The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
If you are not yet botanically inclined, this book is the place to start. Plants to the untrained eye may seem like only green and brown background scenery that fills your average day. My friend, I have news for you. Plants are so much more than background scenery. We often underestimate the inherent connection between ourselves and the plants around us. This book breaks that barrier with fun, candor, and delightful storytelling.
Read & Recommended by Bex
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.
