Beware! The sordid lives of plants behaving badly.

A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that prevents the heart; a shrub that triggers paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a battle. Amy Stewart, bestselling writer of Rose Confidential, takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations in an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and in any other case offend.

Stewart renders a vivid family portrait of evildoers which may be lurking within your own backyard. Sketching on history, medicine, science, and story, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will amuse, enlighten, and alarm actually the most intrepid gardeners and character lovers.