There is a particular kind of silence that settles over a Pacific Northwest forest in late autumn — soft, green, and seemingly harmless. It isn't. Somewhere within walking distance of nearly every trailhead in this region, something is growing that could kill you, and it has likely been growing there for longer than the trail itself has existed.
Deadly Verdure is a field guide to nineteen plants native to, naturalized in, or commonly cultivated across the Pacific Northwest — every one of them genuinely toxic, and every one of them carrying a history far stranger than its garden-variety reputation suggests. Inside, you'll find:
The tree that nearly killed itself supplying the world's chemotherapy drugs
The flower that won an ancient war through poisoned honey
The root Europe was once too afraid to touch with bare hands
The garden favorite that sparked a real 1970s hospital-admission panic
The humble mint with a history modern medicine had to issue warnings about
Organized into four parts — Forest & Wetland Natives, Roadside & Field Invaders, Garden Favorites, and The Apothecary Cabinet — each chapter traces one plant's toxicology, folklore, and often-surprising place in real history, from ancient Greek mythology to Cold War assassination to the medicine cabinet down the hall.
This is not a foraging guide. It's a guide to respect — for the beauty, the danger, and the centuries of hard-won human knowledge surrounding the plants growing closer to home than you might think.
Format: Digital download (PDF), 85 pages
Includes: Full illustrated cover, 19 plant chapters, glossary of toxins, safety reference, further reading
There is a particular kind of silence that settles over a Pacific Northwest forest in late autumn — soft, green, and seemingly harmless. It isn't. Somewhere within walking distance of nearly every trailhead in this region, something is growing that could kill you, and it has likely been growing there for longer than the trail itself has existed.
Deadly Verdure is a field guide to nineteen plants native to, naturalized in, or commonly cultivated across the Pacific Northwest — every one of them genuinely toxic, and every one of them carrying a history far stranger than its garden-variety reputation suggests. Inside, you'll find:
The tree that nearly killed itself supplying the world's chemotherapy drugs
The flower that won an ancient war through poisoned honey
The root Europe was once too afraid to touch with bare hands
The garden favorite that sparked a real 1970s hospital-admission panic
The humble mint with a history modern medicine had to issue warnings about
Organized into four parts — Forest & Wetland Natives, Roadside & Field Invaders, Garden Favorites, and The Apothecary Cabinet — each chapter traces one plant's toxicology, folklore, and often-surprising place in real history, from ancient Greek mythology to Cold War assassination to the medicine cabinet down the hall.
This is not a foraging guide. It's a guide to respect — for the beauty, the danger, and the centuries of hard-won human knowledge surrounding the plants growing closer to home than you might think.
Format: Digital download (PDF), 85 pages
Includes: Full illustrated cover, 19 plant chapters, glossary of toxins, safety reference, further reading
