![]() Showcased in the pleasure grounds of emperors and kings, poison ivy was displayed like a captive tiger, admired by Thomas Jefferson, Marie Antoinette, and Josephine Bonaparte. Despite its irritating qualities, the magnificent scarlet-and-gold autumn foliage lured Virginia entrepreneurs to export the vine to Europe, making it one of the earliest documented New World plants to cross the Atlantic, and its meteoric rise to fame as–of all unlikely things-a garden plant. This book covers the unique history of the plant, starting with the brash and adventurous explorer Captain John Smith, who “discovered” poison ivy the hard way in 1607. For centuries, poison ivy has bedeviled, inconvenienced, and downright tortured the human race. The detested plant is a lens through which to observe the changes and challenges that face our planet. Once planted in gardens from Versailles to Monticello, poison ivy now has a crucial role in the American landscape. In Praise of Poison Ivy explores the vices and virtues of a plant with a dramatic history and a rosy future. Poison ivy has long irritated humans, but the astounding paradox is that poison ivy is a plant of immense ecological value. ![]() The much-hated plant called poison ivy is all of these-and more. In Praise of Poison Ivy by Anita Sanchez Book PDF Summaryĭeadly. ![]()
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