Flowers of Evil
Nicholson, Rob, Natural History
Potent chemicals lurk behind some of South America's most alluring blossoms.
In 1857 the French poet Charles Baudelaire published a collection of poems entitled The Flowers of Evil. Being a botanist, I once searched through the volume, curious as to which flowers he had in mind. I should have realized that poets don't mean things so literally. Had Baudelaire needed to single out a bloom whose beauty was coupled with malevolence, however, I would have offered him a flowering branch of Brugmansia, the angel's-trumpet of South America. This tree's flowers are among the largest and most sumptuous in the plant kingdom, while the stems, leaves, and roots contain narcotic and …
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Publication information:
Article title: Flowers of Evil.
Contributors: Nicholson, Rob - Author.
Magazine title: Natural History.
Volume: 111.
Issue: 1
Publication date: February 2002.
Page number: 20.
© American Museum of Natural History Dec 2008/Jan 2009.
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This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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