Wicked Plants By Amy Stewart Summary

I chose Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart over the others on the list of approved books because it sounded more interesting and more relevant than some that just focused on one branch of Botany, instead of the entire wicked spectrum like Stewart does. As an avid reader, I find books that explore many different realms appealing. Seeing how botany is present in everyday events and used in a variety of genres is eye-opening. I like how she breaks up the world of devious plants into seven distinct categories.
The plants are reported on alphabetically with relation to their crime, but with a heading that falls under one of the seven wicked categories; deadly, destructive, dangerous, illegal, intoxicating, offensive, and painful. She then provides

It would be very hard to accuse these specific plants of being misappropriated for dastardly plans. Offensive plants, as labeled in this book, are the ones who don’t play nice with others or who are the top dog of the habitat. They could overlap with the destructive plants in that they like being in charge and overtake others, but these offenders, the carnivores, projectile shooting, quirky, pyromaniac plants are more on the extreme side of the spectrum. It would be simple for the hero of the story to accuse the bad guy of starting fires or lining certain plants to get the reaction some might consider coincidence. Pyromaniac does not mean that the plants start the fire, but it does mean that they do not do anything to stop it either. Some of the pyromaniac plants include eucalyptus and pampas grass. Eucalyptus for example is a plant that will cause any spark to spread like wildfire as the oil the plant produces is extremely flammable (loc. 2058). Pampas grass does nothing to stop the fire either, and the dry brittle appendages are fuel and accelerants for the fires started near the clumps (loc. 2058). The other offensive plants in the projectile shooting and carnivore lists are more harmful to animals and humans than other plants. Witch hazel and dwarf mistletoe are two of the projectile shooting and are named as such because of how they disperse their seeds. Witch hazel is used to treat bruises and small cuts but their seeds are thrown up to thirty feet away (loc. 1975). Dwarf mistletoe is a parasite like the dodder that steals the nutrients from its host plant, the conifers, and its seeds shoot off at sixty miles an hour, fast enough to challenge a highway car to a quick sprint (loc.