Bizarre Plants: Magical, Monstrous, Mythical

by William A. Emboden

'Bizarre Plants' is a book about plants so monstrous, mythical or magical that to ignore them would be to discredit man's sojourn through his fantastic world. It contains little known and forgotten histories of nature’s marvels that transcend the ordinary - the upside down looking baobab tree whose fruits resemble sausages - the fabled Coco de Mer from under the sea whose seed is like a giant female pelvis and more...

Genres: Nonfiction, Plants, Science, Nature, Mythology

214 pages, Hardcover

First published June 20, 1974

Reviews

[Nancy]

This was a fun read. It really covers some bizarre plants and the lore behind them over the centuries. The last chapter covers known plants that did not actually exist and how they were explained in different cultures. Some were just huge, others medicinal, some poisons. I so want to see Kew Gardens as many oddities were sent there over many , many decades and they managed to get many to grow and still have them.

[Josh]

This is a fun one. Emboden has a great way of getting a point across. He's pretty funny in a wry and rococo sort of way, viz. "All the aforementioned grotesqueries should preclude man's intervention in the playful game of Mother Nature" (192) and of Aunt Etty, who removed phallic fungi to "protect the morals of our maidens," he said, "If a monument to her heroic gesture should be erected, it would prove most curious. But certainly such virtue should not unrewarded" (186).

Also, ironic that I'm covered in poison ivy right now?

Recommended for people who love mandrake lore.

[Vanessa]

A strange book. With chapter headings such as "Herbs of Grace: Witches and Warlocks Undone," "Satan's Simples: the Herbs of Black Magic," and "Fungal Fantasies," a reader would hope for more excitement and thrills. This is compounded with the fact that the pictures and illustrations are in black and white, surely due to its publishing era, the early 1970s.

[Cedar]

Fascinating, I want to revise the index of this book.

[aloveiz]

Should have been good.
Weird, but not intriguing.