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ve-meta title="Plant Humanities Lab" description="Explore the cultural histories of plants and their influence on human societies."
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Featured Resources
.cards
How to Read an Herbarium Specimen
How to Read an Herbarium Specimen
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/specimen.jpg)
This essay provides an approachable overview of herbarium specimens and how they are used.
Featured Plant Narratives
.cards
Soybean: The Versatile Miracle Crop
Soybean: The Versatile Miracle Crop
!![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/soybean.png)
Opium Poppy: A Cursed Beauty
Opium Poppy: A Cursed Beauty
- Carol Chang, Heather Rose Craddock, and Alejandro Garay
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/poppy.jpg)
Quinoa: From Indigenous Crop to International Superfood
Quinoa: From Indigenous Crop to International Superfood
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/quinoa.jpg)
Cercidiphyllum japonicum: The Katsura at Dumbarton Oaks
Cercidiphyllum japonicum: The Katsura at Dumbarton Oaks
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/katsura.jpeg)
Eggplant: Food, Sex, and Poison
Eggplant: Food, Sex, and Poison
- Ana Carolina Carmona-Ribeiro, Nathan Cornish, and Sheila Scoville
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/eggplant.jpg)
Maize: Sacred Plant, Global Commodity
Maize: Sacred Plant, Global Commodity
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/maize__thumbnail.jpg)
All Plant Narratives
.cards
Agave: A Plant with an Intoxicating History
Agave: A Plant with an Intoxicating History
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/agave.jpg)
Arbor Vitae: In Search of the Tree of Life
Arbor Vitae: In Search of the Tree of Life
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/arbor-vitae.jpg)
Ayahuasca: Amazonian Plant Lessons
Ayahuasca: Amazonian Plant Lessons
- Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam, Diana Heredia-López, Rachael Nelson, and Erin Wrightson
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/ayahuasca.jpg)
Bananas: Chaos out of Order
Bananas: Chaos out of Order
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/Banana.jpg)
Black-Eyed Pea: Crop, Culture, Class
Black-Eyed Pea: Crop, Culture, Class
- Sarah Mallory, Emily Kamm, Haley Price, and Christina Hourigan
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/black_eyed_pea_1.png)
Boxwood: A Plant That Took Over the Garden World
Boxwood: A Plant That Took Over the Garden World
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/boxwood.jpg)
The Breadfruit’s Reinvention: Pacific to Caribbean
The Breadfruit’s Reinvention: Pacific to Caribbean
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/breadfruit.jpg)
Cacao: Indigenous Network to Global Commodity
Cacao: Indigenous Network to Global Commodity
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/cacao.jpg)
Carolina Rice: An Agricultural Legacy of Enslaved Peoples
Carolina Rice: An Agricultural Legacy of Enslaved Peoples
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/carolina-rice.jpg)
Cassava: From Toxic Tuber to Food Staple
Cassava: From Toxic Tuber to Food Staple
- Christina Emery, Rachel Hirsch, and Melinda Susanto
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/cassava.jpg)
Cinnamomum verum: Discovering “True” Cinnamon
Cinnamomum verum: Discovering “True” Cinnamon
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/cinnamon.jpg)
Cryptomeria japonica: Climate Change, Cultivation, and Culture
Cryptomeria japonica: Climate Change, Cultivation, and Culture
- Kira Bre Clingen and Edyth Jostol
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/Cryptomeria.jpeg)
Dittany: Women’s Herbs and Reproductive Control
Dittany: Women’s Herbs and Reproductive Control
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/dittany.jpg)
Dracaena draco: The Mystery of Dragon’s Blood
Dracaena draco: The Mystery of Dragon’s Blood
- Thomas C. Anderson, Cati Kalinoski, and Lucas Mertehikian
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/dragon_tree.jpg)
Eggplant: Food, Sex, and Poison
Eggplant: Food, Sex, and Poison
- Ana Carolina Carmona-Ribeiro, Nathan Cornish, and Sheila Scoville
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/eggplant.jpg)
Heliconia: Evolution at Work
Heliconia: Evolution at Work
- W. John Kress and Yota Batsaki
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/heliconia.jpg)
Maize: Sacred Plant, Global Commodity
Maize: Sacred Plant, Global Commodity
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/maize__thumbnail.jpg)
Mint: The Ubiquity of a Commercial Crop
Mint: The Ubiquity of a Commercial Crop
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/mint.jpg)
Opium Poppy: A Cursed Beauty
Opium Poppy: A Cursed Beauty
- Carol Chang, Heather Rose Craddock, and Alejandro Garay
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/poppy.jpg)
Peanut: From Luxury Food to Livestock Feed
Peanut: From Luxury Food to Livestock Feed
- Maria Job, Elizabeth Chant, and Katherine Enright
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/peanut.jpg)
Pelargonium: By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet?
Pelargonium: By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet?
- Daisy Reid, Verónica Matallana Chaves, and Yao Jiang
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/pelargonium.jpg)
Peony: Pretty and Powerful
Peony: Pretty and Powerful
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/Peony_Thumbnail.jpg)
Sunflower: Knowledge, Myth, and Meaning
Sunflower: Knowledge, Myth, and Meaning
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/Sunflower_thumbnail.jpg)
Soybean: The Versatile Miracle Crop
Soybean: The Versatile Miracle Crop
!![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/soybean.png)
Quinoa: From Indigenous Crop to International Superfood
Quinoa: From Indigenous Crop to International Superfood
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/quinoa.jpg)
Tamarind: From Shady Refuge to Versatile Foodstuff
Tamarind: From Shady Refuge to Versatile Foodstuff
- Allison Fulton, Amara Santiesteban Serrano, and Jeannette Schollaert
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/tamarind.jpg)
Turmeric: Herb of the Sun
Turmeric: Herb of the Sun
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/turmeric.jpg)
Venus Flytrap: Queen of the Carnivorous Plants
Venus Flytrap: Queen of the Carnivorous Plants
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/venus_flytrap_thumbnail.jpg)
Watermelon: Stereotypes of Race and Class
Watermelon: Stereotypes of Race and Class
- Anna Lawrence, Camilo Uribe Botta, and May Wang
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/watermelon.jpg)
Wild Yam: The Rhizome of the Pill
Wild Yam: The Rhizome of the Pill
![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plant-humanities/media/main/thumbnails/Dioscorea.jpeg)
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