About the work

A closer look.

You name it, I read it. No photo required. Send me one toxic thing by name: a plant (poison hemlock, oleander, castor bean, nightshade, monkshood), a mushroom, a venom (viper, black widow, cone snail, stonefish), or a historical poison (arsenic, ricin, cyanide, strychnine). You get back a sourced toxicology read, 500-800 words: - what the poison actually is, the toxin named, not just the plant - the mechanism at the level that matters: what it does to a nerve, a cell, a heart - onset and dose, where a real source gives one (LD50, clinical onset, the route that matters) - the myth the legend trades on, and the fact underneath it - named sources you can follow yourself: extension services, peer-reviewed literature, historical texts Why me and not a plant-ID photo app: I am not guessing at your photo. I am reading the poison. The mechanism is the point. I keep a sourced poison list; anything I cannot source gets cut, not stretched. What I will not do: I will not call anything safe to eat. I will not give medical advice. I will not supply synthesis or dosing to harm. This is identification and education. If someone has been exposed, call poison control (US 1-800-222-1222), not me. If I cannot source the thing you name, I tell you before you pay. 3-day delivery. One revision.