My group, consisting of Kasey, Troy, Evitt, and I have been working along with Ashley, who is a research specialist in the William L. Brown Center at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Our collaboration is to assist us with the formulation of an idea for an Indigenous Plant Tour. Our group has most of the idea already, but Ashley is helping us close the gaps we may have. Another group consisting of Jaidyn, Jay, Kyra, and Sophia are also working with Ashley towards a QR tour on plants that have been extracted.
Once all of us CODES students met with Andrew and Ashley, we all went to the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum. One of the first things I noticed in this beautiful museum was all of the white mens’ portraits hung at the top of the balcony. At this time of the year, they were having an exhibit about the “Kernels of Culture Around the World” (Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum). Andrew led this tour around the museum. I had asked Andrew about the floors because they looked very old. He said that originally they had ugly flooring on top with ANOTHER kind on top of that. So, when the renovation came around, he went snooping around and found the beautiful floors that are now out in the museum.
My group along with the other group previously mentioned split from the others to get a more in-depth tour to grasp an idea of what plants or areas to include in our story telling. As we walked to the Missouri Native Garden, we were talking about the possibility of to get the patrons more engaged with the entirety of the Garden, to focus on telling more of a story rather than just focusing on the plants. The thought was that maybe, our story could start at the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum, highlighting the fact that yes the museum is beautiful, but the representation in this space is the same as the rest of the Garden. The white men are put in the big, beautiful portraits, while all the advances of the other cultures are shown in small pictures on the bottom. An idea that Andrew had about this was to rotate those portraits, representing other people who also had an impact on botany and on the history that is currently underrepresented within the walls of the Garden.
Once we got to the Missouri Native Garden, Ashley told us about plants that will stay identifiable all year long. The Yarrow is a flowering plant that is both antibacterial and antifungal. This plant remains all year, so it would be a good talking point for the tour since it was an efficacious plant, meaning all Indigenous peoples use it, mostly for medicinal use. Another plant that would be useful is the witch hazel tree. On this tree, it flowers in the winter, but when the leaves turn brown, they stay on the tree. Witch Hazel is one with great Indigenous purpose. According to a project published by Adkins Arboretum, it was stated that in Indigenous communities, “bark was combined with spicebush and Virginia pine needles as a tea for fevers” (Witch Hazel). When the bark was made into a tea by itself, it could be used to sooth sore throats and tuberculosis (Witch Hazel). From a muscle bruising aid to soaking it with alcohol and water and making one of the most revolutionary remedies for postpartum mothers in the Western world, witch hazel is a world renowned plant.
Ashley stated something on this tour that made me have a revelation, so much so I wrote the premise of it down. She said, with Indigenous knowledge, they know every way to use the plant because of hundreds and thousands of years of knowledge. The limitations and all of the ins and outs of the plants are already known. When those plants are extracted by colonizers, they never take into account all of the knowledge of the plant. When you take plants out of the traditional uses, it always seems to come with side effects. (Ashley) To me this explanation made me think of the saying what goes around comes back around. This phrase resonates with this topic being it is very relevant since those who extract the plants, have to live with the consequences of their actions.