Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Wearing the Garden and Food, Plants and Medicine

Annotated by Stephanie Lim 

 
Elizabeth Anya-Petrivna – Wearing the Garden
Anya-Petrivna, E. (2014). Wearing the Garden. Australian Garden History, 26(1), 20-23.

     This article talks about the floral themes which dominated the latest trends in the business, clothing, and design industries, in the 19th century. Architecture and actual species of plants, from contemporary gardens, were used as inspiration for textiles, while real and artificial flowers were popular commodities in trade and economics. However, it only talks about one period of time, and only focuses on Australia/ UK.
     They started as a diverse species to be admired in extravagant gardens yet, today, flowers and plants have transcended the boundaries of time and place. For example, floral patterns are seen on clothing, used as wallpapers (on actual walls or as screensavers). This is significant as some species of plants are only available to people in the upper echelons. So, the idea of having flowers on clothes and other décor makes them more accessible to the public, meaning the popularity and admiration for these organisms will continue to expand.
 
     On page 22, the author emphasises the prominence of flowers in trade by stating that “…artificial flowers were evidently in great colonial demand…” (Anya-Petrivna, 2014). She also indicates that “… as a successful business, the firm continued to import French, English, and German flowers…” (Anya-Petrivna, 2014).


Brian Shutes – Food Plants and Medicine
Shutes, B. (1984). Food plants and medicine. Journal of Biological Education, 18(3), 186.
     This article is about the categorisation of plants/ herbs and their medicinal properties.
It only focuses on three groups – plants with antiseptic properties, fruits which have anti-inflammatory properties, and cereals/ wheat for consumption. Other groups of plants and vegetation are excluded and so are other medicinal properties. Only focuses on foods used in Britain - does not mention Indigenous uses of herbs and plants for medicine, or information from Europe, and Asia.
      I didn’t know that Garlic was used as an antiseptic in WWI, and some of the vegetables that are mentioned, I did not know had these sorts of properties.
Different plants and vegetation have a range of uses for healing the ill, infected and wounded. They are not just consumed to alleviate hunger, they can be used for medicinal purposes.
 
Antiseptic properties
Name Scientific Name Uses
Garlic
(vegetable)		Allium SativumWounded troops in trenches
 
Cabbage
(vegetable)		Brassica Oleracea
  • Range of infections
  • Septic conditions: ulcers, bronchitis, and tuberculosis (TB).
 
 
Carrot
(vegetable)		Daucus Carota
  • (raw state) contains an antiseptic oil used for treating respiratory infections
  • Poultice for burns and scalds
Apple JuiceMalus Pumila
  • Bactericidal – antiseptic, antibiotic, disinfectant.
  • Intestinal infections
Lemon
Lime Juice		Citrus Limonum
Citrus Medica
  • Fish and shell food (antibacterial)
  • Poisoning (Roman antidote)
  • Sweating/ fevers
 
 
 
 
Anti-Inflammatory
NameScientific nameUses
Blackcurrant
(Fruit)		Ribes Nigrum
  • Throat pastilles (lozenge, like Sambucol lozenges?)
Raspberry
Strawberry		Ribes Idaeus
Fragaria ananassa
  • Administered as febrifuges to treat fevers
  • Febrifuge – medicine to reduce fevers
Dog rose
(only use an extract of this)		Rosa Canina
  • High in vitamin C - Given to babies
  • Counteract haemorrhages of gums during teething
  • Inflammation of intestine – infantile diarrhoea

 

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  1. It is worth asking yourself how you think Indigenous Australians survived on this landmass for over 60 000 years, the oldest continuous civilisation on Earth, by stumbling across the odd witchetty grub here and there.

    They didn't.

    Recently a stone found in Arnhem Land has been found to have 65 000 year-old grains embedded in its surface. The grains were embedded through a process over many years of continual seed grinding with the purpose of making flour. This places Indigenous Australians as the first bread makers, some 60 000 years before the Ancient Egyptian civilisation was even founded. 

    In a powerful presentation at TEDxSydney, academic Bruce Pascoe synthesises some of the most salient findings revealed in his book, 'Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident' (2014). In re-reading and re-interpreting the diaries of early European explorers, Pascoe effectuates a new-historical revision of the contemporary understanding of Australian Indigenous agricultural practices. In accentuating the way Australian plants are perceived only through a Western teleology, Pascoe introduces "plants that teach us a truer history". Attempts to visualise and establish flat ontologies therefore not only question the basic categories of being, relations and hierarchies between the human and non-human, but remind us to be continually cautious of the narratives we are socialised to believe about each other, as human-kind, within our own socio-cultural contexts.

    It shouldn't be through plants that non-Indigenous Australians collect 'proof' of the considered and sophisticated cultures that were thriving with this country prior to colonialisation, but it is a powerful reminder of the assumptions we make daily, and the categories that we uphold, within the contexts we believe to be the most familiar to us. 



    Always Was. Always Will Be. 



    Pascoe, Bruce. Dark Emu: Black Seeds : Agriculture Or Accident? Magabala Books, 2014. 


    - Bridget
     

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