Introduction – Ian Patten – BIOL F190: Intro to Alaska Flora

Hi everyone!

My name is Ian and I’m joining this class from central Massachusetts, the traditional homelands of the Nipmuc people. Ecologically, this region is covered in mixed deciduous and coniferous forests of oak-hickory and white pine, transitioning into northern hardwoods and boreal forest to the north and into scrub oak and pitch pine forests along the Atlantic coast. We also have an abundance of freshwater wetlands and coastal habitats with their own interesting mix of plant communities — although much of the land has been impacted by urbanization, industrialization, and agriculture.

I became interested in botany, weirdly, through the social sciences and humanities. I was an anthropology and sociology student as an undergraduate, and through that became interested in how people have interacted with their environment throughout history and across the world, and how plants themselves have shaped human culture. Since then, I’ve become a massive plant nerd (as I’m sure most of us here are), and spent a few years taking as many classes as I could in foraging, basketry, herbal medicine, and wilderness skills. Although I love studying all aspects of plants, I do have a bias towards wild food plants, and I spend a lot of my free time foraging. I also love basketry and other plant-based crafts, and have a large (and continually expanding) garden and backyard orchard to take care of.

I currently work as a horticulturist and as an outdoor educator around New England, and am working on getting an O.E.C. in Ethnobotany through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and may eventually work on an interdisciplinary Master’s degree at UAF.

Right now, my microscopy set-up is just a jewelry loupe that I hold up to my phone camera, but it works pretty well.

It’s hard to choose a favorite plant to share, but I love learning about plants whenever I travel and so I thought I’d just share some of my favorite plants from around the United States and Central America:

Kapok – *Ceiba pentandra* (L.) Gaertn. (Malvaceae)

Looking forward to learning with you all! 🙂

Author: Ian Patten

My interest in ethnobotany stems from an academic love of anthropology and a personal love of plants. While I love studying any cultural or utilitarian aspects of plants, I have a special place in my heart for wild food plants and believe that revitalizing traditional knowledge of these species is crucial for any sort of sustainable future. I have helped teach classes on foraging and basketry and I hope that pursuing an education in ethnobotany will allow me to contribute in some way to preserving human relationships with wild plants. I currently live in central New England, on the traditional homelands of the Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, and Nashaway peoples. Ecologically, this region is dominated by oak-hickory and white pine forests, transitioning into northern hardwoods and boreal forest in the north (home of Pennacook and Wabanaki cultures) and into scrub oak and pitch pine forests along the Atlantic coast (home of the Massachusett, Pequot, Wampanoag, Montauk, Narragansett, and Nauset peoples). We also have an abundance of freshwater wetlands and coastal habitats favoring their own interesting mix of utilitarian plant species. The landscape here is also heavily shaped by a history of intensive agriculture and urbanization, which means that very little intact forest remains outside of mountainous areas. Ethnobotanical investigation here is influenced by New England's history of colonization -- the speed and intensity of European colonization in this region resulted in a significant loss of cultural knowledge of native plants long before ethnographers began to seriously document traditional plant uses.

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4 Comments

Patricia Brown

June 20, 2023 at 9:13 am 11 months ago

I have spent very little time in the eastern US. I really appreciate your descriptions.

Stefanie Ickert

June 20, 2023 at 7:27 pm 11 months ago

Welcome Ian,
great to have you in class. I am looking forward to seeing your plant observations from New England. Some of the pictures depict plants dear to my hear too. I did my graduate degrees at Arizona State University so I have spent a good of time in the desert among the saguaros and had lots of opuntias in our yard, and enjoyed this delicious treat throughout the year. The Tohono O’odham actually have a calendar based on the flowering and fruiting of the saguaro cactus. Within the Tohono O’odham (Desert People) culture, storytelling is how history, significant events, and information are passed from generation to generation. Saguaro fruit is harvested and processed for food and wine in preparation for the annual rain ceremony by the Tohono O’odham. The ribs of the saguaro are used as building material in the construction of fences, homes and the ceremonial roundhouse. Symbols indicating important events are carved on a saguaro rib that serves as a calendar stick. https://borderlore.org/record-rod-tales-of-truth-enscribed/ The image below is a screenshot from this website.