Ethnobotany class field final
The ethnobotany class field final examination was an authentic assessment of local and scientific plant knowledge done in the field. Students had a list of 89 Latin binomials for plants on the campus. During a walk across the campus the students were to identify 22 plants selected by the instructor. The students had to select the Latin binomial, write the local name of the plant in their language, and describe a use of that plant. The use could be from anywhere in Micronesia.
I began the final in the classroom this term to provide a chance to get the students prepared and organized for what is essentially an honor system final. I then walked down to the Volkamaria inermis. This remains a good place to start - late arriving students can see where the class is located, and the three plants on the corner have names and uses across Micronesia.
The third plant, Scaevola taccada ssp. sericea, is also found across Micronesia on both high islands and on atolls. These three plants are close together and permit the students a chance to see how the final will function.
I decided on a northern route for this final examination, substituting Spathoglottis micronesiaca for Ponapea ledermannia and forgoing Centella asiatica. I knew I could swap in the maintenance Piper methysticum for the Piper methysticum tucked up in the southern valley. Southern valley still has a problematic entry, with the primary trail being steep and slick. The valley then has a climb out to the Lycopodiella in the Ischaemum polystachyum field above. That Lycopodiella is thriving up there, and at risk during graduation for overharvesting as stage decoration. By not overexposing the location, perhaps that population will survive through to next term.
At plant number four was Artocarpus altilis followed by Campnosperma brevipetiolata, and Morinda citrifolia. Epiphytic on a mango tree was Phymatosorus scolopendria, which was Microsorum scolopendria prior to this term. Huperzia phlegmaria is tucked part way up the tree, a long stick was used to point to the plant.
The last plant from this corner of campus was Musa spp.
Walking west Dicranopteris linearis and Lycopodiella cernua were on the final this term.
Further west we picked up Spathoglottis micronesiaca. This was the challenge plant for this term. I had long thought that this was a Spathoglottis plicata variety. Only when I posted to iNaturalist did I learn differently. This happened during the term, and thus this plant was tacked on to the end of a plant walk, the invasive species plant walk. As usual, the soccer field area was deathly hot that day and by half along the field, some of the students started to break away and head for shade, although class had not been formally dismissed. The result was that only a few students remained as I rummaged around in the swamp grass off the western edge of the field to find a Spathoglottis micronesiaca. The most common misidentification on the final was to label this plant as being Ipomoea aquatica.
The thrust of the design of the final is that if a person can walk across their island naming the plants and explaining their uses people will say, "That person really knows their plants!"
Down behind maintenance is now a trench treacherous tangle of weeds and downed branches. Here the class was asked to identify Piper methysticum, Colocasia esculenta, Saccharum officinarum, Manihot esculenta, and Cyrtosperma merkusii.
The complication this term was that the area below maintenance, the untended ethnobotanic garden, and the pineapple beyond the cemetery are narrow cul-de-sacs. The students could not spread out as they can in the northeast corner of the campus. This led to long linear lines of students stacked back from the plants. The students at the end were inevitably reduced to, "What are they looking at?" and "Which plant is he pointing to?" Which led to students having to name the plants to tell the student what plant I was indicating.
I was unable to make a December return visit to the ethnobotanical garden, and the Japanese cemetery is little better off. The decision to drop ethnogardening is not working quite as well as had been hoped. And the growth of sight line blocking plants has meant that the cemetery is again a rendezvous site. The class stumbled into three couples in the cemetery. One of the female partners was clearly related to a student in the class as she immediately spun around on the pipe on which she was seated and curled up to hide her face. By tradition and culture, she should not be in the forest at sundown, to be there with a boyfriend adds insult to injury from a local perspective. This is a class that studies plants used by an indigenous people in their homeland, custom and culture are part and parcel of the class.
In this section of the walk was Cyathea nigricans, Senna alata, Coffea arabica (possibly C. robusta), Asplenium nidus, and finally Ananas comosus. Although the images may appear bright, the light was fading as the class started working on the steps at 17:30.
The cul-de-sac effect would lead to signs in the answers that students were picking up answers from other students, including misidentifications.
By 17:51 the students had completed their rewriting.
Recommendations for the future would include resolving the cul-de-sac effect. There is also perhaps a need to run a midterm that mirrors the final and focuses on the plants of the first half of the course. There might also be an option to have an in-class field final after vegetative and floral morphology that picks up these topics, but then the course should also not drift too far away from a balance of botany and ethnology. But perhaps there should be more development of use beyond a fill in the blank - perhaps something closer to a descriptive paragraph on the use. These are options to consider.
I began the final in the classroom this term to provide a chance to get the students prepared and organized for what is essentially an honor system final. I then walked down to the Volkamaria inermis. This remains a good place to start - late arriving students can see where the class is located, and the three plants on the corner have names and uses across Micronesia.
The second plant is Ocimum tenuiflorum, a plant that has been on each final for which the plant has been present on campus. Again, this is a plant found across Micronesia, has local names in all of the major island groups, and is widely used across the region both medicinally and for flavoring.
The third plant, Scaevola taccada ssp. sericea, is also found across Micronesia on both high islands and on atolls. These three plants are close together and permit the students a chance to see how the final will function.
I decided on a northern route for this final examination, substituting Spathoglottis micronesiaca for Ponapea ledermannia and forgoing Centella asiatica. I knew I could swap in the maintenance Piper methysticum for the Piper methysticum tucked up in the southern valley. Southern valley still has a problematic entry, with the primary trail being steep and slick. The valley then has a climb out to the Lycopodiella in the Ischaemum polystachyum field above. That Lycopodiella is thriving up there, and at risk during graduation for overharvesting as stage decoration. By not overexposing the location, perhaps that population will survive through to next term.
Crossing campus into the setting sun, long shadows
At plant number four was Artocarpus altilis followed by Campnosperma brevipetiolata, and Morinda citrifolia. Epiphytic on a mango tree was Phymatosorus scolopendria, which was Microsorum scolopendria prior to this term. Huperzia phlegmaria is tucked part way up the tree, a long stick was used to point to the plant.
The last plant from this corner of campus was Musa spp.
Walking west Dicranopteris linearis and Lycopodiella cernua were on the final this term.
Further west we picked up Spathoglottis micronesiaca. This was the challenge plant for this term. I had long thought that this was a Spathoglottis plicata variety. Only when I posted to iNaturalist did I learn differently. This happened during the term, and thus this plant was tacked on to the end of a plant walk, the invasive species plant walk. As usual, the soccer field area was deathly hot that day and by half along the field, some of the students started to break away and head for shade, although class had not been formally dismissed. The result was that only a few students remained as I rummaged around in the swamp grass off the western edge of the field to find a Spathoglottis micronesiaca. The most common misidentification on the final was to label this plant as being Ipomoea aquatica.
Gavrin and MJ head west into the setting sun
The thrust of the design of the final is that if a person can walk across their island naming the plants and explaining their uses people will say, "That person really knows their plants!"
Piper methysticum
Luckyleen, Jaylino, Marissa, and Flores
The complication this term was that the area below maintenance, the untended ethnobotanic garden, and the pineapple beyond the cemetery are narrow cul-de-sacs. The students could not spread out as they can in the northeast corner of the campus. This led to long linear lines of students stacked back from the plants. The students at the end were inevitably reduced to, "What are they looking at?" and "Which plant is he pointing to?" Which led to students having to name the plants to tell the student what plant I was indicating.
Post-walk rewrite on the steps of the gym
I was unable to make a December return visit to the ethnobotanical garden, and the Japanese cemetery is little better off. The decision to drop ethnogardening is not working quite as well as had been hoped. And the growth of sight line blocking plants has meant that the cemetery is again a rendezvous site. The class stumbled into three couples in the cemetery. One of the female partners was clearly related to a student in the class as she immediately spun around on the pipe on which she was seated and curled up to hide her face. By tradition and culture, she should not be in the forest at sundown, to be there with a boyfriend adds insult to injury from a local perspective. This is a class that studies plants used by an indigenous people in their homeland, custom and culture are part and parcel of the class.
In this section of the walk was Cyathea nigricans, Senna alata, Coffea arabica (possibly C. robusta), Asplenium nidus, and finally Ananas comosus. Although the images may appear bright, the light was fading as the class started working on the steps at 17:30.
The cul-de-sac effect would lead to signs in the answers that students were picking up answers from other students, including misidentifications.
By 17:51 the students had completed their rewriting.
Recommendations for the future would include resolving the cul-de-sac effect. There is also perhaps a need to run a midterm that mirrors the final and focuses on the plants of the first half of the course. There might also be an option to have an in-class field final after vegetative and floral morphology that picks up these topics, but then the course should also not drift too far away from a balance of botany and ethnology. But perhaps there should be more development of use beyond a fill in the blank - perhaps something closer to a descriptive paragraph on the use. These are options to consider.
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