WASHINGTON — The newest exhibit at the United States Botanic Garden, Fierce Flora, explores "tales of survival and demise."
"Plants are really good over time about finding ways to live," explains Devin Dotson, the Senior Communications Specialist at the U.S. Botanic Garden. "And we celebrate those in this new exhibit."
From herbivores to infection and other plant competitors ─ plants have some incredible survival techniques. Some defense mechanisms like thorns on roses or poison ivy seem obvious. But there are also some unexpected lessons to be learned.
"One of my favorite stories from the exhibit is about the tea that we drink every day," said Dotson. "The leaves have caffeine and not only is that a defense against insects, insects don't like to eat caffeine, but when the leaves fall on the ground they actually leach that caffeine into the ground and it deters other plants from being able to grow."
And just because a plant produces a chemical that cause harm, like poison ivy, they can also be used for good too.
According to Dotson, "More than half of our new medicines continue to come from plants. And a lot of those are chemical defenses that we learn to use for human purposes."
There are plants at the exhibit that you can look but not touch.
"We've got a number of real specimens and plants that have maybe dangerous adaptations," said Dotson behind a glass case of spiky plants. "This is a safe way to see them really up close and we've got some hand lenses people can use to really zoom in."
You can even test your own survival against some of the worlds fastest killer plants.
A plant called a bladderwort sucks in its prey in less than 9 milliseconds. The exhibit will be at the Botanic Garden for the next two years so you have plenty of time to check it out. And a reminder that visiting the Botanic Garden is free and open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.