Fatal Attraction: A weekend at the Poison Garden at Alnwick Garden
Deadly plants, Harry Potter tales and 'booze goggles' – all at the world's largest poison garden. This RSC public outreach event at Alnwick Garden was one with a difference.
By Professor John R Dean
Families and other visitors were treated to a weekend of educational fun and intrigue, thanks to the efforts of the Analytical Division in North East England.
In addition to the weird and wonderful plants everywhere, the dedicated team of organisers delivered a full programme of activities for all ages on 9 and 10 July.
The Poison Garden at Alnwick Garden is home to more than 100 potentially lethal plants, including deadly nightshade, wolf’s bane, henbane, cannabis and khat. This outreach event gave people a chance to learn more about these fascinating bits of nature.
As well as exclusive guided tours, there were short, 10-minute pre-recorded presentations on four selected flowering plants from the family Solanaceae.
The poisonous plants in question were:
- deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), which contains atropine
- henbane (Hyoscyamine niger), featuring scopolamine
- mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), containing atropine and scopolamine. This section featured a bit about Professor Pomona Sprout from ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’
- the humble potato, which contains solanine.
Details of both the poisons therein, and historic or fictional stories of their uses, were also dished out to both entertain and educate viewers.
A self-guided Poison Garden quiz, created with the assistance of the Poison Garden wardens, posed a test for visitors as they explored. It encouraged everyone to take in the sights of the garden, discover and learn about some of the plants on show, read facts located on the permanently installed poster boards, and listen to stories told on the guided tours.
Another source of entertainment came from the 'booze googles'. Unable to see straight without a drop of alcohol, guests were challenged to see if they could catch a ball, walk in a straight line, stack cups and sort shapes.
Colouring sheets for all ages were handed out, allowing visitors to colour in an outline of selected poisonous plants. This came with a photograph of the plant as an aid to colour choice (if required), a chemical structure of the plant's poison and a few simple facts to help people learn more.
The selected plants were Aconitinum ferox, and its poison aconitine; the castor bean plant (or Ricinus communis), and its poison Ricin; deadly nightshade (or Atropa belladonna), and its poisons atropine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine); foxglove (or Digitalis purpurea Linn) and its poison digitalis; and, finally, the opium poppy (or Papaver somniferum) and its poisons morphine, codeine, thebaine, papaverine and noscapine.
The pop-up sensory laboratory was also a hit with attendees. Once blindfolded, guests had to guess the plant type (all common kitchen herbs) by touch and smell alone.
The array of activities meant there was something for everyone at the event, which was preceded by a preview event on the Friday evening of 8 July. Around 35 invited guests from North East schools and organisations got the chance to experience the array of activities before anyone else.
As well as the fun events already detailed above, a paper chromatography experiment allowed participants to separate a series of food dyes using water as the mobile phase. And there was also a word search, created exclusively for this event, featuring the names of common and poisonous plants.
There was also a contest that challenged visitors to guess the number of carbon atoms on a MolMod molecule of atropine, along with 10 written facts about the compound. There were prizes for all guesses.
The 'chemistry of smells' was another opportunity for families to try something different. This saw participants smell a series of anonymous scents in bottles and try to identify common household products.
One of the most popular activities for all ages was painting with cabbage. Participants were able to draw a picture in wax and then use the extract from cabbage, at different pH, to generate a coloured image. The great weather over the weekend allowed rapid drying of the artwork.
Finally, some specially designed storyboards were on display that both linked with the current poster boards in the Poison Garden, namely additions on the chemistry of the Poison Garden related to the Teacup Poisoner, the curry killer, doctor death and the umbrella murder.
In addition, two additional storyboards contributed some additional scientific details in the form of how analysis of poisons is done using chromatography-mass spectroscopy, and the human toxicology of plant poisons.
The event came together thanks to the hard work of both an organising group and then a number of volunteers who gave up their weekends to help families learn about the garden and chemistry.
John Dean, Professor of Analytical and Environmental Science, and Samantha Bowerbank, Senior Chromatography Technician, both in the Department of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, worked closely with Alnwick Garden's Head of Community and Education Claire Mitchell and former Head Gardener Trevor Jones.
All these activities over the weekend were facilitated by volunteers, who wore specially designed chemistry-themed aprons for the event. The aprons spelled out the word 'Alnwick', using the chemical symbols for aluminium, nitrogen, tungsten, iodine, carbon and potassium.
The volunteers who all made the weekend work, and to whom much thanks are offered, were Ms Bowerbank, Lynne Dean, Naomi Dean, Dr Rachael Dack, Kate Nicholson, Matthew Reynold and Graeme Turnbull.
The preview event was hosted by Prof Dean, Ms Mitchell, RSC Analytical Division (North East region) chair Dr Dack, Northumbria University's Head of Applied Sciences Dr Sophie Carr, and, on behalf of the RSC, Dr Remya Norris.
