The plant Rafflesia has the world’s largest flowers and gives off one of the worst scents; it’s also something of a biological enigma, a leafless parasite that lives off forest vines. For the botanist Chris Thorogood, an expert in parasitic and carnivorous plants at the Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, Rafflesia is also an obsession. In his book, Pathless Forest, he goes in search of this mysterious plant in some of the last wildernesses in South East Asia.
Dr Kelsey Byers is an evolutionary chemical ecologist who specialises in floral scent and its influence on the evolution of flowering plants. In her laboratory at the John Innes Centre in Norwich she studies how flowers use different smells to attract their pollinator of choice. From sweet aromas to the stink of rotting flesh, she explores how plants use con-artistry and sexual deception to thrive.
The ethnobotanist William Milliken from Kew Gardens has spent much of his career working with indigenous people in the Amazon to preserve traditional plant knowledge. Now he’s focused on collecting folklore about the use of plants to treat ailments in animals in Britain. From wild garlic treating mastitis in cows, to cabbage for flatulence in dogs, he hopes to uncover a cornucopia of plant-based veterinary medicines.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Who Am I? The Brain and Personality
Fascism and the Enlightenment with Steven Pinker
Rise and Fall of the City
Money Makes the World Go Around
Mohsin Hamid on leaving home
The Power of Art
Peter Carey on legacies of the past
Votes for Women
Who governs Britain?
The power and beauty of objects.
Russia, religion and the Middle East
Finland at 100
Blood, guts and swearing robots
Anger and deprivation
Heart of Darkness: Conrad and Orwell
Animals: tamed, exploited and resurrected
Living with the Gods
The End of War?
Russian Revolution a hundred years on
Power, the People and the Party
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
The Rest Is History
Global News Podcast
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage
You’re Dead to Me