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Wicked plants : the weed that killed Lincoln's mother & other botanical atrocities / Amy Stewart ; etchings by Briony Morrow-Cribbs ; illustrations by Jonathon Rosen.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublication details: Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.Edition: 1st edDescription: xvii, 235 p. : ill. ; 19 cmISBN:
  • 1565126831
  • 9781565126831
Subject(s):
Contents:
Aconite -- Arrow poisons -- Ayahuasca vine and chacruna -- Betel nut -- Castor bean -- Ordeal poisons -- Coca -- Coyotillo -- This houseplant could be your last -- Deadly nightshade -- Death camas -- Deadly dinner -- Ergot -- Fatal fungus -- Habanero chili -- Henbane -- The Devil's bartender -- Iboga -- Jimson weed -- Botanical crime families -- Khat -- Killer algae -- Stop and smell the ragweed -- Kudzu -- Lawn of death -- Mala mujer -- Here comes the sun -- Manchineel tree -- Don't look now -- Mandrake -- Marijuana -- Oleander -- Forbidden garden -- Opium poppy -- Dreadful bouquet -- Peacock flower -- Peyote cactus -- Psychedelic plants -- Poison hemlock -- Purple loosestrife -- Weeds of mass destruction -- Ratbane -- Rosary pea -- The terrible toxicodendrons -- Sago palm -- More than one way to skin a cat -- Stinging tree -- Meet the nettles -- Strychnine tree -- Suicide tree -- Carnivores -- Tobacco -- Toxic blue-green algae -- Duck and cover -- Water hemlock -- Water hyacinth -- Social misfits -- Whistling thorn acacia -- Guess who's coming to dinner -- White snakeroot -- Don't tread on me -- Yew -- Poison gardens.
Summary: Stewart takes on more than 200 of Mother Nature's most appalling creations and offers this A-to-Z compendium of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 581.65 S849 Checked out 06/24/2024 33111007039817
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-[236]).

Aconite -- Arrow poisons -- Ayahuasca vine and chacruna -- Betel nut -- Castor bean -- Ordeal poisons -- Coca -- Coyotillo -- This houseplant could be your last -- Deadly nightshade -- Death camas -- Deadly dinner -- Ergot -- Fatal fungus -- Habanero chili -- Henbane -- The Devil's bartender -- Iboga -- Jimson weed -- Botanical crime families -- Khat -- Killer algae -- Stop and smell the ragweed -- Kudzu -- Lawn of death -- Mala mujer -- Here comes the sun -- Manchineel tree -- Don't look now -- Mandrake -- Marijuana -- Oleander -- Forbidden garden -- Opium poppy -- Dreadful bouquet -- Peacock flower -- Peyote cactus -- Psychedelic plants -- Poison hemlock -- Purple loosestrife -- Weeds of mass destruction -- Ratbane -- Rosary pea -- The terrible toxicodendrons -- Sago palm -- More than one way to skin a cat -- Stinging tree -- Meet the nettles -- Strychnine tree -- Suicide tree -- Carnivores -- Tobacco -- Toxic blue-green algae -- Duck and cover -- Water hemlock -- Water hyacinth -- Social misfits -- Whistling thorn acacia -- Guess who's coming to dinner -- White snakeroot -- Don't tread on me -- Yew -- Poison gardens.

Stewart takes on more than 200 of Mother Nature's most appalling creations and offers this A-to-Z compendium of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.

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