Ep. 372 - Cyanogenic Plants

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Botany, Natural Sciences, Ecology, Nature, Plants, Science

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cyanide is one of the most potent toxins on our planet and a bewildering variety of plants put in the effort to produce it. Join me and Dr. Scott Zona as we explore the world of botanical cyanogenesis and learn what kinds of plants produce cyanide, the mechanisms of storing and releasing this toxin, and why they go through all the effort. This episode was produced in part by Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefensive Plants Podcast, the official podcast of IndefensivePlants.com.
0:05.6	What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone doing this week?
0:09.8	I'm doing great because my friend and strong supporter of the podcast, Dr. Scott Zona,
0:14.7	is back if you've listened to the whole back catalog, which, hey, thank you. He was on the podcast
0:20.6	a very long time ago, but he's back today to talk to us about a really cool subject,
0:25.1	and that is cyanogenesis, plants that produce cyanide. It's a wacky and wild world full of
0:32.6	interesting facts and a lot of cool evolutionary relationships, and I'm not going to steal any of
0:37.8	us thunder. I'll let you hear it all from Dr. Zona himself, so let's jump right into it. Without
0:42.7	further ado, here's my conversation with Dr. Scott Zona. I hope you enjoy.
0:55.2	All right. Dr. Scott Zona, welcome back to the podcast. It has been ages. So for those that
1:06.5	haven't listened to the entire back catalog, let's start off with an introduction. Tell everyone
1:11.1	a little bit about who you are and what it is you do. My name is Scott Zona. I am a taxonomist
1:17.4	by training, but I've sort of slipped into ecology. Yeah, it happens. But yeah, I grew up in
1:27.2	South Florida, and I'm currently living in North Carolina. Excellent. And where do the love of plants
1:33.3	start for you? Is this a childhood thing that just grew into a career or is it something you kind
1:38.4	of discovered later on? I think it's in my DNA. My mom saved a little essay I wrote in
1:45.6	grade school. I must have been probably about eight or nine years old that said I wanted to be
1:50.9	a botanist when I grew up. So I knew from a very early age. Nice. That's excellent. And I mean,
1:58.0	from what I've seen of your career, you've dabbled in a lot. Palms have been a big fixation,
2:01.9	litter trapping, especially has been a big fixation. But where did the switch to ecology start to happen?
2:06.8	Partly because the trend to work now in molecular philogenetics, and I was not in a lab at the time,
2:21.0	not working. And I've collaborated with people that have labs, but since I don't have a lab at my
	...

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