Before asking her Instagram fans what the fruit is, the Clueless star had posted a video of herself eating it on Monday. You can find the video here.
After sharing a video of herself appearing to consume a toxic fruit in England, Hollywood star Alicia Silverstone has informed her fans that she is “alive and well” on the internet.
On Monday, the popular American actress, who is best remembered for her performance as Cher in the film Clueless, which was released in 1995, posted the video on her Instagram account.
Before enquiring about the nature of the fruit, she can be seen in the video biting on a small orange fruit that resembles a cherry tomato.
Solanum pseudocapsicum, most popularly referred to as the Jerusalem cherry, was the fruit that users of social media began to wonder about.
The Royal Horticultural Society warns that the fruit is “harmful if eaten” due to its moderately toxic composition.
The 47-year-old is standing in the street in the video, with the plant seen on the other side of a fence.
She says in her video: “Okay, I’ve discovered something that I can’t figure out what it is, and I need your help.
“I just bit into it because I was on the street and we were discussing whether this was a tomato or not.
“It’s definitely not, because look at these leaves.”
She then showed the leaves before asking “what the heck is this?”.
The actress then bit into the plant again and showed the inside with seeds, bigger than those you would see inside a tomato of its size.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to eat this, it’s almost like a pepper, does anybody know what this is? I’m in England”, she said.
Concerned social media users replied warning her not to eat the fruit.
One wrote: “It’s poisonous. Don’t eat that.”
Another added: “DON’T EAT wild berries or mushrooms or other ‘weird stuff’. I want you to be safe and healthy!”
A third wrote: “It’s a Jerusalem cherry. Don’t eat it!”
In a follow up post on Tuesday, Silverstone wrote: “Alive and well! Don’t worry… I didn’t swallow.”
In the Horticultural Trades Association’s 2022 guide to potentially harmful plants, the Jerusalem cherry is listed as being harmful if eaten by either humans or animals.
In the years after her role in Clueless, Silverstone appeared in Batman And Robin (1997) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004).