The North American Guide to Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms

by Nancy J. Turner

If people knew how many poisonous plants are commonly found in homes and gardens, they'd be shocked. Plants as common as monkshood, castorbean, and oleander are not just dangerous, they're deadly.

The North American Guide to Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms is a comprehensive, easy-to-use handbook. The book is split into four main mushrooms, wild plants, ornamental and crop plants, and houseplants. Each plant entry includes a clear photograph to aid the task of identification, a description of the plant, notes on where they commonly occur, and a description of their toxic properties. Plants are listed by common name to assist the non-specialist.

Genres: Nature, Science, Nonfiction, Gardening, Field Guides, Reference, Writing

375 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist whose research integrates the fields of botany and ecology with anthropology, geography and linguistics, among others. She is interested in the traditional knowledge systems and traditional land and resource management systems of Indigenous Peoples, particularly in western Canada.

Reviews

[Thuy Pham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! I don’t have any extended experience with plants and vegetables beside breathing the precious oxygen that they produce so this book is perfect. I recognized some of the plants in there, some I have no idea is poisonous. Such a great educational book.

[Jordyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found some info a bit outdated. Seems like they tried to make the book longer and included plants that are not really a concern for poisonings. For example the book talks about certain trees and bushes having toxic bark or stems if eaten in large amounts..... which no one would do

[Sarah Proulx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative as a guidebook

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is a toxic alkaloid. And so is this. And so is this." Super fascinating subject, but there has to be some kind of better way of talking about poisonous plants than just listing all of them in alphabetic order. I would have enjoyed more general discussion about the evolutionary role of toxins and the phylogenetic relationships between different poisonous species (it was touched on somewhat, and those parts I liked the best -- I just wish there had been more of them). The mushroom section was good because of the way the amanitas were covered, and their relationships between species discussed to give us a broader vision of the mushroom world. But after the first third of the book, it sort of just devolved into a list of species with increasingly similar traits, with increasingly less discussion. What about the relationship between potatoes and nightshade? Why solanine? What are cyanogenic glycosides doing in almost every kind of fruit pit? I think perhaps any problems I have with this book are problems that I have with most science books that aren't really intended for scientists: a lot of information is held back because it's seen as "too technical" for a layperson to be interested in... But I think it's all about how you frame the information, and general audiences should be given more credit (especially if they're already picking up a science book). This might be a good resource for people writing novels, or for DMs working alchemy into their RPGs, and perhaps a jumping point for people more interested in the science to look for other more specific books.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything in nature wants to kill you the book.

Actually it was pretty interesting though not one for a full read through unless you're fascinated by plants. Something to take with you if the apocalypse hits and you need to try and find edible plants because there seem to be few of them/how are we not all dead.

[Miriam]

Good research book for writers.