White snakeroot (Ageratina altissima), a native plant, causes a disease called milk sickness, which took the lives of many pioneers, including Abraham Lincoln's mother. Photo courtesy www.wildflower.org
Reporter Martha Tiechner took viewers of the recent CBS Sunday Morning to the wicked side of plants with author Amy Stewart and her garden. Stewart’s Wicked Plants was reviewed here in May.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a garden exhibit of these toxic plants that runs through Sept. 6.