Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

[RamboLiberal]

Heard the author on radio tonight - was a fascinating diversion. From Amazon.com

They may look sweet and innocent, but anyone who has ever broken out in a rash after picking a hyacinth blossom or burst into violent sneezing after sniffing a chrysanthemum knows that often the most beautiful flowers can pack the nastiest punch. This comes as no secret to mystery writers, who have long taken advantage of the nefarious properties of common garden plants to create the devices by which a deadly dose of poison is administered to an unsuspecting victim. But, as Stewart so entertainingly points out, such fiction is based on pure fact. There are plants that can kill with a drop of nectar, paralyze with the brush of a petal. From bucolic woodland streams choked by invasive purple loosestrife to languid southern fields overrun by kudzu, some plants are just more trouble than they’re worth. Culling legend and citing science, Stewart’s fact-filled, A–Z compendium of nature’s worst offenders offers practical and tantalizing composite views of toxic, irritating, prickly, and all-around ill-mannered plants. --Carol Haggas

Product Description
A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. You’ll learn which plants to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (like the vine that ate the South), and which ones have been killing for centuries (like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother).

Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.

[madaboutharry]

1. I took a botany class in college and

remember this topic was fascinating. I think I may look into this book. Thanks for posting.

[enlightenment]

2. Sounds great! Thanks for the heads up! nt

[truedelphi]

3. Yes thank you. n/t

[begin_within]

4. Here are 16 such plants.

http://webecoist.com/2008/09/16/16-most-unassuming-yet-lethal-killer-plants/

Angel's Trumpet (Datura) is in many yards in my neighborhood in San Diego, and few people seem to even realize they are poisonous. Oleander is everywhere in California, it has been planted by the millions in the median strips of freeways. Few people realize it's toxic either. It's not common in yards because it's not that pretty close up.

[NYC_SKP]

5. Here is a very nice further discussion of her book:

Too long to copy and paste but worth the read:

http://www.times-standard.com/lifestyle/ci_12231764

And thanks for the tip, R.L. :toast:

[ffellini7080]

6. Abe's mother died of the "milk sickness"

Caused by snakeroot milk.