Amy Stewart’s new book of botanical atrocities is the stuff of accidental poisonings, murder, death and mysteries, all plant related. “People think if it grows in the ground, it must be harmless and good for us,” said Stewart in a phone interview.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
We only have to point to Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of President Abraham Lincoln, who died in 1818 of milk sickness along with several other relatives in Little Pigeon Creek, Ind. She was 34 and Abe was 9. Milk, butter or meat caused this common curse of pioneer life from cows that had eaten white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum). The cattle eventually died, too, along with horses that ate the native plant.
This is just one of the historical tales woven through Wicked Plants, which will be released May 21 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill ($18.95, hardcover).
'Blue Lagoon' monkshood. Photo courtesy PerennialResource.com
Nazis dipped bullets in poison derived from monkshood (Aconitum), an extremely toxic garden plant. It gets its name from the shape of the flower, which resembles the hood on a monk’s habit. “You really should wear gloves when working with this plant, said Stewart in a phone interview. The plant can cause numbness, tingling or worse, cardiac arrest.
The popular hellebore (Helleborus) was used to poison a water supply in the First Sacred War, 595-585 BC. And still today, castor bean (Ricinus communis) makes the news as a deadly poison. As recent as February 2008, a man was poisoned by the highly toxic ricin, traces of which were found in his luggage in a Nevada hotel room.
Not all of the plants in her book are deadly. Some are wicked because of their invasiveness, such as purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), a banned plant in Indiana.
Even an edible plant makes the list, if you can stand the heat. When ingested, habanero chile (Capsicum chinense) makes your eyes water and throat burn before you have difficulty swallowing. Your hands and face will go numb and you could go into respiratory distress.
“There really are a lot of very naughty plants in the world,” said Stewart. The most wicked of all? Tobacco, she says, which kills five million people a year.
[…] option if you have limited yard space, but still need to fit quite a few plants inside. …Naughty plants claim human, animal and natural victims …Hoosier Gardener – Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp, Amy Stewart's new book of botanical atrocities is the […]