The Devil’s Garden

A lively exploration of the poisoners, tricksters, stingers, stinkers and invaders of the plant and fungal worlds and how their lives intertwine with ours.

“Peter Marren is a master storyteller ... he was destined to write The Devil’s Garden.” Richard Mabey

A lively exploration of the poisoners, tricksters, stingers, stinkers and invaders of the plant world and how their lives intertwine with ours.

Some plants and fungi – those we cultivate in farms, gardens and allotments – are pretty, useful or edible. Others are more troublesome: poisonous, or with painful stings, sinister looks or foul smells. In the medieval mind, these would be the flowers of the devil, planted on earth to torment humankind.

The infamous death cap mushroom, innocent-looking but lethal. The monstrous corpse flower, with a stench to match its name. The mandrake, said to scream if uprooted. In this deeply insightful and unflinching read, naturalist and conservationist Peter Marren explores the world’s ‘worst’ plants and fungi and the ways they maim, murder and make mischief to get by.

These species have rich histories, steeped in folklore and superstition, but there are also biological reasons behind why they are the way they are. Step into the devil’s garden and discover their stories, as amusing as they are unexpected and as gripping as they are horrifying.