John Akeroyd, who described himself as a botanist and field taxonomist, has a lifetime's experience of working with plants and a focus for the last 20 years on dry grasslands in Romania. The latter is an example of species-rich temperate grasslands which are extremely important for their diversity, although they are becoming rarer. Thankfully, given a chance, nature will return and flourish and it is the mixed agricultural landscapes which have proven to be the most diverse.
With numerous illustrations and amusing asides, John described how important the plants around us are to our economy, our health and how their flowers and foliage have been absorbed into our cultures. While many of our staple food plants such as wheat, barley, flax, and olive oil derive from plants which spread out from the fertile crescent, others which have gone on to dominate world food trade such as maize, haricot beans, potatoes and squash originate in the Americas. Success or otherwise of crops, and the spread of crop disease has had an impact on history as has the exploitation of crops and people for trade. Plants or their flowers and foliage are often potent symbols of nations or culture for example the Scottish thistle, the English rose, the Irish Shamrock and the Welsh daffodil and leek. At a time when sustainability is key, plants that can be used then recycled such as cork, hessian, or paper are important contributors. Since early times plants have had a vital role in medicines first as herbal remedies or even contraceptives and more recently as sources of compounds providing the inspiration of synthetic drugs. John showed us that while it is easy to take all the plants around us for granted, they play multiple essential roles in our world. Andrew Graham Comments are closed.
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