A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants: Wicked Weeds and Sinister Seeds

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This is NOT a botanical Anarchist’s Cookbook. Dr. Hirsch states that she has not written (and Eugenia Nobath has not illustrated) a how-to book.

An example would be the Castor Bean. Ricin is identified as a deadly-in-the-most-minute-dosages substance to be found in Castor Beans. But while pressing to extract Castor Oil, which is good for medicine, child punishment, and lamp fuel, is presented, the extraction of ricin is not.||Humour is not lacking herein. However, descriptions of the sometimes horrendous and frequently deadly effects of many plants are starkly presented in the good doctor’s writing.

I learned much reading this sinisterly seductive work, especially about plants I thought I was already acquainted with. Water Hemlock and the toxicodendrons (Poison Ivy, Oak, Sumac) of course, but also about plants I had thought of as relatively innocuous. Tobacco, chili peppers, the Opium Poppy — and what chemists and fads have done with that benevolence. Even the link between witch trials and fungally infected Rye.

Plants familiar in the modern vulgate reacquired ancient names; Deadly Nightshade became Belladonna, Monk’s Hood, a cute little flower, donned the mantle of Wolfsbane.

Exercising due care, read this threateningly fascinating book! You might even employ it as a coffee table book – for Halloween.


Reviewed By:

Author Rebecca E Hirsch
Star Count 5/5
Format Trade
Page Count 200 pages
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Publish Date 22-Oct-2024
ISBN 9798765625248
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Issue January 2025
Category Science & Nature
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