Category: Indigenous knowledge systems

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The symbolism of plants

With the forthcoming 12 monthly articles we want to give a certain insight into how former generations and cultures, having far less access to rational and experimental scientific knowledge than modern scientists, tried to explain and interpret their observations in the plant kingdom.

That’s from Riklef Kandeler and Wolfram Ullrich’s introduction to their series on “Symbolism of plants: examples of European-Mediterranean culture presented with biology and history of art” in the Journal of Experimental Botany. ((This seems to be something of a tradition. There was a similar monthly series on plant culture in 2002 by Nicholas H. Battey.)) It started last January, and each month brings a new plant. June’s installment has just come out. It’s on lilies. No crops, really, though some of the plants treated are used as food (e.g. Crocus). The focus is on plants which carry with them the heaviest symbolic baggage. You can set up an alert with the journal to tell you when the next in the series will come out.

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Nibbles: Perenniality, Very minor millet, Red rice, Market, Cacao et al.

  • Aussies test perennial wheat. Luigi asks: should they be growing wheat at all?
  • What is the world’s most obscure crop? The Archaeobotanist makes his case: Spodiopogon formosanus Rendle.
  • Tourism does for “red rice.”
  • “The Wonjoku family in Muea was renowned for the manufacture of hoes, cutlasses, knives, chisels, spears, axes, brass bangles, brass spindles and tools for uprooting stumps of elephant grass.”
  • Nestlé says its new R&D centre in Abidjan will help it source high-quality raw materials of cocoa, coffee and cassava locally, “which in turn will raise the income and the quality of life of local farmers.” Hope conservation gets a look-in.