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Regional medicine: Trumpet tree

The trumpet tree or embauba is widely used in traditional medicine throughout Central and South America. Virtually every part is used - bark, roots, sap, leaves and fruit - to treat a diversity of...

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Sweet cure: Chocolate

While still best loved as a sweet confectionary, humans first used chocolate thousands of years ago as a medicine. Anxiety, fever, and fatigue were all treated by chocolate-sweetened remedies made by...

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Record breaking: Giant Amazon water lily

The Giant Amazon Water Lily was discovered growing in the River Amazon in 1801, and first grown in Europe in the mid 19th Century.

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Super-sized: Giant taro

This extraordinary plant is a staple food for over three hundred million people worldwide. Just like our potato, the corm (a swollen stem) is peeled and boiled, and eaten as an important source of...

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Big business: Banana

Bananas are the fourth largest crop in the world after rice, wheat, and maize. The yellow desert banana is a major export for tropical countries and one of the best selling food products in the UK.

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Meet the family: Aroids

The Living Rainforest has an amazing collection of rare and unusual aroids (Araceae family). The collection was donated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew several years ago and since expanded to include...

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The high life: Epiphytes

Epiphytes grow upon or attached to a living plant, often high up in rainforest trees where there is more light compared with lower levels. Epiphytes use the host plant for support, but produce their...

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Rainforest berries: Coffee

The first coffee was drunk over a thousand years ago by Arab traders. According to legend, it was discovered by an Ethiopian shepherd who saw his goats were unusually frisky after eating the...

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Daily encounter: Houseplants

Many houseplants grown in the UK originate in tropical rainforests where the average growing temperature is similar (from 18°C). The big difference is the size each group of plants grows.

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Mystery potions: Angel’s trumpet

Angel's trumpets are found naturalised across the world, and their trumpet flowers exude a beautiful and narcotic scent, particularly at night.

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