The 300 Million Year War

Over the past 300 million years, plants have had to put up a fight against everything from dinosaurs to hungry caterpillars. But their startling array of defence mechanisms – including poisonous chemicals and cunning ways of communicating with allies – tell us they’re not as helpless as they look. In this series of five lectures, Professor Sue Hartley explores the fight between plants and their predators, revealing the tricks plants hold up their sleeves, and how much of our daily lives – from our food to our drugs – is a by-product of this great war.