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Uh-oh... Pfizer, Mother Nature Beat You To It: "Grow-Your-Own Viagra"

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DeSwiss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 01:39 AM
Original message
Uh-oh... Pfizer, Mother Nature Beat You To It: "Grow-Your-Own Viagra"
SOURCE: Independent News

Grow-Your-Own Viagra Craze Hits Britain's Garden Centres
By David Randall
Published: 01 April 2007

A chance discovery by a Berkshire allotment-holder that a plant widely available in garden centres has the same effect on men as Viagra has been confirmed by experts at one of the world's leading botanical institutions.

The plant is Winter Flowering Heather, and botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, many of them heather experts who have recognised the source of its active ingredient, now expect it to be the next must-have plant in British gardens. Demand is already high. Nurseries and garden centres in some areas are having trouble finding sufficient supplies as word spreads of the plant's unexpected properties.

A spokesman for Wyevale Garden Centres, which has 106 UK branches, said: "At first, it was just a trickle of inquiries, but now stores are virtually being besieged each weekend. We have had men buying dozens of the plants and, at one store in Croydon, there were men old enough to know better fighting over the last remaining trays."

The latest gardening craze was triggered by a discovery by a 55-year-old furniture restorer, Michael Ford, on his allotment. He was always experimenting with drinks made from different plants and one day he tried an infusion from his winter-flowering heather. He said: "The effect was almost immediate. I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street."

more: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2411405.ece


*** - So, do I pop a pill, or make a tea from the flowers. Hmmmm.......

:think:
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Richard Steele Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 01:43 AM
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1. So, how long until possession of Winter Flowering Heather is illegal?
You just know Pfizer is already looking into making that happen.
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DeSwiss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 01:47 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. I'm sure the DoJ is working on making it illegal as we speak... n/t
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loudsue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 01:51 AM
Response to Original message
3. Do they have "April Fools" in Great Britain?
Edited on Sun Apr-01-07 01:52 AM by loudsue
:rofl: ""It's amazing. My husband has never shown any interest in gardening before, but now he's out there night and day fussing over his heathers. Frankly, I preferred it when he left the garden to me and wasn't so frisky." :woohoo:


Dontcha love the Brits? I wonder if it works for women, too?
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Richard Steele Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 01:55 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. Good point. I already fell for another April Fools joke not 2 minutes ago...
And, yes, I've seen some pretty good ones come
out of Britian. They sounded a lot like this, now
that I think about it.

Hmmmmm......:shrug:
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DeSwiss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 01:58 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. All I know is...
...I'm like your husband. I just want to feel my hands in dirt right now. (whoops!) But I've got a hankering for some new flowers for this year's garden.

Hey! I know. What about some Winter Flowering Heather. I want you to know that I came up with this idea independent of the article.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :P
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Berry Cool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 09:50 AM
Response to Original message
6. What I like is how they suggest steeping the flowers in "neat alcohol"
especially "a quality full-strength vodka." :rofl:
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fed-up Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-01-07 11:18 AM
Response to Original message
7. I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street. nt
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