Thirty of the more than 700 poisonous plant species found in the US and Canada are presented here with brief descriptions, including indications of the poisonous parts and comparisons with similar-appearing, nonpoisonous plants. Lerner warns that this is not intended as a nature guide, but the reader should glean enough information to become wary of strange plants--plus a host of lurid tidbits: children have been poisoned while using peashooters made from water hemlock; become ill from eating honey made from trumpet creeper flowers; and died from eating Virginia creeper berries. The full-color illustrations are attractive, but dimensions are provided inconsistently: e.g., blue cohosh is described as one to three feet high, but for bittersweet nightshade only the leaf size is given--and no distinction is made between leaf and leaflet. The index gives both common and scientific names but has some anomalies: e.g., poison oak under ""p,"" poison sumac under ""s."" Readers interested in poisonous plants would do better to look elsewhere.