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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 15, 2009

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Leeann Lavin: 718-623-7289, leeannlavin@bbg.org
Kate Blumm: 718-623-7241, kateblumm@bbg.org

A Garden to Die For: Wicked Plants at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 2009 Summer Highlight

Brooklyn, New York—April 15, 2009—The awesome power of plants is on display this summer with Wicked Plants at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, from May 31 through September 6, 2009.

Although plants have nourished and succored, seduced and delighted humans throughout history, this summer, BBG highlights a rogue's gallery of the most nefarious, troublesome, and even potentially deadly members of the plant kingdom. Wicked Plants at Brooklyn Botanic Garden introduces visitors to over 50 plants in the Garden whose capacity to injure, poison, or perhaps just irritate humans is a powerful reminder to tread lightly in the plant world.

Inspired by the upcoming release of author Amy Stewart's Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, Brooklyn Botanic Garden's summer interpretive highlight gives visitors a closer look at the sometimes problematic relationship between people and plants. In ten areas throughout the Garden, on-site text and the Garden's first-ever audio tour, featuring its science and horticulture staff, share facts, advice, and tales of close encounters with wicked plants. Visitors will learn about such botanical menaces as monkshood (Aconitum sp.), a member of the buttercup family used to tip spears for killing prey—and people; ricin (Ricinus communis), an extract of the castor bean that was used to poison a Bulgarian dissident in the 1970s; and the jumping cactus (Cylindropuntia fulgida), which terrorizes hikers by seeming to leap onto clothing or exposed skin.

But singling out the dangerous qualities of plants is only a part of Wicked Plants at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. For every "villainous" aspect of a particular plant, BBG's interpretation will shed light on plants' redemptive characteristics. The foxglove (Digitalis species), for example, tellingly also called "witch's gloves" or "dead man's bells," causes violent reactions when ingested; but the plant is also used to make digitalis, which helps regulate the human heart—a boon to victims of cardiac distress.

Throughout the summer, and as part of the Garden's Wicked Plants program, visitors will be able to take free guided tours every Tuesday, 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and every weekend at 1 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., led by BBG's celebrated Garden Guides. Discovery Carts, helmed by teens in BBG's Garden Apprentice Program, will highlight special selections such as cacti and insectivorous plants. The Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery will feature the artwork of Briony Morrow-Cribbs, who created the original copper-plate etchings for Amy Stewart's book.

"BBG has curated this delightful summer program to help demystify the 'evil' or 'villainous' characteristics shared by thousands of plants." said Kathryn Glass, vice president of marketing, Brooklyn Botanic Garden. "This summer's program offers an exciting lineup of "wicked" ways to experience every part of the Garden."

Wicked Plants at Brooklyn Botanic Garden Opening Day Celebration: Sunday, May 31, 2009

Tuesdays through Fridays throughout the summer:

Tuesdays only:

Weekends (Sunday May 31 to Sunday September 6)

Opening Day and July 14-August 21

As part of this summer's Wicked Plants program, the Garden will offer a special Saturday lineup, July 25. A Botanical Etching Workshop with Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincolnís Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities artist, Briony Morrow-Cribbs will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (Pre registration is required and there is a fee: $57 member, $63 non-members). The workshop will be followed by a Wicked Plants Walk with Wicked Plants author, Amy Stewart, from 3 ñ 4 p.m. Wicked Plants books can be purchased in the Garden's Gift Shop in order to secure an autograph from the author and artist, who will offer a book-signing after the Wicked Plant Walk.

To receive a copy of Amy Stewart's Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincolnís Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities for review, please contact Michael Taeckens at michael@algonquin.com or 919-967-0108 x14.