Tune in on Fascination of Plants Day, 18 May for streaming of The Secret World of Rhododendrons by Dr. Richard Milne.
Rhododendrons are familiar to all of us as garden plants, and, in one case, relentless invaders of the countryside. Yet their relationship with human beings goes back far beyond horticulture, and they have been used as medicines, insecticides and intoxicants for centuries. In both myth and reality, they have been used as weapons of war, while many Chinese folk tales associate them with doomed love, and other tragedies. Collectors have diced with death to bring back new kinds, while Victorian breeders pushed the boundaries of what we knew about plant genetics. This talk will weave together science, mythology, adventure and history to give a new perspectives on these extraordinary plants.
There will be a longer version of the lecture uploaded onto RBGE Climate House Presents
website after this event for all those who want to delve even further into Rhododendrons:
www.rbge.org.uk/whats-on/inve...
Please do enjoy this online screening.
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Dr. Richard Milne is a current senior lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences, Edinburgh University. Richard has research interests focused upon various areas of plant evolution, often using Rhododendron as a study organism. Publishing a series of papers on hybridisation in Rhododendron with recent work on this area has involved collaborations with Chinese researchers. Dr. Richard Milne is a keen creative writer and is author of the novel "MIsjudgement Day" and the book ‘Rhododendron’ (Reaktion Books) which features in our exhibition 'Rhododendrons: Riddle Obsession Threat.'
Fascination of Plants Day aims to raise awareness to the importance of plant science for agriculture and sustainable production of nutritious food, as well as for horticulture, forestry and the production of plant-based non-food products such as paper, timber, chemicals, energy and pharmaceuticals.
plantday18may.org/