Ethnobotany

There is an ethnobotany course taught up here in the spring with us. Scott the instructor, and Matt my fellow TA are awesome dudes who can tell you what nearly every plant or fungi in the woods is called. And how to use it for medicine, for food, insect repellent, fuel, or just a steaming cup of soul warming tea...

Today was Friday and gorgeous again, but we had a long day indoors with lectures and a statistics exercise...blahh, so not too much to report on there. In between breaks in the morning lecture I pass by the spot where the ethnobotany class puts up specimens of all the plants they collect and learn. Whole cabinets of cutttings from trillium to moose maple, morell mushrooms to pitcher plants. Complete with latin and common names, family and then well, its up to the students to remember the use. All written on birch bark. Come exam time students are sitting in front of those cabinets all morning rehearsing and taking notes in deep contemplation. A beautiful ethno-botanic museum in miniature.

Loitering and perusing the latest finds, memorizing and imagining I snapped this shot of some Prunys pennsylanica, a fragile little piece of natural art...