Botany and a Legacy of Racism

I’m glad it’s May because I’m pretty (sat)tired of writing satire, (see what I did there). Anyway, my original idea for this month was to write about the Bird of Paradise because I’ve needed to re-pot mine since last spring, and she’s on the brink of death. I was going to take gnarly photos of her rhizomes, and it was going to be pretty informational. Sadly, I haven’t gotten to the re-pot (oops), but I was inspired to write about the Dieffenbachia because when I was doing college tours during spring break, I saw many in decorative pots! I had no clue Dieffenbachia were so popular. 

The common name for Dieffenbachia is the “Dumb Cane,” and that might sound silly, because why would a plant be called that? It’s actually due to its legacy of slavery. Dieffenbachia originates from the Caribbean and other areas of Latin America. In the 18th and 19th centuries, slave owners in the Caribbean would punish enslaved people by rubbing the sap of Dieffenbachia leaves and stems on their tongues. Dieffenbachia sap contains calcium oxalate crystals, which are incredibly irritating and cause burns if ingested. The sap causes the tongue to swell up, inhibiting speech, hence the name “Dumb Cane.” For more information, Paige Tailyn has a great video about it, and I suggest you check her out if you are interested. 

The important thing to remember is that racism and the legacy of slavery exist everywhere, and we don’t even realize it. There are other examples like this among plants like the Tradescantia, which is also known as the “Wandering Jew.” The Tradescantia was given this name because of a Christian folk myth about a Jewish man who mocked Christ and was condemned to walk the Earth forever (that's the shortened version of the myth), or because Jewish people were considered hard to uproot and eradicate like the Tradescantia. 

So I hope from now on you will all call the Dieffenbachia a Dieffenbachia, and the Tradescantia a Tradescantia, and nothing else! Make sure you’re researching the things you love to stay educated and make sure you’re not accidentally harming anyone, because negativity and derogatory language exist everywhere and can sometimes be super hard to avoid, especially with the common names of plants (old botanists were pretty racist in their naming processes). 

Well, since it’s summer and I’m officially checked out, I bid you the fairest of wells. That one highlight intro for Ana sipping on some tropical drink beneath an umbrella, checking out!