Plant Portraits 17. Buried Treasure

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed ere. See the first installment of the series for further explanation

 

  

Morning glories, genus Ipomoea,

are prized flowering garden vines, but 

one species grows tubers that have 

sustained human cultures for millenia. 

 Plants have many ways to store food for the next generation. We've seen already storage in seeds and nuts aimed at supporting the establishment of seedlings. Many plants store foods for next year's growth underground, in specialized stems such as tubers, corms, and rhizomes, or in roots like cassava, carrots, turnips, etc. Some, like the peanut, even push their young pods into the soil  to safeguard the young seeds before they ripen. Stored plant food reserves can also feed animals and humans with the skills to find them. 

 



  

A family from the highlands of Papua New Guinea is harvesting sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) 

in their terraced farm. Below them are flooded fields of taro (Colocasia esculenta), and behind are

cultivated bananas. Farming began in New Guinea at least 7000 years ago, independently of 

the other major ares of agricultural invention. 

In Hawaii, a family prepares the traditional dish, poi, from taro. The taro roots are first baked 

in a heated pit, to remove toxic calcium oxalate crystals as well as to soften them. Then they are 

ground into mash in bowls. 

  

In the rain forest of South America, an indigenous family prepares cassava from

the roots of Manihot esculenta  in much the same way as taro is prepared elsewhere. The 

starchy meal can be used in making breads and other dishes, and is the source of tapioca, 

known by young people today as Boba. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children in India are harvesting turmeric (Curcuma longa) rhizomes. These are used in 

flavoring curry and other southern Asian dishes. They are in the Zingiberaceae, and cousins 

to the more widely used ginger spice (Zingiber officianale), obtained from a similar rhizome. The strong flavors of these spices evolved to deter animals from feeding on the rhizomes, but humans have a perverse tendency to turn poisons into gastronomical enhancements, drugs, or medicines.

Like several other members of the ginger family, Hedychium coronarium rhizomes can be 

eaten, though this species is valued more for its highly fragrant white flowers, used in leis,

 or for fragrant oil extract. The flowers are also eaten, giving a spicy touch to

 various dishes. Hedychium rhizomes are the basis of the Manipuri (India) dish Eromba, 

Plant Portraits 16. Fields of Summer Brilliance

   (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

In North America, Europe and central Asia, spectacular displays of wildflowers often occur in the late spring or summer, depending on how long the winter is. This contrasts with the displays we see in deserts, which pop up after a brief rainy season, or those we see in winter rainfall Mediterranean climates.

 

The red poppy, Papaver rhoeas, forms spectacular displays across Europe and Asia, and does 

particularly well in the disturbed soil of abandoned farms and battlefields. 

 

Alpine meadows are home to brilliant displays of wildflowers during their typically short 

summers.Here we see the fabled Edelweiss, Leontopodium nivale (Asteraceae) growing in rocks

 in front of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, along with gentians, columbines, buttercups, asters, 

and others.

 

The subalpine slopes of the Alps are home to the Swiss Stone Pine, Pinus cembra, which has provided edible seeds to indigenous people for millennia.

 

 

 

In Iceland, the "Iceland Poppy" (Oreomecon nudicaulis, formerly Papaver nudicaule) shares a

meadow with wild ponies. Ironically, neither is actually native to Iceland, a relatively young

volcanic mass that has not had time for unique indigenous species to evolve. The poppy is 

native to northern Asia and parts of North America.

 

 

 

The steppes of central Asia and Mongolia are home not only to grasses, but also seasonal displays

of wildflowers. Here we see the red lily, Lilium pumilium, yellow iris, Iris bloudowii, the purple 

Globe thistle, Echinops latifilius, and Scabiosa comosa, the national flower of Mongolia. 

 

Late summer displays of the Pine Lily, Lilium catesbyi, in a wet Florida meadow are a thrilling sight.

Beautiful, but suffocating. These lupines are escapees of garden varieties (mainly the Russell

 Lupine hybrids) that have taken over large areas of  alpine meadows in Europe, Iceland, 

New Zealand, and South America. They grow robustly, but at the expense of more delicate 

native wildflowers.  

Plant Portraits 15. Ancient Grains

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

The edible seeds of the grass family (Poaceae) are known as cereal grains, and were the hallmarks of early agriculture in many parts of the world. The civilizations of the Middle East and Europe came to rely mainly on wheat, and later one oats and barley. Millets and sorghum were important in Africa, as was rice in the far eastern civilizations of China and its neighbors. In the New World, maize became a staple, starting in Mexico. Cereal grains were not significant in the Inca culture of the high Andes, however, where potatoes, and dicot-based grains like quinoa were the mainstay. Rain forests also were not suitable for grain cultivation, and indigenous cultures there relied on tuberous crops and nuts for their sustenance. 

 

Grasses are adapted for wind pollination, with dangling stamens, and long stigmas protruding 

from green bracts. Absent are the bright colors, fragrances, and nectar employed more 

generally among flowering plants for attracting animal pollinators. Grasses naturally 

occur in large populations in seasonally dry open spaces. This natural habit, plus the 

nutritional value of their seeds, made them ideal for early farming, not to mention 

grazing for horses, cows, and other domesticated animals.  Pictured are the flowerstalks of

rice, wheat, and maize. 

 

Farmers in ancient Mesopotamia cultivated wheat, beginning about 10,000 years ago, and 

its cultivation spread throughout temperate parts of the world. Modern varieties are hybrids 

between several ancient wild species.  

 

Maize, or corn in the U.S. (Zea mays) originated in Mexico, becoming a crop of immense 

importance with the appearance of hybrids that sported the large cobs we are familiar 

with today. 

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) was first cultivated in northeastern Africa, in what is now Sudan and Ethiopia.

The term Millet actually encompasses a variety of cultivated grasses with small edible seeds. Cultivation of these grains developed independently in China, India, and Africa. 

Wild rice (Oriza sativa) occurs naturally in flooded fields. The first known cultivation of rice,

 about 9000 years ago, was by prehistoric people living along the Yangzte River of China.

The cultivation of rice spread to hilly terrain in highly organized rice paddies, 

as seen here in Vietnam.

Plant Portraits 14. The Fabrics of Cvilization

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

The first humans feeling the need for clothing used animal skins, bark cloth, or perhaps grass skirts. The dawn of civilization brought the weaving of fibers from both animals (wool) and plants into fabric. Looms were among the earliest inventions as people turned to agriculture and the building of permanent settlements. There were the cruder fabrics derived from Cannabis, Agave (see Gifts from Mesoamerica), and others, but the more refined fabrics came with more organized farming cultures. 

 

In the ancient Yangshao culture along the Yellow River in China, fibers of hemp 

(Cannabis sativa) were used for crude fabrics and ropes as early as 7000 years ago. A particular 

use was for decorating pottery. Fresh, soft pottery was wrapped by hemp rope to make 

a distinctive pattern.

Fabric produced from the flax plant, Linum usatissimum, first appeared in Egypt around 

10,000 BCE, and remained the favored fabric throughout Egypt's history. It had been used 

for thread and cords even longer, since at least 30,000 BCE. Today, linen is still valued 

as one of the finer materials for tablecloths, bed sheets, etc. The fiber is extracted from the 

stems of the plant, and then woven into fabric, as in this imagined scene from ancient Egypt.

A cultivated field of flax plants is blooming in the foreground. 

Cotton was first cultivated and used for fabric independently in several parts of the world, 

around 5000 BCE. The fiber is produced on the surface of developing seeds of the cotton 

plant, Gossypium spp, and naturally functions as a parachute for wind-dispersal. Shown 

here is a family harvesting cotton in prehistoric India. It appeared

roughly at the same time in Africa and in Peru. Fabric produced from 

cotton was traditionally the least expensive, and so the common man's choice for clothing.

Silk comes only indirectly from plants, via the silkworm. The larvae feed on the leaves of the 

Mulberry tree (Morus alba), and then wrap themselves in the fine fibers they produce from glands 

in their posterior, as they enter the pupal stage.  Shown here are prehistoric people of China, 

some 8500 years ago harvesting cocoons, soaking them in hot water to separate the fibers, which 

are then spun and woven into fabric on a loom. 

During historical times, silk production was a major industry in China, as shown here during 

the Tang Dynasty. The famous Silk Road developed to export silk from China to western Asia 

and Europe in medieval times. The Chinese managed to keep the silk technology secret for over 

1000 years before it was finally leaked to Japan and Korea around 200 BCE, and much later

 to Europe. 

Silk has always been considered the most luxurious of fabrics,

both in the Orient, and later throughout the world, and so was used primarily by the 

upper classes. Here, the Empress Wu Zitian, the only official female monarch 

in Chinese history, is decked out in her heavily embroidered, royal silk gowns.  

 

Plant Portraits 13. Gifts from Ancient Mesoamerica

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 Although we think of our major agricultural crops as having originated in Eurasia, the peoples of the new world found uses for many of the unique plants found around them.

Although indigenous peoples may have been aware of rubber's property and made some use of 

it much earlier, the first documentation of rubber technology comes from the Olmec people 

of southern Mexico, some 3600 years ago. Here, an Olmec family taps a rubber tree in the 

forest for its latex. 

 

Olmec children play a traditional game with a rubber ball.

Fibers from the leaves of Agave spp. have been used by indigenous peoples throughout the 

Americas for millenia. Here, an ancient family in Mexico strips fiber from the leaves of 

Agave sisaliana. The fiber could be woven into a rough cloth, but was most important for making 

ropes, and hammocks.Cultivated Agave plants can be seen in the background.

Cacao was first cultivated and used for making beverages by the Olmec people some 3500 

years ago, though there is some evidence of earlier usage in northern South America. Such 

 use was greatly expanded by later civilizations like the Aztec.

Plant Portraits 12. Bounty from the Amazon

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

Descending from the montane rain forests of the Andes, we enter into the vast neotropical rain forest biome. Dominated by the forest of the Amazon Basin, the tropical forests extend northward into western Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, and the Guyanas, and up into southern Mexico. A narrow strip also occupies coastal mountains near Rio de Janeiro.  This biome contains one of the richest diversities of plant life on Earth. Here we explore some of the edible contributions of the rain forest.

   

Caution: unripe fruits are toxic! 

A family of the rain forest harvests the fruit of the Aroid, Monstera deliciosa. All parts of the plant, including the unripe fruits, are loaded with highly irritant calcium oxalate crystals, as is characteristic of the entire Aroid family (Araceae). The famous Dumbcane (Dieffenbachia spp.), is so named because of this. Someone who accidentally puts some of the plant in their mouth (or is forced to do so as a punishment!} will not be able to speak because their mouth is so painfully swollen. So the family must be careful to eat only the fully ripened portions of the fruit, when the scales of the fruit loosen and start to fall off (the whole fruit does not ripen at the same time!). At that point the fruit is safe, soft, and delicious, said to have a flavor like a mix of banana, pineapple, mango or strawberry - a natural fruit smoothy.

 

 

 

 

 Montrichardia arborescens, an aroid indigenous to the flooded edges of Amazonian rivers, 

also produces an edible fruit, but valued most for the edible seeds within the fruit.  Again, 

caution must be used to avoid calcium oxalate crystals. Seeds of this and other edible 

aroids are generally roasted (like the tubers of Taro, another aroid) to break down the crystals. 

 

 

An Amazonian family gathers Acai fruits from the indigenous palm, Euterpe oleracea. This 

is the source of acai juice, touted these days as a miracle food for its concentrated mix of 

antioxidants.

 

Vanilla flavoring comes from the seed pods of the vanilla orchid, The genus Vanilla contains 

over 100 species occurring worldwide, with some even in southern Florida. Of these only  

Vanilla planifolia is used for the commercial production of vanilla essence. 

Agoutis are the only indigenous animals with jaws and teeth strong enough to gnaw through 

the tough capsule of the Brazil nut (Bertholettia excelsa, family Lecythidaceae). The two species 

co-evolved, resulting in a reliable source of food for the Agoutis, and a means of seed dispersal 

for the trees. Like North American squirrels, Agoutis bury many of the seeds they gather 

and often forget where they put them. These germinate, producing new trees. The tough 

seed pods prevent other animals from accessing the seeds, which would likely not leave enough 

seeds to produce the next generation.

Plant Portraits 11. South American Treasures

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

  South America provides a diverse landscape of grasslands, deserts, mountains, and rain forests. Each provides sustenance and, in season, spectacular wildflower displays. 

 

The vast grasslands of Argentina and neighboring countries are known as the Pampas. 

Several palms make their home here, including the Syagrus romanzoffianum palms 

shown here. Philodendron selloum, a ubiquitous landscape plant in warm climates everywhere, 

is native to thickets and forest edges bordering on the Pampas. Giant, flightless Rhea birds

 make their home here.feeding on foliage, fruits, insects, and other small animals.

 

 

During the rainy season, the Pampas turns into a colorful mosaic of wildflowers, including 

the blue Commelina erecta, red Glandularia peruviana, and yellow Chrysocephalum 

apiculatum pictured here. The giant Pampas grass, Cortaderia sellowana,

 also makes its home here. 

In the Andes, which run the length of South America, wildflowers also abound, including the 

red and purple Fuchsia magellanica, scarlet Anagallis arvensis, and the orange-yellow  

Chuquiraga jussieui, pictured here. In a remarkable example of convergent evolution,  

Puya raimondii is a giant bromeliad (relative of the pineapple) that blooms just once 

after many decades, similar to the North American Century Plants (Agave spp) which are in an 

unrelated family.

 

 

In the cloud forests of the Andes, Anthurium andreanum evolved bright red-colored spathes,

 a rarity in the Aroid family, to attract hummingbirds, who feed on nectar produced by the 

tiny flowers on the spadix, and transfer pollen from one plant to another. Passiflora edulis,

 on the other hand, is blue-colored to attract large bees, such as carpenter bees, who feed on the 

nectar and transport pollen.

Passiflora tripartita, one of some 550 species found in tropical America, has specialized 

flowers with long nectar tubes, that hang upside-down, classic adaptations for pollination by 

hovering hummingbirds.

 

Fuchsia magellanica, one of over 100 species native to tropical America, has red and purple 

pendant flowers adapted for hummingbird pollination, similar to many species of Passiflora. 

This is anther example of convergent evolution. 

 The Inca culture of the Andes highlands was sustained by farming varieties of native 

tomatoes, potatoes and quinoa. Quinine, an important drug for fighting malaria, was 

derived from another Andean native plant, Cinchona officianalis.