Medicinal plants have an immense need for intensive curation and interpretation. Many of the more powerful and important medicinal species have little aesthetic value, making medicinal collections difficult to display. Properly interpreted, medicinal species afford us the opportunity to meaningfully engage the public. We hope to provide answers and solutions to the many questions surrounding these plants, from tracking medicinal value to interpretation. Not only do medicinal plants face challenges in connecting with the public, these very plants encounter difficulties reaching our gardens as many are being replaced by modern cultivars and are difficult to procure ethically.
Presenter:
C. McKinley, United States Botanic Garden, Washington, District of Columbia; B. Tankersley, Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, Illinois; C. Newlander, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colorado; C. Morse, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut; C. Leech, The Met Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park, New York
