"Should you encounter any of the plants in this book, do not treat them lightly. They can kill you. Or cause you unbearable agony. Or land you in jail. Consider yourself warned." Explore the strange and remarkable stories of poisonous and even deadly plants. Science, history, and true crime converge in an informative and exciting look at Mother's Nature's ghoulish garden. From a hallucinogenic fungus linked to the Salem Witch Trials to the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother, learn how certain plants evolved toxicity to avoid being consumed by predators and became the predator on their own.

In A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants: Wicked Weeds and Sinister Seeds author Rebecca Hirsch takes you on a wild journey to look at how toxic chemicals in the natural world have been used for medicine, warfare, and sinister acts of foul plan. Tread lightly as we explore these plants' ominous deeds.