Sophia Overturf 

CODES 

Dr. Hildebrandt 

February 6^th ,2024 

Last week we went to the Botanical Gardens to visit the archives. During this visit I had the opportunity alongside my cohort to view the plant specimens and records that went with them. Some being from as far back as the late 1800s. Coming to the gardens, I did not know very much about what we were coming to look at. But after visiting I got a bit more of an idea of plant collection and the people collecting them. 

We saw a lot of old plants, specifically Yucca tree and many of the samples coming from the time period of 1870s-1930s. North American plants are more commonly collected since we live in north America, they have a lot of some plants and very little of others due to botanists not wanting to venture further into forests and other places due to fear of being poisoned by the plants. However, some of the plants that they have information on are databased and have their own number with a bar code. There was a lot of bias when it came to the documents, mainly because some of them came from over 100 years ago. As those botanists were mainly old, white, men, who wanted to put their names on anything they could. 

The specimens that we looked at were collected by C.G.Pringle, Jared G. Smith, George Angelman, and Ferdinand Lindheimer(who was one of the first collectors from what is now known as Texas. The purposes for which they were collected were mainly research and other scientific purposes. The people who are being silenced by these researchers are the native people who originally used these plants and the people who helped them collect the specimens. They are silenced because we do not know anything about these people, and they likely weren’t documented so we may never know anything about these people. So, we must learn about them based on these plants and what they are used for. As some are extremely vital to our current medical practices to make medicines. 

Even though sometimes we do not have much information about these plants or the people who originally used them. Even with the people being silenced, we can still try to understand the significance of the plants. We still need to try to understand the whole picture and the stakeholders that are associated with it. Since we are the ones coming up with solutions, I think that visiting the achieves is a starting point for the big picture and gives us more opportunities to explore in the future 

Dr. Hildebrandt

CODE 122

Reflection #2

January 5^th, 2024,

The Gardens- Plant Specimens

During the previous week, my cohort and I had the opportunity to visit the gardens, where we explored the archives housing a collection of aged plant specimens that were carefully gathered throughout the early and late 19th century. Going into this, we had a little knowledge of the plant’s specimens but not a whole lot. This trip did, however, contribute to better our knowledge on plant extraction and what things were kind of missing in the older plant specimens that we were looking at.

In the specific plant specimens, we were looking at they all had one kind of common feature; that feature is the that they were very vague and not very descriptive on where it was extracted from and really the natives’ people’s use of that plant. Though the newer specimens did have more information on them, they still did not know a whole lot.  Even though we are now in the 21^st century you can still see a lot of bias coming from botanists from back in the day. Because in the 19^th century the only botanist there was, was rich in power white men, so obviously some were named after those botanists and colonists, like Carl Linnaeus, and with the information read about last week we know that names have deep meanings and affect people in different ways because the past has shaped our present. Despite the apparent quietness and stillness, the voices of those whose native plants were extracted resonate very loudly, highlighting the deep impact of their displacement.

In essence, their silence speaks volumes, resonating with profound significance. Another standout issue of the plant specimens and the herbarium is that it is not getting the funding it needs to make the changes it needs. Though it’s possible that the changes that are required to be made might cut the stakeholders in half because of what we have to say. Given the inherent complexity of our examinations, we find ourselves still in pursuit of answers and the resolution of mysteries. Though, I am inclined to believe that our current direction indicates progress and alignment with the path towards resolution.

Our field trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden Archive was very informative. We learned so much new information about plant cataloging, and gained a better understanding as to what goes on behind the scenes at the garden. The documents were different than I had imagined. They are on normal pieces of paper and the plants are held on to the paper using tape, glue and even dental floss. Additionally, most, if not all, have barcodes on them which may lead the viewer to the Tropicos database. Each plant contains a text that may include different things. For example, it can give a description or not depending on who found the species, and additionally the area, family, genes, and locality. The catalogs are not comprehensive, they are simply snapshots of that specific time according to that botanist. If that botanist chooses to have a description with their plant, they may interview a local to figure out the uses and other details about the plant. However, this can show biases because they only show one point of view of the interviewee. This means that the overall voices of the culture may be silenced. This results in the botanist having the loudest voices within the catalogs because they have the total freedom and power to pick and choose details that they think need to be with the plant. We can relate this information to our research team because the cultures involve some indigenous knowledge (or lack thereof). We can use these catalogs as building blocks in order to fill in gaps with future information. With all the information we learned during our visit, I believe that in order to fill in the culture aspect of the plants, the botanists need to interview multiple different people within the culture, in order to represent it respectively and fully. In conclusion, our time at MOBOT was very helpful and informative in relation to our theme within our research team.

Below is an image of a plant pressing we examined. It shows a plant pressing which demonstrates my point about how each plant has descriptions. Additionally, it shows how the plants are held on with glue and dental floss.

Kasey Tipton

This past week, our research teams had the opportunity to visit the gardens and explore the archives. My team specifically got to see and begin to analyze various plant specimens. Although I was not very knowledgeable about plants specifically, the specimens provided quite a bit of useful information. I was hoping for

Troy Shaffer

Dr. Hildebrandt

CODES122

7 February 2024

MOBOT Lab Write-Up

The renowned Missouri Botanical Gardens is in St. Louis and has a large collection of plant specimens from all over the world. Our recent visit of the Missouri Botanical Gardens (MOBOT) was to look into the archives in search of plant specimens that could give us indigenous knowledge. We were not very successful.

At MOBOT, each plant specimen is stored in a folder, it has a tangible part of the plant and information about the plant. The information includes the botanist’s name responsible for the discovery, when and where the plant was discovered, the plant’s common uses, scientific and common names, and more that I am probably missing. However, we noticed that there is an absence of indigenous knowledge in these plant specimens.

Unfortunately, these plant specimens only have a singular perspective. Victoria, our herbarium assistant, called these a snapshot of the plant frozen in time, with only the viewpoint of one person. In our observations, Indigenous knowledge and voices were absent and silenced from the herbarium. To unsilence these voices would not be difficult. All we need is botanists to provide more effort, instead of just doing their traditional research strategies.  By engaging with and seeking collaboration with indigenous communities during their research trips, botanists could bridge the gap, and finally have a more inclusive representation of knowledge within the herbarium. The Missouri Botanical Garden has the potential to not only preserve plant specimens but also give voices to communities from which these plants originate, which would only lead to the herbarium being a better resource for people around the world.

This is a plant sample that we looked at first. We used this as our example to look at everything that these show and tell us.

On the visit to MOBOT, we got to take a little more information about African American knowledge but it still felt a little lackluster. The only African American specimens we got to look at were George Washington Carver’s. This truly shows that there is still potential and opportunity for improvement for more information in the garden. While talking to the staff they seemed to also have a lack of knowledge of some of the African specimens and lack thereof, which was very disappointing especially when this is part of what they are trained to do research on. It was nice to hear about some of the plants having medicinal properties and other great uses. It truly shows that learning about the plants from other cultures can help us in modern medicine and other great uses.  The worker also shared how rare some of these specimens were which shows how important they are. Imagine if we had more African and African American knowledge about these plants. In a lot of the African cultures, we were told that these plants had a lot of spiritual meaning as well. A major thing to note is that a lot of the specimens didn’t have their common name or usages which definitely shows the lack of knowledge the staff has on these specimens.

Native Americans have the most powerfully resonant quiet. Ashley gave our group an explanation of how these Native Americans would have concealed villages inside the Florida swap. To keep people out of their town, they would place these prickly bushes outside. As a result, nobody who tried to find these secret settlements ran the risk of getting wounded because only the locals knew how to get around these plans. We learned from Native Americans that they constantly adapt to their environment and devise new means of doing so. One method we might educate people about how amazing Native Americans are would be to write a book or create a website detailing how they used inventive strategies to combat white people.

This trip to the Garden informed a few parts of our research team’s goal but not in as depth as we would have preferred. In the archival traces worksheet, a concept called “instances of possibility” is mentioned which basically translates to possessing potential. I found that there was an ample amount of room for possibility and potential after reviewing some of the documents. While listening to the employee of the garden describe the details of the specimens, we found that there were not many details at all that would answer our questions explicitly. So instead, we chose to not make evaluations based on what information we had but rather the lack thereof and how this unavailability further informs our search for African American knowledge in the garden. The specimens did have a few common themes such as being used for medicinal purposes. There was even a specimen containing red seeds used as spiritual protection by a specific culture of people. I noticed that the creators of the specimens were mostly the same although this was intentional as the archivist sorted through the archives to tailor to our group’s needs, I thought it was important to note. The worker who went through the specimens with our team mentioned to us how rare it is that the common names and usages of the plants were rarely included in the archives. This does carry that theme of “silencing,” but I am not sure how we would begin to effectively address this in our research teams. The workers in the garden seem to struggle to attain this information and they are trained in this. If the lack of information is the root issue and we either cannot attain it or it is really difficult to, it is not apparent to me how we will get over this hurdle.  

The Missouri Botanical Gardens (MOBOT) allowed the CODES cohort to take a deep dive into their herbarium archive to fully understand the biases that may be present in the specimens that are in MOBOT’s herbarium.

            These plant specimens that are some seven million in MOBOT’s herbarium all possess the following: barcode, list of location, genus name, species name, local name, and accessioning number (is a special code to look up a specific plant withing the Tropicos database)

            In my group within the research team we were given plant specimens mostly from Central and South America, as those regions of the world typically are helped by the local people(s) of that region to help the botanist(s) when they travel to South America to help with the language barrier and the insight knowledge these local botanists would have on the plants located in their own region. There was nothing in particular that stood out about the way the plants were presented within the folder.

            The loudest voices within the collection of these Indigenous plants would be the botanist that collected the plant originally. The bias the original botanists possesses can become prevalent within the description of the plant and/or additional notes that might not appear on the databased information that is available on Tropicos.

            There were no voices that had been silenced within the plant description itself solely based on the fact that local botanists assist with any plant that is collected in that local botanist’s area of expertise. The document tags only take a snapshot into the time that the plant was sampled, and it doesn’t show all sides of the story. It’s not like there was a livestream to witness the full interaction of the plant collection. Since the whole moment can’t be processed into words on a plant data collection sheet, this gives examples of a problem of what others might think about the original collector’s opinions.

            Following the guest lecture from Dr. Tisha Brooks in CODE 123, the thought process of what to do with the information we received from our garden partners only opens my mind to what all could be done with the few gaps that are present in the specimens. What we found in our archive dive can be the starting building blocks for our further research.

Student Name: Shelby Terrell

Grade Contracted For  __X__ A    ____ B        ____ C

What concepts are you going to learn, or skills are you going to develop?	How will you learn the content/ develop the skill?	What evidence will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning?	How will you and I assess the evidence of your learning/skills?
(20%)Based on (12. A, B, C):  Facilitates collaboration by articulating the benefits of alternative ideas. While also working with others to build on contributions and meet my deadlines and goals.	Using the strategies I used last semester while also improving on things I struggled with last semester Communicating and collaborating with other students in my group and class to develop solutions	Ethical Research labs Digital Story map	Revising my portions of the Ethical Research Labs after receiving feedback to show improvement Using the necessary knowledge document to show how I collaborate with others to generate ideas
(20%)Based on: 8 C. I will develop clear and relevant responses with information to support my claims in discussions.	Coming prepared to class by reading the assignments and taking notes so I can be able to participate in discussions.	Notes taken before and during class to show how I prepare for discussions Using sources from SA’s to use that in my discussion points	Seeing me speak out in discussions at least twice a class. When I lead a discussion I will use well-developed questions to help guide the conversation in a productive way
(20%)Based on: 13 A, B, C. I will demonstrate mastery of the subjects I write about in assignments, display a clear understanding, and use language skillfully to communicate with clarity.	Taking accurate notes for writings Referring to text when needed in reflections to demonstrate understanding	Turning in assignments before class Citing references Using appropriate language in essays	Source Analysis’s will be turned in on time. I will use feedback to edit and improve my writing Ethical Research labs
(20%)Based on:			·
(20%)Based on :			·

Priscilla Kincanon

Hildebrandt

12, October 2023

CODE 120

MC #2

The Missouri Botanical Gardens has a herbarium with collections of preserved plants, specimens, and other data used for studies. One of the best research collections in the world for bryophytes and vascular plants is the herbarium at the Missouri Botanical Garden. These two main plant categories are the only ones included in the collection. In 2018, there were around 7 million specimens in the collection.

Example of plant pressing researchers use.

Although The Missouri Botanical Gardens herbarium is a great place for research to be conducted, wicked problems arise. There are access problems, excluding other systems of knowledge (very Western), and hard to sustain and fund.

One issue the herbarium faces is access problems. In a herbarium, all plants are concentrated in a single location. This wicked problem has no easy solution and can feel irreversible. Herbarium specimens may be vulnerable to deterioration from incorrect storage, water damage, mold, pests, detached specimens, dust, and dirt. Much of the potential damage can be reduced or avoided via proactive conservation.

There are three key bits of information on each herbarium sheet. The physical specimen itself, which consists of stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and fruits, is the most obvious. Researchers may identify the species from these and see how different the individual plants are within and between groups. The foundation for species descriptions and identification keys is the measurements and observations of specimens. The interior chemistry of the specimens can reveal additional information, including genetic information.

Another issue the herbarium faces is that it is Western and excludes other systems of knowledge. Sampling biases can be categorized broadly into various groups. The imbalanced sampling of some taxa or clades over others is known as taxonomic or phylogenetic bias, and it often results from a collector’s scholarly interests or the allure of plants. Geographic bias arises when samples are gathered more frequently in one location compared to another, frequently due to accessibility differences. There are big taxonomic gaps in data on the occurrence of plants worldwide, Strong temporal discontinuities in occurrence records across decades, extensive spatial gaps in areas with high concentrations of plant diversity, particularly in Asia, Central Africa, and the Amazon, and these factors can all make it difficult to draw conclusions about how current and upcoming environmental change will affect plants.

The last wicked problem the herbarium faces is that it’s hard to sustain and fund. Small herbaria’s are not digitizing their collections and making them accessible online for a variety of reasons. several tiny herbaria have challenges like a lack of financing, a staffing shortage, and curators who have several duties outside of the collection (such as teaching, counseling students, and conducting research outside the collections). Prioritizing these efforts becomes even more challenging because curators at smaller institutions frequently do not receive any credit toward promotion for their curatorial responsibilities. Additionally, collection managers and curators who desire to digitize could find it difficult to know where to start and what their alternatives are.

In conclusion, there are many wicked problems the herbarium faces. Herbarium specimens are used as a source of information on plant species (such as the habitats where they exist, when they flower, and what compounds they contain), as validation or documentation, as a reference for identification, and to record the diversity of plants in a specific geographic area.

References

Harris, Kari M, and Travis D Marsico. “Digitizing Specimens in a Small Herbarium: A Viable Workflow for Collections Working with Limited Resources.” Applications in Plant Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5400430/.