But my wickedest is the Cordyceps genus of fungi. They infect insects and control thier behavior in order to increase reproductive success. An epic video presentation is found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgkL8PulPdE

Another great write up can be found in Paul Stamets “Mycelium Running” which details the hi-jacking of an ant. Spores first land upon the ant and grow into the ant’s body infecting the brain. It then commands the ant to climb to the tallest available point. After reaching an appropriate height for sporulating, the ant then bites down, lockjaw-style, securing a proper spot to die. Then the mushroom grows from the ant maximizing the dispersal of it’s spores.

My runner up is Darlingtonia Californica. Standing tall in serpantine bogs like mountain royalty, the cobra lily is the perfect blend of beauty, function, and specialization. http://www.coloradocarnivorousplantsociety.com/darlingtonia_californica1.htm

Frances’s last blog post..Iris Season

Town Mouse’s last blog post..Real Gardeners…

A shrub that releases a mild sedative into the air at 10:30 or so in the evening, making my dinner guests drowsy and encouraging them to go home already.

A mutant strain of hosta that eats snails instead of being eaten by them.

A winter vegetable that uses captive mycorrhizae to spread its essence to any squash, eggplant or brussel sprouts growing nearby, thereby making them taste like chocolate. (Can you tell what my least favorite vegetables are?)

Any chance one of these is mentioned in Amy’s book?

Susan (garden-chick)’s last blog post..Celebrating Mother’s Day in the Garden (hers to be exact)

My favorite and least-favorite “wicked” plant locally is the Star of Bethlehem. It’s a very, very pretty spring/early summer bulb that can grow from the ground to flowering almost overnight. I’ve also seen it called False Garlic locally, but I think that’s a different species. Without knowing that it’s poisonous, many property owners allow it to propagate in their lawns because it’s just flat-out pretty, with little clusters of white flowers waving in the breeze a few inches above the greening grass as it’s awaking from it’s winter slumber.

It’s poisonous even in small amounts to children and dogs, and it grows in with the sweet bermudagrass that my dogs like to crop in the backyard.

Karl Katzke’s last blog post..Pulling the Kohlrabi

Humboldt is a great gardening county, housing both Amy and Gen.

Wicked plants? I’m going for the Goth/Morticia Addams category and my pick is Tulipa ‘Queen of the Night’. Black tulips, black swans–beautiful but eerie.

Daffodil Planter’s last blog post..Mute Monday

Monica the Garden Faerie’s last blog post..Mish-Mash Monday

As for my favorite wicked plant? That’s gotta be the Manchineel Tree, aka the beach apple or death apple. While the fruit is apparently really bad news (although I always wondered WHO these people were who picked up random fruit off the ground and just started eating it), what I love about this tree is that you can’t even stand under it when it rains. Those who make the mistake of doing so (which I think is rare now that in most places where this beauty grows they are marked with a skull and crossbones or something along those lines) will be treated to a severe case of blisters. It’s tricky too, because they seem to form a really nice canopy: just the kind of place you want to take shelter during a torrential downpour. Want to get rid of it? Well good luck with that. If you cut down this member of the spurge family and then try to burn it, the smoke can blind you. Oh yeah, this one’s a real lover. Sort of the black widow of trees: woo ‘em in, and strike ‘em hard.

Erin’s last blog post..At the feeders