All plants are poisonous — and no plants are poisonous — it’s simply dose-dependent! There are plants which, when ingested, can block the nervous system for treatment of many ailments, but too much induces coma and possible death. Phytochemicals are chemical compounds, produced by plants, that have evolved to kill or debilitate what or who might eat them. This co-evolutionary arms race between plants and animals dates back millions of years and has no end in sight. Join us to hear how humans have learned to utilize plant poisons for good, bad and ugly purposes!
About our speaker
Johnny Randall is the Director of Conservation at the North Carolina Botanical Garden and adjunct faculty in the UNC-Chapel Hill Program in Environment, Ecology and Energy (EP3). Johnny served as biology faculty at UNC-Greensboro and at the University of North Florida for a total of 10 years before coming to the North Carolina Botanical Garden in 1998. His primary responsibilities at the North Carolina Botanical Garden are to oversee the conservation and management of approximately 1,200 acres of natural area, administer the Garden’s conservation seed programs, and direct rare plant recovery projects. He also does research on rare plant reintroductions and habitat restoration/rehabilitation and teaches classes on nature preserve design and management.