Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart

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

by Amy Stewart Author

A tree that sheds poison daggers. A glistening red seed that stops the heart. A shrub that causes paralysis. A vine that strangles. A leaf that triggered a war. In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling botanic 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 -- such as the vine that ate the South -- and which ones have been killing for centuries, like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother and may well have changed the course of U.S. history -- as it caused the Lincoln family to move to Illinois, where Abe became involved in politics, and went on to become one of our most influential presidents.