Inside the Flower

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Inside the Flower

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n experiential contemporary medicinal garden that immerses one into the historical, spiritual and mythological relationship with psychotropic plants. An invitation to understand the being of medicinal plants in a time when of biochemical intelligence, and its place in nature and history with man is being reconsidered. The total work forms a living and museological Wunderkammer. Artwork elements form a link between historical folklore and our current use of medicinal plants, all centered around their natural toxicity. The elements within form both a botanical display and a laboratory-like performative space. Overhead is an inflated translucent water bubble which appears to connect with tubes and hanging vials of plant fluids contributing to the total alchemical, scientific, laboratory language of the space. The project aims to communicate to audiences about specific medicinal herbal plants and their mythologies, their medicines and cures, as well as providing the opportunity to observe the beauty and wonder of botanical specimens and their biological systems. Surrounding the exterior of the pavilion is a delicate laboratory type garden of medicinal plants, supported and planted into transparent containers, scripted with their common and scientific names. Around the interior of the work, curving shelves house cellular clusters a museological content around the internal circumference. Botanical specimens, laboratory glass containing plant matter and fluids, photographic and drawing images 3D printed and cast and sculptural elements, charts and texts are curated and assembled combining multiple ways of experiencing and viewing the story and biological systems of the selected medicinal plants that reference the rich botanical history Texts of prominent German botanical figures including locally famed Berlin Botanist Louis Lewin whose extensive writings on stimulating plants and their power of affect over the mind, he termed ‘THE PHANTASTICA’. Other historical figures and their writings include Hildegard von Bingen, and the historical herbal botanical drawings by the pioneer physician, Leonard Fuchs. Other content will be based on research connected to scientific institutions specifically Freie University of Berlin, Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences, The Botanical Museum Berlin and in consultation with experts from these institutions including Kathrin Grotz and Professor Matthias Melzig. Janet Laurence, Berlin 2017

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lso known as aconite, monkshood, wolf’s bane, leopard’s bane, mousebane, women’s bane, devil’s helmet, Queen of all Poisons, or blue rocket. This popular garden plant is one of the most poisonous plants in the garden but it has such a distinctive and unpleasant taste that cases of accidental poisoning are extremely rare though not unknown. Its a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. Aconitum species have been recorded as food plant of the caterpillars of several moths.

In the Anglo-Saxon vocabularies it is called thung, which seems to have been a general name for any very poisonous plant. In the Middle Ages it became Monkshood and Helmet-flower, from the curious shape of the upper sepal overtopping the rest of the flower. This was the ordinary name in Shakespeare’s days.

Aconite -Aconitum Napellus

The generic name is said to have been derived from a dart because it was used by barbarous races to poison their arrows. The chief collecting centres for foreign Aconite root have been the Swiss Alps, Salzburg, North Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Much was also formerly collected in Germany. Supplies from Spain and Japan are imported, is directed by the British Pharmacopceia to be derived only from plants cultivated in England, and a certain amount of home-grown Aconite has been regularly produced by the principal drug-farms, though good crops are grown with some difficulty in England.

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Toxicity & medical uses

he roots of Aconitum ferox supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning. Aconitum palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons. The root of Aconitum luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as poisonous. Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons. Aconitum poisons were used by the Aleuts of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands for hunting whales. Usually, one man in a kayak armed with a poison-tipped lance would hunt the whale, paralyzing it with the poison and causing it to drown. The chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting and for warfare. Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning. Anodyne, diuretic and diaphoretic. The value of Aconite as a medicine has been more fully realized in modern times, and it now rank as one of our most useful drugs. It is much used in homoeopathy. Aconite is also used in ointment and sometimes given as hypodermic injection. Preparations of Aconitc are employed for outward application locally to the skin to diminish the pain of neuralgia, lumbago and rheumatism. The official tincture taken internelly diminishes the rate and force of the pulse in the early stages of fevers and slight local inflammations, such as feverish cold, larnyngitis, first stages of pneumonia and erysipelas; it relieves the pain of neuralgia, pleurisy and aneurism. In cardiac failure or to prevent same it has been used with success.

It was supposed to be an antidote against other poisons. It is said that its power was so forcible that the herb only thrown before the scorpion or any other venomous beast, cause them to be without force or strength to hurt, in so much that they cannot moove or stirre untill the herbe be taken away. Ben Jonson, in his tragedy Sejanus, says: “I have heard that Aconite Being timely taken hath a healing might Against the scorpion’s stroke”. Linnaeus reports Aconite to be fatal to cattle and goats when they eat it fresh, but when dried it does no harm to horses, Field-mice are well aware of its evil nature, and in hard times, when they will attack almost any plant that offers them food, they leave this severely alone.

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ommonly known as henbane, black henbane or stinking nightshade, is a poisonous plant in the family Solanaceae that originated in Eurasia, though it is now globally distributed.

Toxicity & medical uses

he name henbane related to death dates at least to AD 1265. It was originally used in continental Europe, Asia, and the Arab world,though it did spread to England in the Middle Ages. It was historically used in combination with other plants, such as mandrake, deadly nightshade, and datura as an anaesthetic potion. Its psychoactive properties in “magic brews�. These psychoactive properties include visual hallucinations, a sensation of flight. The use of henbane by the ancient Greeks was documented by Pliny. The plant, recorded as Herba Apollinaris, was used to yield oracles by the priestesses of Apollo. Tropane alkaloids have been found in the foliage and seeds of the plant. Common effects of henbane ingestion in humans includes hallucinations, dilated pupils, restlessness, and flushed skin. Less common symptoms, such as tachycardia, convulsions, vomiting, hypertension, hyperpyrexia, and ataxia, have all been noted. Hyoscyamine <

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annabis is a flowering plant that includes three species (and seven taxa or sub-species, sativa, indic a and ruderalis. The plant is indigenous to Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Cannabis is an annual, dioecious, flowering herb. The leaves are palmately compound or digitate, with serrate leaflets. The first pair of leaves usually have a single leaflet, the number gradually increasing up to a maximum of about thirteen leaflets per leaf (usually seven or nine), depending on variety and growing conditions. At the top of a flowering plant, this number again diminishes to a single leaflet per leaf. The lower leaf pairs usually occur in an opposite leaf arrangement and the upper leaf pairs in an alternate arrangement on the main stem of a mature plant. Cannabis sativa appears naturally in many tropical and humid parts of the world. Its use as a mind-altering drug has been documented by archaeological finds in prehistoric societies in Euro-Asia and Africa. The oldest written record of cannabis usage is the Greek historian Herodotus’s reference to the central Eurasian Scythians taking cannabis steam baths.

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Toxicity & medical uses

annabis plants produce a group of chemicals called cannabinoids, which produce mental and physical effects when consumed. Cannabis is a popular recreational drug around the world, only behind alcohol, caffeine and tobacco. The psychoactive effects of cannabis are known to have a biphasic nature. Primary psychoactive effects include a state of relaxation, and to a lesser degree, euphoria from its main psychoactive compound,tetrahydrocannabinol. Secondary psychoactive effects, such as a facility for philosophical thinking, introspection and metacognition have been reported amongst cases of anxiety and paranoia. Medical cannabis (or medical marijuana) refers to the use of cannabis and its constituent cannabinoids, to treat disease or improve symptoms. Cannabis is used toreduce nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy, to improve appetitie in people with HIV-AIDS and to treatchronic pain and muscle spasms. Cannabinoids are being studied for neuroprotective effects.

Scythian incense vessels for inhaling < hemp smoke, found in prehistoric graves in the High Altai (Mongolia) [From Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, 1970]

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astor oil plant is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus, Ricinus, and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of castor and its relation to other species are currently being studied using modern genetic tools. It reproduces with a mixed pollination system. Its seed is the castor bean, which, despite its name, is not a true bean. Castor is indigenous to the south-eastern Mediterranean Basin, Eastern Africa, and India, but is widespread throughout tropical regions and widely grown elsewhere as an ornamental plant. The seed contains ricin, a water-soluble toxin, which is also present in lower concentrations throughout the plant. Castor seed is the source of castor oil, which has a wide variety of uses.

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Toxicity and medical use

he seeds, used for making oil, contain ricin, a potent poison that damages animal tissue. A fatal dose for an adult is four to eight seeds. Symptoms of ricin poisoning can appear up to 36 hours after ingestion, but usually within two to four hours. It is characterized by a burning sensation in the mouth, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy. Within several days, dehydration, reduced blood pressure and reduced urination appear. Without medical attention, death occurs within three to five days. Castor oil has many uses in medicine and other applications. An alcoholic extract of the leaf was shown, in lab rats, to protect the liver from damage from certain poisons. Methanolic extracts of the leaves of Ricinus communis were used in antimicrobial testing properties and showed analgesic activity in rats. Antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties were found in ethanolic extract of Ricinus communis root bark. It is also used in the treatment of gallstones and dyspepsia.

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rum maculatum is a common woodland plant species of the Araceae family. It is widespread across most of Europe as well as Turkey and Caucasus. It is known by an abundance of common names including snakeshead, adder’s root, arum, wild arum, arum lily, lords-and-ladies, devils and angels, cows and bulls, cuckoo-pint, Adam and Eve, bobbins, naked girls, naked boys, starch-root, wake robin, friar’s cowl and jack in the pulpit. The name “lords-and-ladies” and other gender related names refer to the plant’s likeness to male and female genitalia symbolising copulation. Arum maculatum is cultivated as an ornamental plant in traditional and woodland shade gardens. The cluster of bright red berries standing alone without foliage can be a striking landscape accent. The mottled and variegated leaf patterns can add bright interest in darker habitats.

History & toxicity

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rum maculatum is also known as cuckoo pint or cuckoo-pint in the British Isles and is named thus in Nicholas Culpepers’ famous 17th Century herbal. This is a name it shares with Arum italicum (Italian lords-and-ladies), the other native British Arum. “Pint” is a shortening of the word “pintle”, meaning penis, derived from the shape of the spadix. The euphemistic shortening has been traced to Turner in 1551. All parts of the plant can produce allergic reactions in many people and the plant should be handled with care. Many small rodents appear to find the spadix particularly attractive and it is common to find examples of the plant

with much of the spadix eaten away. The spadix produces heat and probably scent as the flowers mature and it may be this that attracts the rodents. In autumn the lower ring of (female) flowers forms a cluster of bright red berries which remain after the spathe and other leaves have withered away. These attractive red to orange berries are extremely poisonous. The berries contain oxalates of saponins which have needle-shaped crystals which irritate the skin, mouth, tongue, and throat, and result in swelling of throat, difficulty breathing, burning pain, and upset stomach. However, their acrid taste coupled with the almost immediate tingling sensation in the mouth when consumed mean that large amounts are rarely taken and serious harm is unusual. It is one of the most common causes of accidental plant poisoning based on attendance at hospital A & E departments. The root-tuber may be very big and is used to store starch. In mature specimens the tuber may be as much as 400 mm below ground level.

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s a species of flowering plant in the genus Digitalis, in the family Plantaginaceae, native and widespread throughout most of temperate Europe. It is also naturalised in parts of North America and some other temperate regions. The plants are well known as the original source of the heart medicine digoxin.

Toxicity & medical uses

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ue to the presence of the cardiac glycoside digitoxin, the leaves, flowers and seeds of this plant are all poisonous to humans and some animals and can be fatal if ingested. Extracted from the leaves, this same compound, whose clinical use was pioneered as digitalis by William Withering, is used as a medication for heart failure. He recognized it “reduced dropsy”, increased urine flow and had a powerful effect on the heart. Unlike the purified pharmacological forms, extracts of this plant did not frequently cause intoxication because they induced nausea and vomiting within minutes of ingestion, preventing the patient from consuming more.

With the right dosage, Digitalis toxin can cause the heart to beat more strongly. However, minute increases in the dosage of these drugs can make the difference between an ineffective dose and a fatal one. Symptoms of Digitalis poisoning include a low pulse rate, nausea, vomiting, and uncoordinated contractions of different parts of the heart, leading to cardiac arrest and finally death. Digoxigenin (DIG) is a steroid found exclusively in the flowers and leaves of the plants Digitalis purpurea and Digitalis lanata. It is used as a molecular probe to detect DNA or RNA. This plant inspired a famous poem by the Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli titled “Digitale Purpurea”. It also inspired the Italian industrial metal band Digitalis Purpurea.

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s a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia. Usually in dry open places and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere. Its common names include ragwort, common ragwort, stinking willie, tansy ragwort, benweed, St. James-wort, ragweed, stinking nanny/ninny/ willy, staggerwort, dog standard, cankerwort, stammerwort, mare’s fart and cushag. It is widespread weed in New Zealand and Australia. In many Australian states ragwort has been declared a noxious weed. This status requires landholders to remove it from their property, by law. The same applies to New Zealand where farmers sometimes bring in helicopters to spray their farms if the ragwort is too widespread.

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History & uses

n ancient Greece and Rome a supposed aphrodisiac was made from the plant, it was called satyrion. Also, the leaves can be used to obtain good green dye, as yellow dye is obtained from the flowers, as can be done for brown and orange. The Greek physician Dioscorides (c.40 – 90 CE) recommended the herb. In the UK, where the plant is native, ragwort provides a home and food source to at least 77 insect species. Thirty of these species of invertebrate use ragwort exclusively as their food source. Ragwort contains many different alkaloids, making it poisonous to certain animals. The danger of ragwort is that the toxin can have a cumulative effect. The alkaloid does not actually accumulate in the liver but a breakdown product can damage DNA and progressively kills cells.

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uphorbia cyparissias, the cypress spurge, is a species of plant in the genus Euphorbia. It is native to Europe and was introduced to North America in the 1860s as an ornamental plant. Natural habitat types include dunes, pannes, coastal headlands and grasslands. In North America it is commonly found in the dry, gravelly soil of roadsides, pastures, and meadows. Cypress spurge thrives in open, disturbed areas. Cypress spurge is a bushy, perennial plant; grows 4 – 20 inches tall, the stems contain a milky, acrid juice and bear alternate, sessile, linear to filiform leaves below and whorled, ovate-cordate leaves near the top. The greenish-yellow flowers have neither calyx nor corolla and grow in small many-rayed umbels

from April to July. The fruit is a small, nearly globular capsule. This plant is considered a noxious weed in many places, including Colorado in the United States. Like some other non-native plants, it invades the habitat of native species. It is known to be harmful to cattle and horses, but not sheep. It can be difficult to control. Biological pest control methods have been attempted, involving the release of several European insect species in North America. Certain flea beetles have been effective, but there are concerns about the release of non-native insects into the region.

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History & medical uses

ome variety of spurge, was known as “Tubicai� by the Moapa Paiutes. A lacy green mat clinging to gravelbars. Tea from the whole plant was used as an eyewash. Also, Pill-bearing spurge (E. pilulifera) has been used (aerial parts) for asthma, as an antispasmodic, as an expectorant; used to reduce phlegm. The milky sap has sometimes been used against warts. Should not be used without medical supervision because of danger of poisoning. Native Americans used the leaf tea of this variety for diabetes; root tea as a strong laxative (this is an extremely strong laxative), emetic, for pinworms, rheumatism; the root poultice was used for snakebites. The danger from poisoning from an overdose has all but eliminated the use of spurge, except in homeopathic preparations. The milky sap the spurges contain also causes dermatitis, and the fresh plants must be handled with caution.

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nown by the common names Jimson weed or Devil’s snare, is a plant in the nightshade family. It is believed to have originated in Mexico, but has now become naturalized in many other regions. Other common names for Datura stramonium include thornapple and moon flower and it has the Spanish name Toloache, hell’s bells, devil’s trumpet, devil’s weed, tolguacha, Jamestown weed, stinkweed, locoweed, pricklyburr, and devil’s cucumber. The root is long, thick, fibrous and white. The stem is stout, erect, leafy, smooth, and pale yellow-green. The stem forks off repeatedly into branches, and each fork forms a leaf and a single, erect flower. The flowers open at night, emitting a pleasant fragrance, and are fed upon by nocturnal moths.

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History & medical uses

ll parts of Datura plants contain dangerous levels of the tropane alkaloids. The risk of fatal overdose is high among uninformed users, and many hospitalizations occur amongst recreational users who ingest the plant for its psychoactive effects. Datura intoxication typically produces delirium (as contrasted to hallucination), hyperthermia, tachycardia, bizarre behaviour, and severe mydriasis with resultant painful photophobia that can last several days. Pronounced amnesia is another commonly reported effect. Datura has been used in traditional medicine to relieve asthma symptoms and as an analgesic during surgery or bonesetting. It is also a powerful hallucinogen and deliriant, which is used spiritually for the intense visions it produces. However, the tropane alkaloids responsible for both the medicinal and hallucinogenic properties are fatally toxic in only slightly higher amounts than the medicinal dosage, and careless use often results in hospitalizations and deaths.

In traditional Ayurvedic medicine in India, Datura has long been used for asthma symptoms. The active agent is atropine. The leaves are generally smoked either in a cigarette or a pipe. During the late 18th century, James Anderson, the English Physician General of the East India Company, learned of the practice and popularized it in Europe. The Zuni once used datura as an analgesic, to render patients unconscious while broken bones were set. The Chinese also used it in this manner, as a form of anaesthesia during surgery. The ancient inhabitants of what is today central and southern California used to ingest the small black seeds of Datura to “commune with deities through visions”. cross the Americas, other indigenous peoples also used this plant in sacred ceremonies for its hallucinogenic properties. In Ethiopia, some say it opens the mind” to be more receptive to learning, and creative and imaginative thinking. In his book, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis identified stramonium, called “zombi”. The common name “datura” has its roots in ancient India, where the plant is considered particularly sacred believed to be a favourite of the Hindu god Shiva Nataraja.

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s a highly poisonous perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. Conium maculatum is known by several common names. In addition to the English poison hemlock, the Australian Carrot Fern, and the Irish devil’s bread or devil’s porridge, poison parsley, spotted corobane, and spotted hemlock are used. Conium comes from the Greek konas (meaning to whirl). It is a herbaceous biennial plant that grows to 1.5 – 2.5 m (5 – 8 ft) tall, with a smooth, green, hollow stem, usually spotted or streaked with red or purple on the lower half of the stem. All parts of the plant are hairless. The leaves are two to four pinnate, finely divided and lacy, overall triangular in shape, up to 50 cm (20 in) long and 40 cm (16 in) broad. The flowers are small, white, clustered in umbels up to 10 – 15 cm (4 – 6 in) across. When crushed, the leaves and root emit a rank, unpleasant odor often compared to that of parsnips. It produces a large number of seeds that allow the plant to form thick stands in modified soils.

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History & toxicity

n ancient Greece, hemlock was used to poison condemned prisoners. The most famous victim of hemlock poisoning is the philosopher Socrates. After being condemned to death for impiety in 399 BC, Socrates was given a potent infusion of the hemlock plant. Conium contains the piperidine alkaloids coniine, N-methylconiine, conhydrine, pseudoconhydrine, and gamma-coniceine (or g-coniceïne), which is the precursor of the other hemlock alkaloids. Coniine has a chemical structure and pharmacological properties similar to nicotine and disrupts the workings of the central nervous system through action on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. In high enough concentrations, coniine can be dangerous to humans and livestock. Due to high potency, the ingestion of seemingly small doses can easily result in respiratory collapse and death. Coniine causes death by blocking

the neuromuscular junction in a manner similar to curare. This results in an ascending muscular paralysis with eventual paralysis of the respiratory muscles which results in death due to lack of oxygen to the heart and brain. Death can be prevented by artificial ventilation until the effects have worn off 48 – 72 hours later. For an adult, the ingestion of more than 100 mg (0.1 gram) of coniine (about six to eight fresh leaves, or a smaller dose of the seeds or root) may be fatal. Since no specific antidote is available, prevention is the only way to deal with the production losses caused by the plant.

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ommonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the tomato family Solanaceae, native to Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, and some parts of Canada and the United States. Plants grow to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) tall with ovate leaves 18 cm (7.1 in) long. The bell-shaped flowers are purple with green tinges and faintly scented. The fruits are berries, which are green, ripening to a shiny-black, and approximately 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter. The berries are sweet and are consumed by animals that disperse the seeds in their droppings, even though the seeds contain toxic alkaloids.

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Toxicity & medical uses

he foliage and berries are extremely toxic, containing tropane alkaloids. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine, which cause a bizarre delirium and hallucinations. The ancient Romans used it as a poison (the wife of Emperor Augustus and the wife of Claudius both were rumoured to have used it for murder). And predating this, it was used to make poison-tipped arrows. It has a long history of use as a cosmetic, and poison. Before the Middle Ages, it was used as an anaesthetic for surgery. The genus name Atropa comes from Atropos, one of the three Fates in Greek mythology, and the name “bella donna” is derived from Italian and means “pretty woman” because the herb was used in eye-drops by women to dilate the pupils of the eye.

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s a twining herbaceous plant in the Aristolochiaceae family, which is native to Europe. The leaves are heart shaped and the flowers are pale yellow and tubular in form. The plant seeks light by ascending the stems of surrounding plants.

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Toxicity & medical uses

t was formerly used as a medicinal plant, though it is poisonous, and is now occasionally found established outside of its native range as a relic of cultivation. It is now thought to be the cause of thousands of kidney failures in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia where the plant is thought to be unintentionally consumed through contaminated flour. When used as a herbal product based on another plant of the same genus as a diuretic. After a few months, some of the patients experienced kidney failure.

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ommonly called golden chain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily the pea family Fabaceae. The species are Laburnum anagyroides , common laburnum and Laburnum alpinum laburnum. They are native to the mountains of southern Europe. To use as poison there is a saying: “Laburnum! It is such a pretty tree that the sixth Doctor Dr Who suggests that if the Master turned into a tree, it would be a laburnum, because they have poisonous pods. The novel A Melon for Ecstasy by John Fortune and John Wells is, in part, about the main character’s forbidden love affair with the laburnum in his back yard. It has appeared in so much literature and it is associated with romantic ideas of death and desire.

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Toxicity & uses

ll parts of the plant are poisonous, and can be lethal if consumed in excess. Symptoms of laburnum poisoning may include intense sleepiness, vomiting, convulsive movements, coma, slight frothing at the mouth and unequally dilated pupils. In some cases, diarrhea is very severe, and at times the convulsions are markedly. The main toxin in the plant is cytisine, a nicotinic receptor agonist. It is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species. The wood of Laburnum has historically been used for cabinetmaking and inlay, as well as for musical instruments. In addition to such wind instruments as recorders and flutes, it was a popular wood for musical instruments.

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ommonly known as Greater Celandine or Tetterwort, Nipplewort, or Swallowwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant, the only species in the genus Chelidonium. The dried above-ground parts, root, and rhizome are used to make medicine.

Medical uses

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reater celandine is used for various problems with the digestive tract including upset stomach, gastroenteritis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation, loss of appetite, stomach cancer, intestinal polyps, and liver and gallbladder disorders. Other uses include detoxification, treating menstrual cramps, cough, pain, breast lumps, chest pain (angina), fluid retention (edema), “hardening of the arteries� (arteriosclerosis), high blood pressure, asthma, gout, and osteoarthritis. Some people apply greater celandine directly to the skin for warts, genital warts, rashes, eczema, and scabies; and to the gums for tooth pain and to ease tooth extraction. The fresh root is also chewed. The latex could be employed for cauterizing small open wounds

Earlier studies of celandine showed that it causes contact dermatitis and eye irritation, particularly from contact with the poisonous red to yellow latex of the stem. Chelidonium majus has traditionally been used for treatment of various inflammatory diseases including atopic dermatitis. The aerial parts and roots of greater celandine are used in herbalism. The fresh rhizome is also used. Celandine has a hot and bitter taste. Preparations are made from alcoholic and hot aqueous extractions (tea). As far back as Pliny the Elder and Dioscorides (1st century CE) this herb has been recognized as a useful detoxifying agent. The root has been chewed to relieve toothache. It was formerly used by gypsies as a foot refresher. Modern herbalists use its purgative properties.

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ommonly known as false helleborine, white hellebore, European white hellebore, white veratrum, is a poisonous medicinal plant of the Liliaceae (lily family) or Melanthiaceae. It is native to Europe and parts of western Asia (western Siberia,Turkey, Caucasus). The root is very poisonous, with a paralysing effect on the nervous system and poisoning from eating the seeds. The toxins sneezing powders produced from the herb in West Germany were reported to have caused severe symptoms. In 2014 it was claimed that Alexander the Great could have been poisoned by a wine made from Veratrum album. Previously it was believed that poisoning due to arsenic or (a mythical belief), the water of the river Styx may have led to the death of the King of Macedon. In antiquity, an effective emetic syrup based on white hellebore and a bitter oval seed was mixed by the physicians of Antikyra, a city of Phocis in Greece.

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ilk Thistle common names include cardus marianus, milk thistle,blessed milkthistle, Marian thistle, Mary thistle, Saint Mary’s thistle, Mediterranean milk thistle, variegated thistle and Scotch thistle. This species is an annual or biennial plant of the Asteraceae family. This fairly typical thistle has red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins.

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Medical uses

ilk thistle has been used for a number of purposes including liver disease, and cancer and in the treatment of type II diabetes (with significant results). The extract made from the seeds Silybum marianum is used in traditional Chinese medicine to clear heat and relieve toxic material or to soothe the liver and to promote bile flow. Though its efficacy in treating diseases is still unknown, Silybum marianum is sometimes prescribed by herbalists to help treat liver diseases (cirrhosis, jaundice and hepatitis). Cancer Research UK say that milk thistle is promoted on the internet for its claimed ability to slow certain kinds of cancer. Milk thistle has also been known to be used as food. The roots can be eaten raw or boiled and buttered or part-boiled and roasted. The young shoots in spring can be cut down to the root and boiled and buttered. The spiny bracts on the flower head were eaten in the past like globe artichoke, and the stems (after peeling) can be soaked overnight to remove bitterness and then stewed. The leaves can be trimmed of prickles and boiled and make a good spinach substitute or they can also be added raw to salads. Because of its potassium nitrate content,when eaten by ruminants, the bacteria in an animal’s stomach breaks the plant has been found to be toxic to cattle and sheep.

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s the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae. Most morning glory flowers unravel into full bloom in the early morning. The flowers usually start to fade a few hours before the “petals” start showing visible curling. They prefer full solar exposure throughout the day, and mesic soils. Some morning glories, such as Ipomoea muricata, are night-blooming flowers. In some places, such as Australian bushland, some species of morning glories develop thick roots and tend to grow in dense thickets. They can quickly spread by way of long, creeping stems. By crowding out, blanketing and smothering other plants, morning glory has turned into a serious invasive weed problem whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux.

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Toxicity & medical uses

orning glory was first known in China for its medicinal uses, due to the laxative properties of its seeds. It was introduced to the Japanese in the 9th century, and they were the first to cultivate it as an ornamental flower. During the Edo period, it became very popular. The Japanese have led the world in developing varieties. Hundreds have evolved, such as a. It has come to symbolize summer in Japanese horticulture and art. Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations used the morning glory species Ipomoea alba to convert the latex from the Castilla elastica treeballs. The sulfur in the morning glory’s juice served to vulcanize the rubber, a process predating Charles Goodyear’s discovery by at least 3,000 years. Aztec priests in Mexico were also known to use the plant’s hallucinogenic properties. Seeds are used as psychedelics. The seeds of morning glory can produce a similar effect to LSD when taken in large doses, often numbering into the hundreds.

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erium oleander is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, toxic in all its parts. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. It is most commonly known as oleander, from its superficial resemblance to the unrelated olive (Olea). It is so widely cultivated that no precise region of origin has been identified, though southwest Asia has been suggested. The ancient city of Volubilis in Morocco may have taken its name from the Berber name oualilt for the flower. The flowers require insect visits to set seed, and seem to be pollinated through a deception mechanism. The showy corolla acts as a potent advertisement to attract pollinators from a distance, but the flowers are nectarless and offer no reward to their visitors. They therefore receive very few visits, as typical of many rewardless flower species.

Toxicity & medical uses

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leander is one of the most poisonous of commonly grown garden plants. Oleander has historically been considered a poisonous plant because some of its compounds may exhibit toxicity, especially to animals, when consumed in large amounts. Among these compounds are oleandrin and oleandrigenin, known as cardiac glycosides, which are known to have a narrow therapeutic index and can be toxic when ingested. Toxicity studies of animals administered oleander extract concluded that rodents and birds were observed to be relatively insensitive to oleander cardiac glycosides. Other mammals, however, such as dogs and humans, are relatively sensitive to the effects of cardiac glycosides and the clinical manifestations of “glycoside intoxication”. Drugs derived from N. Oleander have been investigated as a treatment for cancer, unsuccessfully.

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History & legends

owever, despite the common “poisonous” designation of this plant, very few toxic events in humans have been reported. According to the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System, in 2002, 847 human exposures to oleander were reported to poison centers in the United States. The alleged toxicity of the plant makes it the center of an urban legend documented on several continents and over more than a century. Often told as a true and local event, typically an entire family, or in

other tellings a group of scouts, succumbs after consuming hot dogs or other food roasted over a campfire using oleander sticks. The plant has a leaf like that of the almond, but smaller, and the flower is red like a rose. The plant itself (which loves hilly country) forms a large bush; the root is red and large, and, if this is dried, it gives off a fragrance lik Oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima, having been the first to bloom following the atomic bombing of the city in 1945.

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s the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are derived. Opium is the source of many drugs, including morphine (and its derivative heroin), codeine, papaverine, and noscapine. The Latin botanical name means the “sleep-bringing poppy�, referring to the sedative properties of some of these opiates.

The opium poppy is the only species of Papaveraceae that is an agricultural crop grown on a large scale. It is also valuable for ornamental purposes, and has been known as the “common garden poppy”, referencing all the group of poppy plants. Poppy seeds of Papaver somniferum are an important food item and the source of poppyseed oil, a healthy edible oil that has many uses. The opium poppy is, by definition, the root source of all opioids considered opiates. Morphine is the predominant alkaloid found in the varieties of opium poppy plant cultivated in most producing countries. The seed pod of the opium poppy is the principal source of most naturally occurring μ-opioid receptor agonist opioids. Incisions are made on the green seed pods, the latex which oozes from the incisions is collected, and dried to produce “raw opium”. Opium is about 8 – 14% morphine by dry weight, although specially bred cultivars reach 26%. Poppy straw is the dried mature plant except the seeds, harvested by mowing. Opiates such as morphine, codeine, and oripavine are extracted from both the opium and the straw.

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Medical uses

ultivation of opium poppies for food, anaesthetics, and ritual purposes dates back to at least the Neolithic Age (new stone age). The Sumerian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Indian, Minoan, Greek, Roman, Persian and Arab Empires all made widespread use of opium. It was the most potent form of pain relief then available, allowing ancient surgeons to perform prolonged surgical procedures. Opium is mentioned in the most important medical texts of the ancient world. Opium has been actively collected since prehistoric times, Soma is Vedic Sanskrit for moon, describing both the shape of the bulb and its nocturnal juice emission, which in ancient times would have been visible by moonlight only. This term may be derived from the Sanskrit words rddhi and hrdya, which mean “magical”, “a type of medicinal plant”,

and “heart-pleasing”, respectively the upper South Asian belt of Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, and Burma still account for the world’s largest supply of opium. Opium was used with poison hemlock to put people quickly and painlessly to death, but it was also used in medicine. The Egyptians cultivated opium thebaicum in famous poppy fields around 1300 BCE. Opium was traded from Egypt by the Phoenicians and Minoans to destinations around the Mediterranean Sea, including Greece, Carthage, and Europe. By 1100 BCE, opium was cultivated on Cyprus, where surgical-quality knives were used to score the poppy pods, and opium was cultivated, traded, and smoked. Anthropologists have speculated ancient priests may have used the drug as a proof of healing power. In Egypt, the use of opium was generally restricted to priests, magicians, and warriors, by Isis to Ra as treatment for a headache. A figure of the Minoan “goddess of the narcotics”,shows her wearing a crown of three opium poppies, circa 1300 BCE. Opium was also mentioned after the Persian conquest of Assyria and Babylonian lands in the 6th century BCE. Anthropologists have speculated ancient priests may have used the drug as a proof of healing power. In Egypt, the use of opium was generally restricted to priests, magicians, and warriors, by Isis to Ra as treatment for a headache. A figure of the Minoan “goddess of the narcotics”,shows her wearing a crown of three opium poppies, circa 1300 BCE. Greek gods Hypnos (Sleep), Nyx (Night), and Thanatos (Death) were depicted wreathed in poppies or holding them. Poppies also frequently adorned statues of Apollo, Asklepios, Pluto, Demeter, Aphrodite, Kybele and Isis, symbolizing nocturnal obliv. The Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (845–930 AD) maintained a laboratory and school in Baghdad, and was a student and critic of Galen, he made use of opium in anaesthesia and recommended its use for the treatment of melancholy. In China, recreational use began in the 15th century, but was limited by its rarity and expense. Opium trade became more regular by the 17th century, when it was mixed with tobacco for smoking, has a far more potent effect, and its addictive effect is greatly magnified. Opium prohibition in China began in 1729, and India in an attempt to stop opium imports, led to the First Opium War (1839–1842), in which Britain defeated China.

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ormwood is a woody perennial scrub. This aromatic herb is native to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.The leaves are greyish green and are covered in fine hairs. The tiny clusters of light yellow flowers bloom from early summer to early autumn. The official name of wormwood is Artemisia. Artemisia is named after the Greek goddess named Artemis. She was the twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus and Leto. Artemis was the goddess of hunting and of wild animals. In Roman mythology Artemis is called Diana. Absinthium means “without sweetness”. This is an extremely bitter tasting herb. Wormwood comes from the German word “wermut” which means “preserver of the mind”. They used to think that this herb was good to boost mental capability. Actually that is quite contradictory with the fact that absinthe, the alcohol drink (in which wormwood was a main ingredient) was banned in many countries because it caused hallucinations.

Medical Uses

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ormwood has traditionally been taken to treat pinworms. For that use it is often recommended to take on an empty

stomach. Wormwood is especially recommended for people struggling with a weak digestion. This herb stimulates the appetite. Drink a cup of the tea for this purpose. A half teaspoon crushed leaves is enough for a cup of tea. About 20 drops of wormwood tincture added to a glass of water is said to do wonders for an upset stomach.

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wallowwort or Swallow-wort is a term used for several plants and plant families. Any of several vines of the genus Cynanchum, especially black swallowwort (Cynanchum nigrum) or white swallowwort (Cynanchum Vincetoxicum). Cynanchum is from Greek words meaning “to choke a dog”.

Toxicity & medical uses

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hile the term “Swallowwort” may be derived from description of poisonous effects, greater celandine and swallowwort were each often categorized with Tetterworts because they were used to treat Tetter. This led to nomenclature confusion among these words. There were, in the past plants used medicinally for tonsillitis and referred to as “swallowwort”.

The root of which was formerly esteemed a counter-poison, and hence the botanical name. It has a bitterish, acrid, taste, and, when fresh, a disagreeable odor, which is diminished by drying. Taken internally, it excites vomiting, and is capable, in larger quantities, of producing dangerous, if not fatal, inflammation of the stomach. Feneulle found in the root a principle analogous to emetin. It has been used in skin diseases and scrofula.

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t is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may now be known as English yew, or European yew. It is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, north-west Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. Taxus baccata can reach 400 to 600 years of age. Some specimens live longer but the age of yews is often overestimated. Ten yews in Britain are believed to predate the 10th century.

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Toxicity

ll parts of a yew plant are toxic to humans with the exception of the yew berries (however, their seeds are toxic); additionally, male and monoecious yews in this genus release cytotoxic pollen, which can cause headaches, lethargy, aching joints, itching, and skin rashes, and asthma. These pollen granules are extremely small, and can easily pass through window screens. Both they and the foliage is toxix. The foliage itself remains toxic even when wilted, and toxicity increases in potency when dried. Ingestion and subsequent excretion by birds whose beaks and digestive systems do not break down the seed’s coating are the primary means of yew dispersal. The major toxin within the yew is the alkaloid taxine. Symptoms of yew poisoning include an accelerated heart rate, muscle tremors, convulsions, collapse, difficulty breathing, circulation impairment and eventually cardiac arrest. However, there may be no symptoms, and if poisoning remains unseen, death may occur within hours. Fatal poisoning in humans is very rare, usually occurring after consuming yew foliage. The leaves are more toxic than the seed.

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Uses & traditions

he yew is often found in churchyards in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and northern areas of Spain. In France, the oldest yew trees are almost all located in church yards of Normandy and a chapel was very often laid out in the hollow trunk. One of the world’s oldest surviving wooden artifacts is a Clactonian yew spear head, It is estimated to be about 450,000 years old. In the ancient Celtic world, the yew tree (eburos) had extraordinary importance: A passage by Caesar narrates that Catuvolcus, chief of the Eburones poisoned himself with yew rather than submit to Rome (Similarly, when the Cantabrians were under siege by the legate Gaius Furnius in 22 BC, most of them took their lives either by the sword, by fire, or by a poison extracted that is, from the yew tree.

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s commonly known as February Daphne, Mezereon, Mezereum, Spurge Laurel or Spurge Olive, is a species of Daphne in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae, native to most of Europe and Western Asia, north to northern Scandinavia and Russia. In southern Europe it is confined to medium to higher elevations and in the sub-alpine vegetation zone, but descends to near sea level in northern Europe. It is generally confined to soils derived from limestone. It is a deciduous shrub growing to 1.5 m tall. The leaves are soft, 3 – 8 cm long and 1 – 2 cm broad, arranged spirally on the stems. The flowers are produced in early spring on the bare stems before the leaves appear. They have a four-lobed pink or light purple (rarely white) perianth 10 – 15 mm diameter, and are strongly scented. The fruit is a bright red berry 7 – 12 mm diameter.

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Toxicity

aphne mezereum it is very poisonous for people, though fruit-eating birds like thrushes are immune and eat them, dispersing the seeds in their droppings. Like all plant species in the Daphne genus, the berries of the Mezereon are rich with Daphnetoxin, making them poisonous. Handling the plant without gloves will most likely result in a rash and a choking sensation after prolonged exposure and handling the fresh twigs can cause rashes and eczema.

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ound in moist places in North Africa, central Asia, and in Europe (from where it was introduced to the United States). Male and female flowers occur on separate trees, appearing in catkins on leafy stalks at the same time as the leaves. S. nigra or pussywillow or black willow, S. purpurea, S. caprea, S. daphnoides, S. fagilis, are varieties of the willow. All have the same medical properties or closely to the same properties are found in all the varieties named here.

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Medical uses

he Chinese use S. purpurea which they call Shui-yang. The tea made from the leaves or buds is good in gangrene, cancer, and eczema. Wash is used for corns, cuts, ulcers, poison-ivy rash. Experimentally, delays cataract formation and risk of heart disease in males. Willow bark has been used medicinally for thousands of years. Hippocrates, the Greek physician for whom the Hippocratic Oath is named, wrote about a bitter powder extracted from willow bark that could ease pain and reduce fevers. The bark is used in many herbal remedies. Willow was one of the first herbs to be scientifically investigated. In the 19th century, White Willow (Salix Alba) is anti-rheumatic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiseptic, and astringent. It can cool a fever, relieve pain, and is known as a bitter digestive tonic. Willow contains high levels of acetylsalicylic acid, which is commonly known as aspirin. (Aspirin was the first of the modern generation of plant-derived drugs.) Willow leaves can also be chewed raw if immediate relief is needed. Native Americans used several varieties of the willow; they wove baskets with willow, used willow for pain and reducing fever; the

gray willow (S. exigua) was called “Kosi tsube� by the Paiutes and the Shoshones. They used willow twigs with salt, steeped and drank for laxative. The framework of the vapor bath lodge of the Native Americans was made of willow poles, bent and tied with their bark. The willow was mystically connected with the departure of the spirit from the body at death. Willow twigs had certain uses in funeral rites. The active substances may irritate the mucous membranes of the stomach, and for this reason people with sensitive stomachs should refrain from drinking willow bark tea.

Mandrake - Mandragora Of ficinarum

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andrake is the type species of the plant Genus Mandragora. All species of Mandragora contain highly biologically active alkaloids, tropane alkaloids in particular. More than 80 substances have been identified.

Toxicity & medical uses

he alkaloids make the plant, in particular the root and leaves, poisonous, via anticholinergic, hallucinogenic, and hypnotic effects. Anticholinergic properties can lead to asphyxiation. Ingesting mandrake root is likely to have other adverse effects such as vomiting and diarrhea. The alkaloid concentration varies between plant samples, and accidental poisoning is likely to occur. Clinical reports of the effects of consumption of Mandragora officinarum (as Mandragora autumnalis) include severe symptoms similar to those of atropine poisoning, including blurred vision, dilation of the pupils (mydriasis), dryness of the mouth, difficulty in urinating, dizziness, headache, vomiting, blushing and a rapid heart rate (tachycardia). Hyperactivity and hallucinations also occurred in the majority of patients. Mandrake has a long history of medicinal use, although superstition has played a large part in the uses to which it has been applied. It is rarely prescribed in modern herbalism. The root is hallucinogenic and narcotic. In sufficient quantities, it induces a state of unconsciousness and was used as an anaesthetic for surgery in ancient times. In the past, juice from the finely grated root was applied externally to relieve rheumatic pains. It was also used internally to treat melancholy, convulsions, and mania. When taken internally in large doses, however, it is said to excite delirium and madness. In the past, mandrake was often made into amulets which were believed to bring good fortune, cure sterility, etc. In one superstition, people who pull up this root will be condemned to hell, and the mandrake root would scream as it was pulled from the ground, killing anyone who heard it. Therefore, in the past, people have tied the roots to the bodies of animals and then used these animals to pull the roots from the soil.

These little mandrake men from southwest Asia were < carved from roots of Mawwndragora Officinarum. They were used to ensure good fortune and as love magic (From von Lauschan 1981)

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anet Laurence is a Sydney based Australian artist who exhibits nationally and internationally. Her practice examines our physical, cultural and conflicting relationship to the natural world. She creates immersive environments that navigate the interconnections between organic elements and systems of nature. Within the recognized threat to so much of the life world she explores what it might mean to heal, albeit metaphorically, the natural environment, fusing this with a sense of communal loss and search for connection with powerful life-forces. Her work is included in museum hris Bosse, Tobias Wallisser and Alexander Rieck founded university and corporate and private award-winning LAVA in 2007 as a network with a design and collections as well as within architecresearch focus with offices in Sydney, Stuttgart and Berlin. tural and landscaped public places. LAVA merges future technologies with the patterns of organiwwwjanetlaurence.com sation found in nature to build a smarter, friendlier, more socially and environmentally responsible future. Naturally evolving structural ityplot primarily encourages and educates city systems, such as snowflakes, spider dwellers who would like to grow their own vegeta- webs and soap bubbles, are used for bles, herbs, edible flowers, fruit and berries. We start new building typologies and strucwith the basics: from planting seeds to harvesting, and tures – the geometries in nature genfrom worm composting to attracting pollinators to your erate both efficiency and beauty. But garden. From this foundation, these cycles are then woven above all the human is the centre of their investigations. into the ‘larger picture’. Combining digital workflow, naOur team, coming from an array of professional backgrounds, is involved in a large variety of projects - meaning ture’s structural principles and the also all scales. Wild plants, toxic plants and ethnobota- latest digital fabrication technologies ny were amongst the skill set called upon for “Inside the LAVA builds MORE WITH LESS: more (architecture) with less (material / enFlower”. ergy / time / cost). “It is in the garden that wonders are revealed.” – Joseph Campbell

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his booklet is printed on the occasion of IGA Berlin 2017 to accompany the installation Inside the Flower by Janet Laurence in collaboration with LAVA Laboratory for Visionary Architecture and Cityplot (Amsterdam – Berlin) 13th April – 15th October 2017 Hellersdorfer Str. 159, 12619 Berlin Curator: Katja Aßmann Production assistants: Leslie Ranzoni & Elle Sinclair Research and concept design assistant: Anna Ewald Rice Graphic design: Emilio Rapanà Janet Laurence is fellow of the 2016/2017 Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg which enabled much of the research, and was resident artist of MOMENTUM (Berlin) for the period of production / installation.

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