Plants to Medicine: Walks with Peter Houghton
July 15, 19 & 29, 6pm-7:30pm
August 4 & 9, both 6pm-7:30pm and 12pm-2:30pm
Your guide is a professor from Kings College London who is an expert in medicinal plants and the chemicals from them which are used in medicine. This walk describes the ways in which plants are used in medicine, both as herbal medicines and as sources of the active compounds found in many medicines used by pharmacists and doctors. As well as comments on the medicinal properties of weeds growing around the streets and in the Urban Physic Garden, a visit will be made to the herb garden of Southwark Cathedral, echoing its former status as a monastery. The walk concludes with a very special tour of the private Life Sciences Museum of Kings College, which contains examples of dried herbs and medicinal plants. Pharmaceutical antiques will be on display and there will also be a demonstration of the way in which plant extracts were made into pills.
