Introduction.

Forensics is the study of connecting victims and suspects to a crime. Botany is the study of plants. Put them together, and you get forensic botany. But how on EARTH could plants be useful in crime solving??? You're about to find out :)

Sources: http://www.alectoforensics.com/botany.html
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitDa.do;jsessionid=E10D3D22DB3E6E66D2325054625F
http://www.lindashentonmatchett.com/2016/02/forensic-friday-botany.html

The History Of Forensic Botany.

The first crime that was solved using forensic botany was in 1935. It was called the Lindbergh Case. A young boy, Charles Lindbergh, had been kidnapped. The suspected kidnapper, Bruno Hauptmann, had been caught and was at his trial. As with any trial, many people testified. One of these people was Arthur Koehler, an expert on wood anatomy. He was not a witness of the crime, but he did have evidence related to the ladder that was used in the kidnapping.

The defense thought it was ridiculous, saying that nobody could be an expert on wood. They argued that Koehler shouldn't be able to testify. The judge, however, thought otherwise. He said, “I deem [sic] this witness to be qualified as an expert”. Those words would change the future of forensics.

Koehler proceeded to explain how the ladder used in the crime was directly related to Hauptmann. He stated that the ladder was homemade, a unique design, and could be broken down into three parts so as to fit inside a car trunk. He also explained what kind of wood the ladder was made of: douglas fir, two kinds of pine, and birch. He traced the pine back to a lumber mill that was 10 blocks from Hauptmann's home. Koehler also said that the left rail of the ladder had been cut off from a larger piece of wood. upon later investigation of Hauptmann's house, it was found that a board in the attic was missing a piece. It was the same wood as the left rail. 

After providing this evidence, it was obvious that Hauptmann was guilty. The world began to see how useful forensic botany could be, and it has been used to solve cases ever since.

Source: http://botany.org/PlantTalkingPoints/Crime.php

How Does It Work?

Forensic botany is not limited to the research of wood. It uses all sorts of plants and plant parts, such as pollen, algae, and grass. Because different plants grow in different areas, a forensic botanist can usually tell if a body has been moved by looking at the plant material that is on it. For example, a twig caught in a belt buckle might be from a pine forest that is a few miles away. Plants can also be used to see where a body drowned by looking at the type of algae present in the victim's lungs. Forensic botanists can look at disturbed plants and soil to see if a body has been buried in the area. They can also look at broken branches or other foliage to piece together where a crime took place and what happened. Forensic botanists are the only forensic experts who do not work with human remains, and they might have the hardest job of all. Often the plant material that gets caught on people's skin and clothes is microscopic, making it difficult to find and difficult to research. 

Sources: http://www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org/forensic-botanist/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToRbA2y-9jc

Different Kinds Of Botanical Studies.

Forensic botanists are often regular botanists that are called in for certain crimes. They usually have no official training in forensics. However, there are a lot of different botanical specialties that can be useful in crime solving. Some of these include:

• Palynology, the study of pollen. This is especially useful if the body has been moved, because pollen in one area will be different from pollen in another area. So by looking at the pollen on a victim, you can find where the crime took place.

• Dendrochronology, the study of tree rings. Because tree rings grow annually, they can be used to find out when a crime was committed. For example, if a body was buried and the roots were damaged but kept growing, botanists could look at the damage and count the tree rings after it to find when the body was buried there.

• Limnology, the study of aquatic environments. Like pollen, different algae will grow in different areas. As explained on the previous page, by looking at the algae inside a person's lungs you can find out where they drowned.

• Systematics , the classification of plants. Plants can easily get caught on somebody's shirt or pants, and so they are good clues to find out who commited a crime. For example, if a crime was committed in a certain area, and a suspect has a flower stuck to their belt that was from that area, then they were probably at the scene of the crime. 

Sources: http://www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org/forensic-botanist/

http://myweb.dal.ca/jvandomm/forensicbotany/plantanatomy.html

https://www.myessentia.com/blog/the-odd-goodness-of-bee-pollen/

http://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/05/if-trees-could-talk/

http://www.amerigreen.com/algae-the-green-fuel-of-the-future/

http://txmn.org/indiantrail/photos/flowers/

Job Training.

    While forensic botanists may be trained by the FBI or other agencies, most graduate from universities. Some universities in Canada that offer botanical courses include the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary. A degree in botany often includes the following work:

• Environmental Appreciation
• Plant Form and Function
• Career Planning for Botanists
• Plant Genetics
• Evolutionary Survey of Plants
• Plant Physiology
• Introduction to Natural Resource Management
• Biology of the Plant Cell
• Soils
• Plant Ecology
• Plant Geography
• Mycology (the study of fungi)
• Algology (the study of algae)
• Plant Evolution
• Cell Culture
• Topics in Botany
• Advanced Field Botany
• Organic Chemistry
• Quantitative Analysis
• College Physics                                                                                                                         

Dr. Karl Harrison, Lead forensic archaeologist at Alecto Forensics, also told me a bit about the training required to be a forensic botanist. He said, "We tend to divide the use of plants in forensic science into three different types of work. Forensic botany is the study of macroscopic plant traces Forensic palynology is the study of pollen. We’re surrounded by a ‘rain’ of microscopic pollen (especially at this time of year). The pollen falls and settles on things, but it also builds up on the ground. So if we analyse soils, we can look at the pollen within it as well as the geology of the minerals in the soil.The last type of forensic botany is forensic limnology, which is the study of diatoms (microscopic water plants that form algae colonies in streams and lakes). We use them when we’re trying to match people to bodies of water.

"Each one of the three is done by a different type of specialist, so someone who can identify dozens of species of plants by their pollen might not know what they all look like when they see them growing!

"So the training of each of these three specialisms is a bit different. Generally the would have a first degree (a BSc) in plant biology and a post graduate degree (an MSc or doctorate) in a similar subject. They probably won't have any qualifications in forensic science itself, or in crime scene examination. We [at Alecto Forensics] can give them that experience.

"It's important for us that a forensic botanist understands the restrictions of working on crime scenes and with forensic evidence, so we need to train them to understand the importance of exhibit continuity (signing to take possession of police exhibits), the risk of contamination (like spreading their own DNA onto exhibits), and how to give evidence in court- both by writing reports and standing up to be cross-examined by barristers. As important as qualifications are, so is the experience you have . We would normally write how many years experience of forensic work, or how many cases of a particular type we have, so it takes a long time to complete your training for the job." 

Sources:

http://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/study/training-degrees/canada/botany-courses/loc/32/cgory/rh.6-4/sin/ct/programs.html

http://www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org/forensic-botanist/

Forensic Q&A.

Recently, I was able to talk with Dr. David Hall, an environmental consultant and forensic botanist, about his job and how he got interested in forensic botany. Below is our conversation.

Hannah: How long have you been a forensic botanist?

David: I have been a forensic botanist for over 45 years.

Hannah: What got you interested in this field? 

David: My interest in forensic botany came directly from my former job. I was the Director of the Plant Identification and Information Services at the University of Florida. As such, I handled many thousands of requests for plant identification and other questions, such as: Is it poisonous? Can I eat it? Is it invasive? How big will it grow? What is wrong with it? Is it perennial or annual? and many, many more. Because I got very good at identifying the thousands of plants that came from Florida, the United States, and several other countries, often in bits and pieces, I was consulted by law enforcement when they had plants or fragments of plants as evidence.

Hannah: What kind of botany do you study? For example, limnology or palynology.

David: My field of botany is systematic botany (plant taxonomy). My expertise includes the naming of plants new to science. To be able to put a name on a new plant, my college degrees include all fields of botany because naming a new plant entails a review of all the extant knowledge about that plant and it's relatives. I am certainly not an expert in all those various fields, but I have enough knowledge to understand how that information affects the new plant. Also, since I was a student, much new knowledge and even new fields of botany have been discovered. This, of course, means that I must keep abreast of current research. Recently, I have written a book and an extensive book chapter (the first in forensic botany) to explain how evidence is collected and used. These treatments, in addition to various kinds of plants, include DNA, algae, pollen, lichens, mosses, fungi, and ecology.

Hannah: What is your favorite part of being a forensic botanist?

David: My favorite part of being a forensic botanist is being able to help people with a problem.  You will find that using your expertise, once you graduate, is very satisfying.

Hannah: What is the most difficult part of this job?

David: There are three parts of forensic botany that I find difficult: 

1) Having plant evidence that either does not help with a case, or that can not be successfully analyzed in spite of the multiple approaches of investigation.

 2) Dealing with the evidence in some types of cases and realizing how much damage (psychological and physical) has been done to someone, and

3) Working with lawyers, judges, and law enforcement who have zero background with plants and science and are unwilling to take the time to understand how the plant evidence can help their case.

Hannah: Would you recommend foresnic botany as a career path for others?

David: I have recommended forensic botany as a career path with several outstanding cautions:

a. To be really qualified, a masters degree or, usually, a PhD is required, to be able to interpret all of the possibilities from evidence.

b. Most importantly, there are no actual jobs for a forensic botanist.  Employment would be doing something else, such as, my former and current jobs doing teaching, plant identifications, botanical research, and environmental surveys.  Since I am not an expert in all botanical fields, I have called for help from researchers and teachers who are experts in the other fields.

c. Because so much background education is required, graduate school can take many additional years which can cost much money and take a large period out of a life, either of which may not be regained except with the satisfaction of doing something you really like.

I also spoke with Jane Bock, a forensic botanist and Professor at the University of Colorado.

Hannah: How long have you been a forensic botanist?

Jane: I started doing some forensic botany for homocide cases in the mid-1980's.

Hannah: What got you interested in this field?

Jane: A professor at the University of Colorado’s Medical School asked if I could tell what food plant cells might have been in the stomach of a young girl who was murdered near Denver. This man was an MD and taught pathology at the Med. School.

Hannah: What kind of botany do you study? For example, limnology or palynology. 

Jane: I have three degrees in Botany, BA in Botany  Duke University, MA in Botany from Indiana U. Bloomington, and PHD in Botany from Cal Berkeley. I taught for many years at the University of Colorado’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Dept. in courses such as plant anatomy, plant systematics, general botany, aquatic botany etc..

Hannah: What is your favorite part of being a forensic botanist?

Jane:  My favorite part of being a forensic botanist is those special times when I realize I may be involved in helping to bring justice through the court systems here in the US and elsewhere.

Hannah: What is the most difficult part of this job?

Jane: I sometimes encounter and incompetence in our criminal justice system and this distresses me, although such instances are rare. But they include improper behavior from judges, defense and prosecuting attorneys, and expert witnesses who claim they know things they don’t know, including at extreme agents from the FBI.

Hannah: Would you recommend forensic botany as a career path for others?

Jane: I will always recommend forensic botany as a full time career or side line for those who know and love the subject matter of of botany, and there is a great need for such people. 

Sources: 
http://www.dwhallconsulting.com/
http://khkeeler.blogspot.ca/2014/09/forensic-botany-investigating-crime.html

Summary.

You have now read a lot of information on forensic botany. You have read about it's history, the training involved in becoming a forensic botanist, and much more. Now it's time for a little review to see how much you've learned. Please click the link here.