Botany Week 3

After taking our field final exam in the Sierra Norte for Botany, we arrived back home Sunday afternoon. After we returned we took two days off for some well deserved rest! I know that the vast altitude change knocked me out for a day! Later in the week, we wrapped up the class with an overview of the Iconic plants of Oaxaca.

 For our final class together we took a tour of the famous Ethnobotanic Gardens, next to the Santo Domingo, and saw different native and naturalized species of the state of Oaxaca. It was exciting to feel familiar with many of these plants after our trip. It was kind of cool to not feel like a complete tourist on the tour. Half the time I knew what the tour guide was going to say before she said it! As indicated by its name, the Oaxaca Ethnobotanic garden emphasizes not only teaching about the botany of the species of this region but also of the traditional uses of these plants. On our trip around the state, we learned primarily the botanical information about these species and how to identify them. In this tour, we learned about many fascinating traditional uses for many of these plants!



This week was also dedicated to our final paper for the Botany course. Each of us chose a topic (related to botany) and conducted research. I chose to study Cyperus rotundus, a problematic tropical weed that interferes with agricultural production in many parts of the world. I found interesting information about the biology of this plant and about the integrated management practices that are used instead of chemical herbicides. After last Friday we said our good-byes to our professor and prepared for our music class.

-----Amalia and Bobby