to say he was wrong!

Chris Wilson

when i was about 7 or 8 years old, i accidentally swallowed the seed of a calamansi fruit (really really small round version of the lime fruit, except a notch sweeter). i told my guardian about it and she said that i have to get it out of my body immediately because a calamansi plant will grow inside my body overnight. it took my mom about a couple of hours or so to reassure little ol' me that that wasn't gonna happen.

nix

All flowers had exactly five petals and two leaves.

MD Caruso

My sister used to think that dandelions made you wet the bed. I used to chase her round the garden with them making her cry.

T

I used to believe that leaves had feelings , and whenever I was making "soup" in our backyard with crunched up leaves, I'd always say sorry to the leaves that I couldnt crunch up and make into stew.

Julia

my sister and I used to tell our younger brother that the weeds by the fence were actually spinach and that if he ate them he would become strong like Popeye. He did. And he went back for more when he felt he needed more strength.

CRG

My dad told me that when he was little, he thought the trees waved back and forth to make the wind blow.

casey

I used to believe that the tall red plants known as 'hot pokers' were actually burning hot and used to be too scared to touch them in case I got burnt!

Lola

My nana used to have a plant in her which for some reason or another, she said would punch us if we got too close to it. For years I believed that if I went near a this kind of plant (a leucodendron) the flower head would jump out and take a swing at me.

Just to be safe I kept a respectable distance!

Anon

When I was young I used to believe that when a tree lost it's leaves in autumn, It meant that the leaves turned into crows and ravens so they could fly away.

Karasu

When I was about 5 or 6, an older kid at my Day Care told me that if I put a stick in the ground and stuck a leaf on it near the top, it would grow into a tree. I believed him, so everyday when we were out on the playground, I would take a stick, stick a leaf on top, and stick it in the mulch around the jungle gym..Then I would yell at anyone who even touched it "YOU'RE KILLING MY TREE!"

Amanda

When I was little I thought that a "wallflower" was a kind of flower that grew on walls.

A. Nonny-Muss

I used to think that grass only grew during the time people were standing on it. How else could I understand the shoe-shaped tufty bits in the lawn at home?

Anon

Long grass with black seeds were really ant hotels, and the seeds were sleeping ants.

angelsheep

i was convinced that evergreen trees were maple trees and i wouldn't go near them because I saw an evil looking one in Snow White.

Anon

We have a garden at my parents' house and when I was five we sowed carrot seeds. I looked at the package of the seeds and what I saw I thought were sausages so I asked my mom: are we going to sow sausages too? she answered those are just thick carrots....

Setanta

I used to believe that you had to plant sprouts in order to get cabbage trees.. lol I know, I feel so stupid now!

Stevek

i used to believe that if i looked at trees, the wind would start blowing.

Anon

If I smelled a dandelion, I would wet the bed.

Anon