Medicinal Plants, Colonial Weeds, and Biodiversity Loss

I am a mixed media painter based in New England whose work bears witness to ecological trauma. My research at the Folger Shakespeare Library explores how the 21st century biodiversity crisis is rooted in the early modern period.

Two of the largest factors in global biodiversity loss are habitat destruction and the introduction of non-native species. By the time William Shakespeare died in 1616, these factors were well under way, in the form of the massive clearing of land in the Caribbean and the Americas for colonial plantations of commodity crops such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton. These new monoculture plantations fragmented unique ecosystems and greatly reduced the populations of native flora and fauna, in favor of a single species. Contemporary monoculture farming, present on every continent except Antarctica, adds a third major factor to biodiversity loss: the heavy application of toxic chemicals that have cumulative, detrimental effects on non-targeted plants, insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, aquatic life, and soil organisms, further escalating biodiversity decline across multiple species.

What could I discover in the Folger archives that traces the centuries-long development of this ecological crisis? I began my inquiry with some of the earliest books in the Folger collection, known as incunabula (or books printed before 1500). I focused my attention on herbals, early encyclopedias of traditional medicinal plants. These books contain pre-scientific knowledge about culturally valued European plants before colonial expansion, trade and settlement brought about the transfer of people, plants, animals, and diseases between Europe and the Americas. The Herbarius Latinus (1484), a small book of 150 common, essential medicinal plants is the prototype for all later 15th century herbals. Perhaps I would find extinct or endangered species in this 540 year old book …

My first research challenge was to identify the 150 mysteriously named plants of the Herbarius with modern scientific nomenclature (genus and species). I consulted 16th, 17th and 18th century herbals in the Folger collection, cross-checking for plants with similar descriptions, illustrations or related names in various languages, and followed up with contemporary plant identification databases.

To my surprise, instead of endangered or extinct species, I discovered that a full third of the plants in the Herbarius are categorized as global weeds! Centuries after printing, this small book of healing plants revealed another story: one of empire, migration and ecological disruption, told through medicinal herbs that were originally transported around the world by colonial settlers for their “physic gardens”.

My work-in-progress series Herbarius: A New Herbal for the Anthropocene is a “deconstructed manuscript” series of paintings, featuring plants selected from the Herbarius Latinus that are now considered weeds. Each plant is either found within global invasive species databases, is specifically targeted by herbicides used in industrial-scale monoculture farming, or is listed in the marketing materials for the control of weeds in private and public landscaping.

For this series, I adapted the simple page layout of the original Herbarius Latinus onto unprimed cotton canvas, approximately four times the size of the book. Each illustration is inspired by the medieval stylistic qualities of the original woodblocks: symmetry, symbolism and simplicity of form. I update each drawing to more accurately represent the appearance of the plants, using photographic and botanical reference, and paint with muted colors that suggest faded watercolor.

I use brush and ink calligraphy to mimic the medieval-style text, including the peculiar scribal abbreviations of the 1484 version of the Herbarius, adding the ruling lines often seen in handwritten manuscripts. The original Herbarius text does not describe physical features of the plant for identification purposes. Instead, it states whether the plant is moist or dry, hot or cold, based on the ancient Greek medical theory of the “four humors” of blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. I add the identifying features of each plant using modern botanical terminology and cursive script, writing along the edges of the composition as a nod to marginalia, hand-written notes found scribbled in the margins of a book.

The Folger’s 1485 copy of the Herbarius was printed in roman typeface. Roman type, initially designed in the late 15th century for use in printing presses, eventually replaced the medieval styles of typeface common in the incunable period. In the bottom margin of each of my compositions, I use a simple set of stamps in a roman typeface to add the chemical formulae of recommended herbicides for the unwanted plant.

I am not a botanist, but my research reflects contemporary thought that some non-native species, particularly in disturbed or urbanized areas, provide ecological benefits in depleted growing conditions such as roadsides or construction sites, acting as pioneer plants that rebuild soil, filter water or prevent erosion. Many are edible and nutritious, or are alternative food sources for pollinators, birds, and other animals. Some have genuine medicinal use. Others have naturalized within their new environments without disruption. Several are potentially valuable plants that can adapt to the harsher conditions of global warming and climate change. Even truly invasive species harmful to native biodiversity, or associated with economic losses, can be controlled, if not eradicated, without relying on chemical toxins, through manual, mechanical, and biological methods.

By focusing on plants despised as weeds, this work acknowledges the value of all species, as ongoing habitat destruction, chemical inputs and climate change accelerate the global biodiversity crisis. It is my intent that this series about disruption, loss, and survival will generate conversations about humanity’s complex relationships to the natural world, and help bring awareness to the multiple challenges that all living things face in this century of unprecedented ecological trauma.