Details
Synopsis
Humankind has produced some pretty horrifically destructive inventions during its tenure on earth, but the botanical world beats us hands down in terms of variety and nuance of effect. The bestselling author of FLOWER CONFIDENTIAL wittily catalogs the range of mother nature's fatal flora in WICKED PLANTS: The fungus ergot, which produces crazy hallucinations, is believed to have been a player in the Salem witch trials. Eating too much corn produces vampire-like symptoms. Conium maculatum (aka poisoned hemlock) killed Socrates, while Roman emperor Claudius might have died from ingesting deadly mushrooms. And then there's the bizarre case of Abraham Lincoln's mother, who died from drinking milk from cows who had eaten white snakeroot. The stuff of legends, Edgar Allan Poe stories, and real history, this book is sure to be of interest to green thumbs and macabre types alike.
| Size | | Length: | 236 pages | | Height: | 7.2 in | | Width: | 5.8 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 11.8 oz |
Industry Reviews
"Stewart is so good, as in her previous books, at cutting straight to the most interesting stuff, whether it's about Freud's cocaine use ...or the coyotillo berry, whose toxic agents can sit in your system for a week before total paralysis sets in."
(05/17/2009)
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