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Shop nowBotanical Curses and Poisons
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“Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow-Lives of Plants is positively packed with information -- from botanical tidbits, literary references, to historical tales. Inkwright dives into a range of nefarious and fascinating plants, examining each from A-Z. I often found myself rewinding, listening to chapters two or three times to absorb the compelling range of material attributed to each plant. This is a book where you need to have Google handy, if only to look at images of the beautifully described plants (the physical copy has gorgeous illustrations by the author, while the audio book is well-narrated by Leslie Howard), or dig into a strange new fact. This book connects plants to so many other aspects of the world, including animals, folklore, and wider elements of culture. This is a book to read over and over, to mark and refer back to, and to take outside with you to look around with newfound respect for nature and its darker characters.”
— Carmen • Seminary Co-op Bookstores
Discover the folklore and history of our most toxic plants.
"If you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later."—Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
In both history and fiction, some of the most dramatic, notorious deaths have been through poisonings. Concealed and deliberate, it's a crime that requires advance planning and that for many centuries could go virtually undetected. And yet there is a fine line between healing and killing: the difference lies only in the dosage! In Botanical Curses and Poisons, Fez Inkwright returns to folkloric and historical archives to reveal the fascinating, untold stories behind a variety of lethal plants, witching herbs, and funghi. Going from A to Z, she covers everything from apple (think of the poisoned fruit in "Snow White") and the hallucinogenic angel's trumpet to laurel, which emits toxic fumes, to oleander (a deadly ornamental shrub), with each plant beautifully illustrated by the author herself. This enthralling treasury is packed with insight, lore, and the revealed mysteries of everyday flora—including the prevalence of poisoning in ancient Rome, its use in religion and magic, and common antidotes—making this perfect for gardeners, writers, folklorists, witches, and scientists alike!
Fez Inkwright is an illustrator and author with a passion and knowledge of botany, nature, primitive religions, and folklore. She has produced work for children's books, created hand-drawn maps, and designed tattoos. She lives in Bristol, England.
Leslie Howard is a talented audiobook narrator with a background in intensive yoga study, metaphysics, and fiber arts who lives on a small farm sanctuary where she's raised six homeschooled children. She performs nonfiction, YA, sci-fi, and literary fiction and has trained with notable coaches like Sean Pratt and Paul Allen Ruben. She brings creativity, empathy, and a lifelong love of performance to her work.