Plant blindness
It was not until I was in the Master Gardener Certification program did I really learn to see and identify plants and insects. I knew the plants I already grew in my garden, but the rest of the plants in my yard were indistinguishable. A requirement for completing the Master Gardener program was to collect eighteen samples of trees, shrubs, and vines (TSV). We were given a list of native and non-native plants to collect, press, and complete a write up. The TSV project was interesting, enjoyable, and an excellent exercise to see plants. I started with the specimens in my backyard. Once I found an invasive plant, it was impossible not to see it all over, especially around the perimeter of my son’s soccer games and along the highways. “Wow, look at all that Rosa multiflora !”
The term plant blindness was coined by US botanists and biology teachers Elisabeth Schussler and James Wandersee in 1998. Their definition of plant blindness is “the inability to see or notice plants in one’s own environment” and “humans can only recognize visually what they already know”. Human eyes evolved to see movement, as a matter of survival, and only those plants that they would forage for food. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) a Swedish biologist, who created a system of naming all the plants and animals by genus and species in Latin, believed that plants don’t move, feel, see, and sense. Scientists are now finding that this is no longer the case, and plant systems are far more complex than what was once believed. Plants without showy flowers are also negatively categorized as less important or lacking. Dr. Bethan Stagg, an expert in plant awareness disparity, states that plant blindness is due to a decline in meaningful interactions and an underappreciation of plants. The less exposure to plants increases the plant blindness.
How can you overcome plant blindness? Survey your habitat. Start by identifying the plants in your yard or apartment complex, especially around the edges. Phone apps are getting more sophisticated (accurate), and there are countless identification books at the library. Use all of your senses. Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven) leaves and bark smells like peanut butter. We smelled this in the car with windows open when driving by Lake Whitney.
The good news is there is a cure for plant blindness and the treatment is awareness.
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Richard Powers is a novelist and a 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner for “The Overstory”.
Photo: Master Gardeners working on TSV project.
