Running from 20 September until 12 October, 2014, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, an Intoxication Season will explore the secret history behind mind-altering plants and fungi.
From the opium poppy with chemical powers that have shaken economic and political worlds for centuries, to extraordinary ‘ordinary’ plants such as coffee and tobacco, cemented in culture, consumed by humans daily for their effects.
Visitors will discover how plants’ identities have been manipulated through time, sometimes portrayed as friend, sometimes as foe, when in actuality no plant is inherently a drug, a medicine, or a poison.
The season will highlight the ensnaring, bewitching and lethal offerings from the natural world and show just how powerful their chemicals can be.
An exposition including the tobacco plant and opium poppies in the Princess of Wales Conservatory will provide visitors with a rare opportunity to glimpse many of the world’s most notorious plants.
Discover the innocuous looking specimens which navigate a fine line between salvation and condemnation depending on their chemical usage and dosage.
Website: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
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