{"id":2881,"date":"2012-03-31T21:59:38","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T02:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=2881"},"modified":"2021-06-03T17:24:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T21:24:48","slug":"wicked-plants-the-weed-that-killed-lincolns-mother-and-other-botanical-atrocities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2881","title":{"rendered":"Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities<\/a><\/em> (2009) Amy Stewart<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Cute, and at times interesting, but also at times, she was trying way too hard.<\/p>\n

Plants (at least to me) are fascinating in and of themselves. And people do tend to naively assume that if someone is a plant it’s therefore “natural and healthy.” This is, of course, ridiculous, since people have been poisoning since the dawn of time, not just the advent of manufacturing.<\/p>\n

The book covers not just poisons (like foxglove and oleander) and hazards (like nettles and acacia) but also invasive species like kudzu and water hyacinth, and even toxic blue green algae (which isn’t a plant).<\/p>\n

The book is alphabetical (although scientific names are given, the plants are alphabetized by common name) with sections like “deadly dinner” and “fatal fungus” covering multiple species.<\/p>\n

This is actually probably a very good book for people who tend to think that natural automatically equals good, or naively think that you can wander in the woods without a care in the world. But I can’t say there was very much I got from the book, and I thought sometimes she was trying too hard to get her point across.
\nRating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities (2009) Amy Stewart Cute, and at times interesting, but also at times, she was trying way too hard. Plants (at least to me) are fascinating in and of themselves. And people do tend to naively assume that if someone is a plant it’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,291],"tags":[394],"class_list":["post-2881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-fiction","category-paper","tag-amy-stewart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-Kt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11894,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11894","url_meta":{"origin":2881,"position":0},"title":"Girl Waits with Gun","author":"Michelle","date":"May 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Girl Waits with Gun (2015) Amy Stewart (Kopp Sisters) Set in New Jersey in 1915. After the disappointment of the previous book I finished, I needed something completely different to clear my brain. I probably read the first paragraphs of about five books before I settled on this. First. Constance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Girl-Waits-with-Gun.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25504,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25504","url_meta":{"origin":2881,"position":1},"title":"The Drunken Botanist","author":"Michelle","date":"November 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Drunken Botanist (2013) Amy Stewart I love food and history and botany, and this book is all three. It's the botany of various plants that are used to make alcohol, and history of those plants and those drinks with recipes for various drinks thrown in. And all kinds of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Drunken Botanist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Drunken-Botanist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Drunken-Botanist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Drunken-Botanist.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Drunken-Botanist.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2966,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2966","url_meta":{"origin":2881,"position":2},"title":"A Field Guide to Eastern Forests: North America","author":"Michelle","date":"May 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A Field Guide to Eastern Forests: North America (1988) John Kircher and Gordon Morrison A long time ago, way back when I was in college, I studied Biology with a focus on plants. Because I love plants. I think they're fascinating. When we had apartments, I always had houseplants, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Non-Fiction"","block_context":{"text":"Non-Fiction","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/non-fiction"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eastern Forests","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/eastern-forests.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19893,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19893","url_meta":{"origin":2881,"position":3},"title":"Pentacles and Pelting Plants","author":"Michelle","date":"March 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Pentacles and Pelting Plants (2021) Amy Lane (Hedge Witches Lonely Hearts Club) Jordan's coven screwed up. Badly. \u201cIt\u2019s more personal than that,\u201d he said. \u201cThe magic itself was offended. We hadn\u2019t just told a polite lie on paper\u2014 we\u2019d told a polite lie to ourselves.\u201d Tow of their friends as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pentacles and Pelting Plants","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Pentacles-and-Pelting-Plants.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11897,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11897","url_meta":{"origin":2881,"position":4},"title":"Lady Cop Makes Trouble","author":"Michelle","date":"May 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Lady Cop Makes Trouble (2016) Amy Stewart (Kopp Sisters) Set in New York and New Jersey in 1915. Constance Kopp has been working as a deputy, but since the county won't allow her a badge and official position, she ends up relegated to prison matron. At the start of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Lady-Cop-Makes-Trouble.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11330,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11330","url_meta":{"origin":2881,"position":5},"title":"Rivers of London: Water Weed","author":"Michelle","date":"December 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Rivers of London Vol. 6: Water Weed (2018) Ben Aaranovitch Andrew Cartmel These are getting more and more frustrating, because they're become less good with each comic story-line. The problem is that the stories aren't forwarding the story or the characters at all--they're just what the characters happen to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Water-Weed.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}