The 12 Plants of Christmas -the natural history, botany and folklore of the plants that surround us at Christmas.

Apart from the pear tree in which sat a partridge, there are no other plants in the 12 days of Christmas according to the folk song. And yet we are surrounded by plants at Christmas, and we will hear how the record of the zoo-centric song can be put right, replacing partridges with poinsettias, and maids with mistletoe.

Timothy Walker

From 1988 to 2014 Timothy Walker was the Director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators lecture about them in the same way as museum curators talk about their collections. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms and his lectures often investigate this relationship. Since 2014 he has been a college lecturer and tutor in Botany and Plant Conservation at Somerville College, Oxford.