In this little book of horrors, Chris Thorogood reveals the weird, the
wonky, and the sinister specimens he has encountered during his travels
in the wide world of plants. Far from passively absorbing the sun's
rays, these plants kill, steal and kidnap, making them dynamic
participants in the ecosystems around them. From orchids that
duplicitously look, feel and even smell like a female insect to
bamboozle sex-crazed male bees to giant pitcher plants that have evolved
toilets for tree shrews to carnivorous plants that drug, drown, and
consume unsuspecting insect prey, Weird Plants takes us deep inside
the worlds of plants whose imaginative and calculating survival methods
are startlingly reminiscent of human schemes.
To guide us through these unfamiliar plantscapes, Thorogood has
organized his book into seven categories fit for a horror film:
Vampires, Killers, Fraudsters, Jailers, Accomplices, Survivors, and
Hitchhikers. These categories take us through a variety of plant life
and around the world, documenting the remote corners where many of these
specimens are found. Through the combination of Thorogood's oil
paintings and botanical expertise, these fantastic plants come alive on
the page.
