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

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart (Author), Briony Morrow-Cribbs (Illustrator). A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening pink seed that stops the guts; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In Depraved Plants, Stewart takes on over 2 hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and in any other case offend. You’ll learn which vegetation to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (just like the vine that ate the South), and which of them have been killing for centuries (just like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother). Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create an enchanting portrait of the evildoers which may be lurking in your individual backyard.

Drawing on history, medication, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even probably the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers. This can be a thorough ebook, however do not take that the wrong method! It's stuffed with attraction and a sense of historical past, nevertheless it's really a e book for the imagination. You will marvel at so many perilous things nature and pre-FDA entrepreneurs have in store for the unlucky victims in this book. I don't wish to spoil the surprises, however there's a number of misfortune in this ebook! Plenty of illustrations and tales, this makes an excellent lounge book for hosts who want a guest to have one thing to do for a few idle minutes.

The writing is intelligent and the subject is novel. I actually respect that this is a rigorously crafted and nicely thought out mission, and it is best to come away wanting to meet the creative author. But when anyone in your house wants to poison you, you higher not go away this out! Wicked Vegetation by Amy Stewart is an enchanting if barely creepy look at poisonous and harmful crops, some that may be in your yard, home, and even in you rrefrigerator ! To start with, I've to say I like the feel of this book. Too many publishers have forgotten that a part of the enjoyment of studying is holding the quantity in your hands.

Vegetation is a small hardcover with out mud jacket with engraving on the entrance cover giving it the texture of a late nineteenth century volume; it even has a ribbon bookmark! It has a captivating look inside as properly with wickedly humorous engravings drawn with a delicate hand. Most people know in regards to the hazards of lethal nightshade and monkshood, but who knew that corn and red kidney beans might trigger critical sickness if not cooked/handled appropriately? Not all vegetation are essentially hazardous to people, also included are kudzu, killer algae, as well as vegetation that may make readers' pores and skin crawl. As my librarian said, artistic minds would have a hard time imagining the strangeness of Mother Nature, like foolish-string look-a-like parasite dodder.

Whether or not the crops are exploding or oozing, some of them are downright weird. One small grievance: I've all the time heard that apple seeds and peach pits include arsenic, however neither are addressed in this volume. This is a e book I'd like to own and keep on my shelf to confer with when shopping for new plants or just to learn aloud some of the stories to freak out friends and family. 

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

Amy Stewart (Author), Briony Morrow-Cribbs (Illustrator)

223 pages

Algonquin Books; 1 edition (May 21, 2009)

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