I used to think that if I poured water on the grass compost heap in the back yard then covered it with more grass, 10 minutes later there would be cotton balls under the fresh grass. I recall doing this once and having it work - or maybe this was a dream.

Anon

I must have been home sick the day they taught this in school but in some amazing way I managed to miss the truth about raisins. I was well into my 20s before I found out that they are actually dried grapes. (I had been wondering for years why I never saw a raisin plant.)

Anon

When I was a kid I was told that umbrellas grew in the rain. When it rained they bloomed into big, fully grown umbrellas and the closed up ones had to get wet before they got bigger.

Anon

My brother, after seeing a field of just planted tomato vines (nothing visible but rows of 20inch high wooden steaks) believed it was a farm that grew wood sticks.

Chris G.

I used to believe that we had to be really quiet when we went mushroom hunting. Otherwise the mushrooms would hide. (My Dad told us this to keep us in line) I think it was jr high biology when I learned the truth.

mark

When I was little I was afraid to cross a field with dandelions in it because I thought the dandelions were real lions and that they would attack me.

Jessica

My brother, sister, and I had a HUGE climbing tree in our front yard. We named it Ms. Hokewell (I have no idea how we came up with that name). We would talk to the tree and "spend time with Ms. Hokewell". If any of her branches came off or someone hurt Ms. Hokewell, my brother, sister and I would get upset, and try to tape the branches back on or wrap any "injuries" up in bandages. We really thought that "she" had a mind of her own.

Lydia

An aunt of mine told me that laburnum could kill me (because of its poisonous seeds/flowers). She didn't specify *how* it could kill me though, so I thought it... radiated deadly gases or something. I'd get horribly panicky if I had to walk past a laburnum tree in someone's garden or something, ever.

C.

When I was little my brother and sister convinced me that if you planted a sesame seed in the garden a plant would grow out of it, which would have a load of T.V's on it which showed "Sesame Street"...

Anon

I always wanted to play in the lawn sprinkler when I was little, but my mom knew I would track mud and water into her clean house. So she told me grass is very sensitive when it is wet and if you walk on it you will bruise it and kill it. For years I carefully stuck to the sidewalks after every rain, and chided people who walked on wet lawns.

Anon

My parents used to tell me and my sister that broccoli was baby trees. So we would think, "Wow, we're eating trees! Just like giraffes!" and would eat all the tops and leave the stems on the sides of our plates. Hey, at least we ate some of it.

And although we never believed it, we still refer to cauliflower as "albino rabbit brains."

Dragonfly

When I was little I believed that trees were already completely formed under the ground.They pushed themselves out of the ground and when only the tops were showing it became a bush or hedge.

Thea

My father had an invisible jelly-bean tree in our backyard. Only he could find it, at night, and pick the beans.

My brother and I were so upset when we found the bag of jelly beans one year when we were looking for Christmas presents.

Hannah

When I was younger, I believed that "Forsythia" bushes were "For Cynthia" bushes, so I naturally took to them as a favorite flower.

Cynthia

i used to think that when you smelled dafodils, if you put your nose in the middle bit, it would close like a venus fly trap and bite your nose off

rab1993

My mum always told me not to put my nose too close to flowers to smell them because insects would crawl in and eventually make their way to my brain and never come out again.

Cathy

I used to think that dandilions were marshmallows on grass

Vernon D'Souza

It was common "knowledge" where I lived that if you picked dandelions then you would wet the bed.

Holly

when i was about four, i remember being at my grandparent's house eating a hamburger. and i got the brillant idea that if i planted the seseame seeds from the bun in the ground, that i would have a hamburger tree!!! however, a hanburger tree never grew....

marisa

My father told me that cotton grew inside aspirin bottles. I believed it for a long time. I still think of him when I open up a new pill bottle and pull out the cotton.

Harry