Mandrakes, Nightshades, and More
Wednesday, September 29, 7-9 pm, Morgan Room

Speaker: Katharine Anderson

Experience first-hand (minus screaming mandrakes), Harry’s Herbology class as Katharine Anderson traces the science behind the folklore of nightshades that include the botany and chemistry that account for the family’s notorious reputation.

Katharine is an ethnobotanist and cultural geographer who teaches in the Environmental Program at UVM. As an undergraduate botany major at UVM, she became fascinated with the stories of human interactions with the plant world. Her dissertation became a book titled Nature, Culture and Big Old Trees. At UVM she teaches Ethnobotany, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and Religion and Ecology. Four years ago she taught a seminar called Mandrakes, Magic and Medicine, which led to her being part of the Harry Potter’s World events.