Love Them to Death: Turning Invasive Plants into Local Economic Opportunities

Love Them to Death encourages readers to envision a variety of economic uses for the invasive plants of their region.

This peer-reviewed, edited volume brings together writings by a diverse group of independent professionals, academics, and artisans, with expertise in a wide range of plant uses—for food and drink, herbal medicines, basketry, livestock forage, biofuel, structural materials, paper, and dyes. From cultural and ecological examinations to practical applications, Love Them to Death looks at troublesome species as resources that might be safely and thoughtfully exploited.

Wendy L. Applequist, an associate scientist in the Missouri Botanical Garden’s William L. Brown Center, is a plant taxonomist with interests in medicinal plants, nomenclature, and the flora of Madagascar. She is the author of The Identification of Medicinal Plants: A Handbook of the Morphology of Botanicals in Commerce.