Plants are most commonly harvested for their food or appreciated for their beauty, however many plants in the Southern Appalachians have important medicinal qualities.

Herbal expert Patricia Kyritsi Howell will give a lecture titled “The Southern Appalachians: Apothecary of North America” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in the Highlands Nature Center.

Howell has been a student of herbal studies since she was a teenager and attended the California School of Herbal Studies. She has opened two schools of her own for herbal studies and published a book, Medical Plants of the Southern Appalachians, which stands as the foremost resource on regional native plant medicines.

The talk is part of the Zahner Conservation Lectures, a summer tradition in Highlands that brings experts in the field of science and conservation to give free talks. Howell’s presentation is dedicated to Joseph Gatins, the Highlands Biological Foundation Trustee who died last September of a heart attack while on vacation.  

www.highlandsbiological.org or 828.526.2221.