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 or thorns, or simply a bloody nuisance. They might look sinister, smell bad, or come with warnings from folklore. Lily-of-the-valley, associated with purity and motherhood, is in reality toxic – a quiet assassin. The Mandrake is said to scream if uprooted, killing anyone who hears it. The biggest pitcher-plants can even catch and digest mice.In the medieval mind, these would be flowers of the devil, planted on earth to trouble humankind. Many of these species have a rich and deeply rooted backstory made up of tradition, lore and superstition, sometimes based on underlying scientific fact. There are of course biological reasons why plants are the way they are, which have nothing to do with humankind. But they intrude into our own world, collectively presenting a gleeful floorshow of devilishly cunning entities, making us fearful, angry, desperate, or badly behaved.In The Devil’s Garden, Peter Marren explores these ‘dark’ plants in Britain and beyond, relaying their stories which are variously gripping, unexpected, inspiring, amusing, horrifying, but above all, entertaining.