A contemporary herbarium inspired by the images of the iconosphere

On February 6, 2004, a list of 197 plants considered "dangerous to public health" was published in the Official State Gazette of Spain. Their sale, as well as that of their preparations, was prohibited or restricted "due to their toxicity." The fifty species included in this book are part of this list. What are their origins, what active ingredients do they contain, what reasons motivate their prohibition… These initial questions gave rise to this project. The answers, especially those explaining their restriction, are not always clear.

Album of forbidden plants It brings together science, art, biological and chemical descriptions, poetry, botanical illustrations, and collages. It is a contemporary herbarium that wanders between objectivity and subjectivity, an imago mundi of dialogues and synapses, an approach to the plant world from a panoptic and intuitive perspective. Capable of transforming our way of seeing, it presents plants as sentient beings of fascinating intelligence.

María del Carmen Tostado Gutiérrez (Mexico, 1963) is an ethnologist and historian. Her passion for research, iconography, museums, and film shaped her professional career. Her experience at the Museum of Natural History in Mexico City sparked her fascination with the plant kingdom, ancient herbaria, cabinets of curiosities, and the captivating accounts of naturalists and travelers, nurturing her curiosity with the richness of biological and cultural diversity that has guided her relentless pursuits. She was a recipient of a grant from FONCA (Mexico's National Fund for Culture and the Arts), which supported the Mexican edition of this book.