Intoxication Season at Kew Gardens

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Kew Gardens. For my overseas readers, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew were founded in 1759 and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The garden's mission is to "inspire and deliver science-based plant conservation world-wide, enhancing the quality of life". The site is home to numerous impressive greenhouses, different plant ecosystems and habitats, and a large number of seasonal exhibitions.

For my first visit at Kew Gardens, I went to see a very interesting exhibition called The Intoxication Season. The exhibition showcased the history behind intoxicating plants and fungi, and highlighted the ways in which plants can be used as both medicines and intoxicants. Throughout the garden, specific plants were indicated by a poison symbol, and information was provided on the ways they have historically been used as either medicines or intoxicants. In addition to the various displays throughout the gardens, guided tours were given, including the Dark Side of Plants Tour which I attended. The tour was delivered by one of the garden's excellent volunteers,  who brought the group around different parts of the garden unveiling the dangerous secrets hiding behind the exteriors of many beautiful plants. We talked about the celebrated and well-known effects of plants including Cofea (coffee), Theobroma cocoa (chocolate), Aconitum (wolfsbane), Papaver somniferum (opium), Artemisia absinthium (absinthe),  Ephedera (epinephrine), and Salvia officinalis (sage), among many others. 

The part of the tour that particularly struck me was the guide's emphasis on the fact that plants produce their intoxicating or medicinal properties for their own benefit - not for the benefit of humans or other animal species. Although these chemicals and compounds have been of great use to humankind for millennia, they were not particularly intended for our use, and above-all serve the plants themselves, often through defensive mechanisms. The guided tour ended at a greenhouse that was entirely devoted to The Intoxication Season, which housed some of the most mind-altering plant varieties, including Cannabis (marijuana), Coca (cocaine), Salvia divinatum (salvia), Agave (tequila), and many more.

Throughout the tour and my visit at Kew Gardens, I found that I had a lot of questions about these special plants, besides their particular mind-altering properties. It's great that we have been able to tap into the benefits of such truly remarkable plants - but what are the environmental consequences of our preference for certain species? How has the rapid expansion in demand for certain products affected the environment? How are these plants produced on large scales? In light of these unanswered questions, I will be devoting the next few blog posts here at Picnics Past & Present on the environmental impacts of the production of some of the mind-altering species I saw at Kew Gardens. I also plan to focus on some of my personal favourites - coffee and chocolate!

A plant's eye view

Dear readers,

Today I'd like to share a video with you that I found truly inspiring. As I'm sure you've gathered from some of my previous posts here at PP&P, I've always felt a strong connection with nature. Since moving to London and being relatively far away from my beloved Canadian wilderness, I find that sometimes I forget that we are part of a bigger thing: the biosphere. Listening to Michael Pollan talk about looking at the world from a "plant's eye view" really put things back into perspective for me on this grey British afternoon.

Two aspects of this talk particularly struck me. First, the notion that plants manipulate the animal species which rely on them for survival. Pollan (2008) argues that humans are lured and manipulated by plants just as a bee is lured by a colourful and sweet-scented flower blossom, allowing it to spread its genes while the bee gathers nectar from flower to flower. This example is extended to agriculture, with the suggestion that this technique of mass producing food arose as a "co-evolutionary development" in which edible grasses have and continue to exploit humans. Now that's something to think about!

The second most impressive aspect of his talk was his personal account of Joe Salatin's organic farm (Polyface Farms), in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. Pollan (2008) describes this organic farm which symbiotically raises over five species of animals as well as some forestry products on a mere 100 hectares of land. What is unique about this farm is that it produces vast amount of food products by simply harnessing the desires of each species involved. In this way, the species perform a variety of ecological services for one another. For example, cows on this farm intensively graze fields. After the grazing is complete, Salatin waits three days before introducing chickens to the same fields. This way, the soils are rich with mature grubs for the chickens to feast on. These chickens fertilise and churn the soil, and remove the grubs, allowing for a quick regeneration of the grasses. Each species involved fulfills a specific purpose. 

To conclude his talk, Pollan (2008) leaves his audience with the idea that this form of food production completely contradicts the pre-conceived notion that nature must be diminished in order for humans to obtain their needs in resources. What would happen if we had a food production revolution, in which all farmers harnessed the desires of the species they harvest? I think the world could be a very different place!

What are your thoughts on looking at the world from a "plant's eye view"? Have you ever tried looking at the world in this way? Do you think a revolution in symbiotic food production could change the way we grow food in the future?

Thanks for reading!