Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London: The Intoxication Season, Mind Altering Plants and Fungi – 20th September until 12th October

Very few people live their lives without using some kind or mood or mind-altering substance.

From 20th September until 12th October at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, an Intoxication Season will explore the secret history behind mind-altering plants and fungi: from the opium poppy with chemical powers that have shaken economic and political worlds for centuries, to extraordinary ‘ordinary’ plants such as coffee and tobacco, cemented in culture, consumed by humans daily for their effects.

Visitors will discover how plants’ identities have been manipulated through time, sometimes portrayed as friend, sometimes as foe, when in actuality no plant is inherently a drug, a medicine, or a poison.

From notorious plants in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, to the Bompas and Parr Plant Connoisseurs’ Club, the season will highlight the ensnaring, bewitching and lethal offerings from the natural world and show just how powerful their chemicals can be.

• Architectural foodsmiths Bompas and Parr return once again to Kew to launch a Plant Connoisseurs’ Club in the Secluded Glasshouse: part-workshop, part-talk, part-interactive-experience, the club will explore unfamiliar yet culturally significant plants consumed around the world, from ceremonial uses, to familiar daily caffeine fixes. For over 18s only. Willing participants will be offered the chance to try an unusual plant.

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