The Book Of Killer Plants

Explore the darker side of nature with this accessible guide to choosing, growing, and caring for carnivorous and predatory plants like Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, sundews, and other spooky guys. Carnivorous plants: they're weird, they're gorgeous, and they're the perfect addition to your urban jungle of pothos, snake plants, and succulents. However, they can also be intimidating to grow and care for. Let Killer Plants be your guide as it walks you through the different types of carnivorous plants and how to keep each variety alive and well. The book answers the many questions you may have surrounding these freaks of nature, such as: Where the heck do I buy a pitcher plant? Can I grow it from a seed? Do I need to feed my carnivorous plant flies, or can it survive on water and light alone? What carnivorous plants are safe to have around pets and kids? I have a gnat problem -- what predatory plant can help?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Trapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine in "the best horror novel of the new century" (Stephen King). Also a major motion picture! Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation—sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site ... and the terrifying presence that lurks there. "The Ruins does for Mexican vacations what Jaws did for New England beaches.” —Entertainment Weekly “Smith’s nail-biting tension is a pleasure all its own.... This stuff isn’t for the faint of heart.” —New York Post “A story so scary you may never want to go on vacation, or dig around in your garden, again.” —USA Today

This third edition of the Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants is designed to assist the clinician in the initial response to the needs of a child or adult exposed to a poisonous or injurious plant. It highlights common and important plants that lead to the adverse effects upon exposure, and it describes the mechanisms of action of the implicated toxin, clinical manifestations, and specific therapeutics, as available, for each. This truly comprehensive resource is botanically rigorous with insights from both the pharmacognosy and medical literature. At the same time, it is also for those who are interested in growing and enjoying the plants in their environment, filling in a not-often-discussed botanical and horticultural niche that goes beyond their beautiful physical appearance. Plants contain many useful chemicals that humans have used for millennia as botanical curatives. This book will help the reader understand the fine balance between a medication and a poison, why plants contain these natural substances, and their impact on the human body. With its thorough references and full-color photos of hundreds of potentially toxic and injurious plants inside and outside the home, this book is useful for identifying and addressing concerns about cultivated species and those found in the wild. This book will be of interest to botanists, horticulturists, clinicians, and naturalists as well as hikers, gardeners, and all those who simply enjoy the wonders of nature and the great outdoors.

Offering helpful, humor-laced advice on how to avoid getting stung, bit, poked, jabbed, or poisoned--and what to do if it happens--this guide explains everything from rashes to anaphylaxis, tetanus to spider bites, and cat-scratch fever to rabies, all in kid-friendly language. A strong foundation in biology grounds the discussion, which explains how certain plants and animals can be dangerous and reveals medical information on the physical reactions they can produce. The topical trivia and goofy puns make learning fun both in the classroom and at home.

A beautifully illustrated field guide to the 60 deadliest plants on Earth. This intriguing guide puts a spotlight on Mother Nature’s most lethal plants, from those that can harm wild animals to the ones that can kill even humans. Some of these plants may be lurking in your own backyard. This illustrated compendium features full profiles of each plant, including interesting facts, important identifying characteristics, toxicity level, physiology, the biochemistry of toxins, how to spot each plant, and more. This is a beautiful but practical guide for botanists, foragers, gardeners, survivalists, and nature lovers alike. With this guide, you can learn what to avoid and what to do if you come into contact with these dangerous plants. With this field guide, you will: - Learn the natural history of each plant. - View humanity’s fascinating relationship with these plants over the centuries—from medicinal purposes and cosmetics to rituals and murder. - Discover the fatal effects and how these plants target the body, from organ failure and seizures to skin rashes and nausea. - Understand poisonous plants’ evolution, and how they developed toxicity to deter herbivores and other predators. Explore these stunning but deadly works of nature that can poison, maim, and intoxicate. From nightshade and hemlock to monkshood, oleander, and castor bean, this is your fascinating guide to 60 of the world’s most life-threatening plants.

Describes thirteen plants, such as the sundew, bladderwort, and mistletoe, that depend on the animal world or other plants for their nutrition.

Plants might look harmless, but they can be killers. This narrative nonfiction series features some of the most amazing--and deadly--plants on the planet, from carnivorous plants to burning plants. Each book in this series includes a table of contents, glossary of key words, index, author biography, sidebars, and a feature on animal and plant mutualism.