People
Turner, Jill
| Job Title | Information Specialist |
|---|---|
| Department | Jodrell |
| Section | Centre for Economic Botany |
| Science Teams |
Large-Scale Syntheses |
| Joined Kew | 1998 |
| Foreign Language(s) |
Qualifications & Appointments
BA (Hons), Kingston Polytechnic, 1990.
Role
Answering enquiries to the CEB, specialising in poisonous plant cases; developing an interest and knowledge of botanical jewellery.
First point of contact for enquiries to the Centre for Economic Botany (CEB) by telephone and letter. The majority of the telephone enquiries are from members of the public asking for urgent information on whether a plant is poisonous by ingestion or harmful through skin contact. It is usually a child who has eaten the plant but can also be pets and farm animals. Dealing with these calls requires reassurance and speed – often the person is agitated and may only have the common name of the plant. Care has to be taken to ask enough questions to be able to identify the plant correctly. Hospital A&E Depts and veterinary surgeries also call if they have plant material but no name and we try to work out what the plant is, in conjunction with Herbarium staff if necessary, and supply information on its toxicity. Also undertake the less specialist email enquiries to the mailbox CEB-Enq. Emails and letters come from other academic institutions, students, museums, schools as well as individuals needing information about a specific plant, whether for study or personal interest. All enquiries are recorded on a database. CEB has recently received a large donation of c. 230 items of jewellery made from various plant parts. Identification of the plant species of unknown/unlabelled items is currently in progress, after which each artefact will be entered on to the Collections database. Once cataloguing is complete, the items will be photographed. Other tasks include general administration, such as the completion of invoice requests for potpourri toxicity reports and any other commercial enquiries received, ordering stationery, attending Health & Safety meetings and provision of H&S advice to new interns.
Projects
Diversity of Biologically Active Plants and Plant-Derived Compounds
Medicinal Uses of British Plants
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Turner, J., Mathew, B. & Lock, M. (2002). Musa basjoo. Curtis's Botanical Magazine 19 (1): 49-54.
Zappi, D. & Turner, J. (2001). Eriobotrya japonica. Curtis's Botanical Magazine 18 (2): 108-113.