Baneful!: 95 of the World's Worst Herbs

by Deborah J. Martin

Herbal medicine has once again come to the forefront of the public’s mind. Without research, many think that herbs are safe. Many are, yet many can be just as deadly as a dose of arsenic.Most everyone knows Socrates died from ingesting Hemlock. Have you heard about the Celtic chieftain who committed suicide by Yew? How about the duels between rivals who ate just half of a poison bean?From Abrus precatorius to Viscum album, Master Herbalist Deborah Martin takes us on a journey of discovery … ninety-five herbs that, while they had or have their medicinal and magical uses, can be deadly.

Genres: Witchcraft, Wicca, Herbs

388 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 13, 2013

About the author

Deborah J. "DJ" Martin left the frozen tundra (Minnesota) many moons ago and now lives in the north Georgia mountains with her husband, their crazy cats and numerous woodland creatures. If she's not clickety-punching numbers for her accounting clients or writing, you can probably find her in the garden, visiting her grandchildren or in her recliner with her nose stuck in a book.

Reviews

[Amie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baneful: 95 of the World's Worst Herbs s like a small encyclopedia of these herbs. There is a short (few pages) Introduction and then it goes into each herb. There is a hand-sketched imaged of some of the herbs - not all; the Latin name; some of the names the plant is also known as (such as digitalis purpurea aka foxglove, fairy cap, etc.); description; cultivation; parts used; poison what part of the plant is poisonous); side effects; medicinal uses; magical uses; interesting tidbits and some space for notes.The book is divided into 5 sections: The Big Eight of Antiquity, Useful But..., In the Garden, Let's Get High and Really Awful. The longest information on some of the plants are about 5 pages long. Most of the sections to each plant has a paragraph to a few words (example using digitalis again "Parts used: leaves."). Each section has the plants listed in alphabetical order according to their Latin name. Please do not think this book will tell you how to use these plants if you were thinking about it (such as the "Let's Get High" section) because it doesn't. It merely states how these may have been used in the past bu there are no dosage instructions or anything of the sort included by any means. Usually not even preparations of a plant (thinking medicinal use here) is described. Somewhat informative but I was hoping that book would be so much more. perhaps not so much in actual dosing for myself - I just like to have all that information because it's nice to know (I am thinking gardening here) what if I am outside tending to my foxglove aka digitalis purpurea and I brush up against the leaves too many times? is that going to affect me? How will that affect me? Is a bit okay but if you have a heart condition a definite no-no? I know the answers to these questions but others may not.

[Thyme Wisper · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Master Herbalist myself, I thought this book should be on my "shelf" (in my Herbs books collection in my Kindle) as a good reference for those herbs classified as poisonous or having other safety issues. It isn't a comprehensive list, but then the author states that right from the start. She describes 95 herbs (out of thousands) that she thought were most interesting. And she was right! These ARE interesting herbs which makes this "reference book" really a "great read".

It isn't only the "Interesting Tidbits" that she writes about each herb that make it so, well, interesting. I found that the way she wrote about the side effects was interesting in itself. Even the description and the cultivation include little tidbits that sometimes made me pause and consider that "I didn't know that...."

If there was anything I would like to see changed, it would be that the Table of Contents in the Kindle version would actually open up so that I can go directly to any one herb. With no Table of Contents and no index, it makes the Kindle version of the book not as useful as a reference.