Ethnobotany final examination field walk

In between rain bands the SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany course returned to a residential field for the first time since fall 2019, pre-pandemic. As I often do, I pre-walked the campus. Due to network issues, I was unable to print a plant list. So put together a list in a spreadsheet and then scribbled the resulting list by hand onto a sheet of paper. The list tended to use iNaturalist "abbreviations" that I use as an identifier, which made the list rather opaque to a casual observer. Not to mention my writing is illegible anyway. 

This term, however, I had already jettisoned using scientific names. The churn in the list has been insane. Plants are changing names during the term. That is the nature of taxonomy, but at this point the only stability is in local names and then using those local names to look up the scientific name of the moment. 

The walk began at the Terminalia catappa, headed north, then west to Haruki and finally back east towards the counseling center where the class simply ended there on the walkway.

Felsida at the Terminalia

AJ and Sisero joined the class at the Terminalia

Natalie, Lashana, Audrey, Felsida, and Andrea at the Terminalia catappa

The photos also help me keep track of who arrived when and thus what plants they could have personally identified.

Benselyn arriving with Pelinda at the second stop

Audrey considers the Scaevola taccada

On the final the students had to provide the local name in their language and a specific use of the plant by their culture. Since essentially "all" plants are medicinal, just putting "medicinal" is insufficient. This approach appears to have worked better out in the field. The addition of the scientific names, a pick list of 96 scientific names that students used in order to pick out the correct scientific name, had proven dysfunctional in the field. 

Natalie at the Morinda citrifolia. In the background: Saya, Audrey, Lashana, Blossom, Sisero, AJ, Pelinda, Felsida, Benselyn

From the Terminalia the class moved through Premna obtusifolia, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Scaevola taccada, Artocarpus altilis, Piper ponapense, Campnosperma brevipetiolatum, and over to the Morinda citrifolia under the Mangifera indicus. I had a lot of fun stuffing random leaves in my mouth and pronouncing whether they were tasty or not. 

The pick list had begun life as a list of twelve botanic names for a limited number of plants in a designated area on campus. Over the years the list grew as the course increasingly shifted from in class lectures to field experiences outside with the plants.

Nepholepis, Morinda citrifolia tree trunk, Davallia solida, Microsorum scolopendria, Mangifera indica are all in the foreground of this image. 

Sisero observes AJ

Over the many years I have taught here I have come to the understanding that when students look at another student's paper they are not, as one might presume, looking to copy the answer. They are looking to see what the other student has answered - and not with the intent of changing or altering either their own answer or their friend's answer. In this case a student who have evidenced a stronger knowledge of plant names and uses is looking to see if his classmate has appropriate answers. If the classmate has answered incorrectly, then the stronger student may later tease the friend for their error. Getting something wrong is cause for a friendly social ribbing. Something they will both laugh about later. 

Senna alata inflorescence covered with ants. The unopened flowers are the attraction, not the blossoms

Where group success is perhaps valued over individual success, knowing how others in the group have done is important to group cohesion. If there were a way to do the final as a group that had meaning in a modern educational context where grades are individually earned, I would seriously consider shifting. 

AJ working out his answers

The next set of plants included Microsorum scolopendria, Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, Hibiscus tiliaceus, and Senna alata that was conveniently located at ground level. At the Hibiscus tiliaceus I cautioned the class to not put random leaves in their mouths. In amongst the Hibiscus tiliaceus and Macaranga carolinensis was Ipomoea carnea. Toxic. You have to know which leaves can be gnawed upon and which cannot. 

Then we walked down to the Lycopodiella cernua, or more accurately, I went down and retrieved plant number fourteen and brought the plant back up the incline.

Natalie, Shawn, Sisero, AJ. Shawn had just arrived.

I front loaded the walk because the weather was uncertain, tropical pressure wave rain bands were crossing the island as is typical for this time of year. This meant that late arrivals missed over half the twenty-three plants. 

Also arriving were Sergio and Burnell "Chris"

Ponapea ledermanniana

Kedei is problematic as there is only a name in Pohnpeian - which makes sense for Ponapea ledermanniana - but the class was dominantly Pohnpeian this term. No students in the class were from Yap. Only two students were working in Chuukese. A single Kosraean student had left the island prior to the final examination. Too, Ponapea has been on every field final - the only plant with a Genus level named for a state in Micronesia.

Coming back down from a patch of Centella asiatica

Natalie, Shawn, Chris, Sergio

Although there were alternate plants and location available, a Cordyline fruticosa and Asplenium nidus here provided a place to regroup. Moving from location the group gets rather spread out. I suppose the final for an ESS/SC/SS ethnobotany could include a hound and hare element: I run to the next location attempting to lose my students along the way. I suspect, however, I would rather quickly elude the hounds This hare still runs.

Lashana and Audrey would get dihng and tehnlik both correct, along with all of the other plants

AJ and Sisero

Benselyn, Andrea, Felsida, and Pelinda

I have had finals where the number dwindled during the final, much to my consternation. This did not happen this year.

On the way to Haruki the class passed Abelmoschus manihot and Cananga odorata, but neither was on the final this year. Prior to entering Haruki I suggested to one student that due to liseian she should not enter the forest this late in the day. That is a cultural rule and cultural rules are part of the SS aspect of the course. Respecting the local custom and culture is a design intent of the course. The student laughed and said she was not. I watch for the complication and misread the signals I thought I was seeing. Another student later suggested that the student had previously had a child. 

Shawn and Natalie outbound from Haruki

In Haruki I had intended to include Coffea robusta and Ixora casei. On my way to the Coffea I saw a young ginger that looked a lot like Curcuma longa. I pulled up the plant and the rhizome was yellow, and while I cannot absolutely rule out other members of the family, I suspect that the plant was Curcuma longa. There are considered to be three varieties on Pohnpei: oangitik (small leafed variety used in cooking), oangalap (large leafed variety used for medicine). The plant is also known as kisinieng  (Kitti: kisinioang). There is a variety with a leaf of intermediate length and a slightly less yellow root that may be used as a layer between banana leaves and food when cooking in an uhm. This variety was reported as being oangen pele. Oangen pele is, however, listed as the name for Zingiber zerumbet in the Pohnpeian dictionary. This discrepancy remains unresolved. 

The addition of Curcuma longa knocked Cinnamomum carolinense out of the 23rd slot. 

Audrey, Saya, and Shawn at the Cymbopogon citratus

Ixora casei was 22 and Cymbopogon citratus down by counseling was number 23. This was one more plant than prior terms.

This term the final was scored via rubric.

This allowed the final to inform the course learning outcomes while resolving the issue that a 46 point final exam would have landed at 17% of what would have been a 276 point term, much heavier than intended. There was also the issue of how to rebalance a score for the three students who arrived late - essentially some sort of score scaling would have had to occur. That or the late arrivals, due to the front loaded nature of the final, would have failed the final outright. Given the weather, which impacts transport on the island, that seemed inappropriate especially in light of the nature of the course. 

Another issue is that plants of Pohnpei are not all found in Chuuk, and some that are, lack specific names. This puts the Chuukese students at a double disadvantage. They are playing an away game on a field that is set up differently than their home field. Imagine a sport where the playing field is idiosyncratic to each location. This issue also impacts the students from outer island groups of Pohnpei. Or the student who is strongly L1 English due to parents who do not share a language and who have opted to raise their children in English. 

The rubric end ran these issues, allowing each paper to be considered on its own merits against the available knowledge for that culture and the particular individual differences for each student. The local name informed SCSS115.1, the local use - applied more loosely - informed SCSS115.2.

Perhaps a reversed course final would work better - starting in the west and ending back at A101. The thought of having light refreshments available sounds enticing. A lot depends on the weather however. And there have been terms I have used a "covered walkway" option. And that could still potentially work, but the reality is that the covered walkway aprons are less diverse than they used to be. I could be the rain gopher and retrieve plants to the walkway for students to write on their papers. That is perhaps an option for a future term. And when the sun shines, there are just too many good things out there. The route this year had insufficient food plants. Taro, yams, pineapples are nice additions and can be found in a good year. 

Maybe the term should start where the term ends. With the same walk on campus bookending the course. Then class two is the introduction, class three tech. A pre-class note would have to warn students to be prepared to walk campus. And maybe that walk should be done more than twice, or various plant walks. Walks without a specific purpose, just a plant visitation. Unstructured. 

After the Cymbopogon citratus the class handed in their finals and drifted away into the fading light.