Original version

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Migrated podcast image for: Plants – From Roots to Riches

Plants: From Roots to Riches

Documentaries

Factual: History

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Our relationship with plants: a major new history by Kew's science director Kathy Willis.

Kathy Willis considers our changing relationship with plants over the last 250 years - from tools to exploit, to objects of beauty, to being an essential resource we must conserve.

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 FM

Plants: From Roots to Riches: Botanical Medicine

Botanical Medicine

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Plants: From Roots to Riches, Botanical Medicine

Kathy Willis on how new opportunities opened up for finding medicines from plants.

Kathy Willis examines how new techniques opened up opportunities for finding medicines from plants. From 2014.

In 1947 Sir Robert Robinson received the Nobel prize for Chemistry "in recognition of his investigations of plant products of biological importance, especially the alkaloids". This powerful family of plant chemicals was proving a potent medical tool.

Professor Kathy Willis traces the natural role of alkaloids in plants and the first attempts to isolate one of the best know - quinine, from chinchona bark growing in the Andes. This development gave rise to the emergence of a new kind of laboratory scientist equally able to handle botanical and chemical data. As Mark Nesbitt, Keeper of Kew's Economic Botany Collection explains, this was to eliminate the chance and guesswork in identifying "good" plants from "bad".

Professor Monique Simmons of Kew's Jodrell Laboratory, assesses why chemicals from the plant kingdom are still needed in the fight against some of our most challenging diseases, from breast cancer to cardiovascular disease, and how making the nuanced connections between plant species is central to success in this field.

Producer Adrian Washbourne.

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Plants: From Roots to Riches

Botanical Medicine

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 Extra

About BBC Radio 4 Extra