Final Blog Post - Revised First Post

Plants as Currency: The Cacao Bean

 Over time, many different societies have used various mediums for currency. Some have been man-made products, while others can simply be found in nature. Through my research I found that cacao beans, or more commonly called cocoa beans, would be a good option. Not necessarily for the American society, but in areas that are not as technologically advanced. I’d like to briefly describe the history of this plant and then explain why it would be able to function as money.

            Cacao beans have been around for quite a long time. The earliest known were found in the Amazon over 4,000 years ago. The cocoa bean was very valuable to ancient Central and South American cultures, including the Aztecs and Mayans. When the beans were first introduced, they were consumed only by wealthy people because they held so much value. They believed that wisdom and power came from eating this special plant, and that it had qualities that were beneficial for one’s health. Different cultures used different parts of the cacao pod. Some would eat the whitish pulp, while others would just eat the seeds. In the beginning, the ancient cultures would grind up the cacao into a chocolate drink. Chocolate was not found in Europe until the 1500's, after which it was turned into a solid treat through a refining process.

            My reasoning for choosing the cocoa bean as a substitute for typical currency is because at one point in history it did have significant value to the groups of people who used it. The Aztecs were one of the first cultures to use the beans as money. They used the beans to make drinks but also for trade. This was around 200 A.D. They prized these beans because of their wonderful taste and believed health benefits. There are different records available that show the varying amounts of beans used to purchase goods. For example, ten cocoa beans would be enough to purchase a rabbit, while 100 would get you a slave.

            Although cocoa beans had value to historical societies, they can still be applied to currency in the present time. The beans would work especially well for underdeveloped countries because the substance is readily available in nature and it doesn’t have to go through a manufacturing process before being put into circulation. Countries without advanced technology would benefit from using a material that comes straight from their environment. They most likely do not have the ability to print paper money or manufacture metal coins. In addition, chocolate is always desirable and enjoyed by many. Even in today’s time people still value it because of its taste, even if they wouldn’t consider using it as currency. Over time, chocolate has become a world wide phenomenon. What better to use than something that everyone is familiar with and also enjoys?

Economic Botany Online Article

Recently our class looked at the Society for Economic Botany website. We each chose an article that had been published in the Journal. I chose on titled “Morphometric Analysis of Sunflower Achenes from Mexico and Eastern North America.” This article was written by Somayeh S. Tarighat, David L. Lentz, Stephen F. Matter and Robert Bye. This article was published in 2011, in Volume 65, Number 3 of the Journal. The authors are scientists at the University of Cincinnati and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Sunflowers have played a major role in the evolution of agricultural systems in the Americas. They are a major oilseed crop. These scientists wanted to study the difference in sunflower seeds from varying locations and how they have changed over time. Recently, ancient domesticated sunflower seeds were found in Mexico, which caught the scientists attention and this were included in the study. Mexican domesticated seeds have not been studied in great detail, opposite of the American varieties.

Essentially, the goals of the study were to analyze the difference in old and new sunflower seeds, and also wild and domesticated seeds from Eastern North America and Mexico, and also to determine how useful the computer assisted shape measurements were in classifying the seeds. The answers to these inquiries will help us understand cultures of pre-Columbian Americas and also show how the seeds have changed from that era to the present time.

In regards to the classification process, the computer generated process would greatly benefit future research if it proves to be more effective than the traditional methods. Pictures are taken of the seeds and analyzed through the software. In this study, many different aspects of the seeds were analyzed. These include form factor, roundness, curl, solidity, length, width, and convexity. The data was run through statistical analysis. Assessing the utility of these factors in discriminating between the seeds was one of the principle objectives of the study. The scientists wanted to see if there was a significant difference between Mexico and Eastern North America populations.

The result of the study revealed that the size factors contributed significantly to the discriminating factors between the different groups. Modern wild Eastern North America sunflowers are much larger than modern Mexican sunflowers. Indigenous domesticated seeds from Mexico are smaller than domesticated seeds from North America. Essentially, North America has larger seeds, thus larger sunflowers, than Mexico. However, the archeological seeds told a different story. The Mexican seeds were actually larger than the Eastern North American seeds. Why is this though? The scientists intend to do more research to determine why.

The scientists also concluded that the shape analysis techniques using the computer software are less effective than the techniques used in conventional methods to distinguish between different sunflower populations. The results did reveal that wild populations showed higher variability in size, both within and between populations. Also, a relation was noted between seed size and the temperature of the climate in which they grow, but not rainfall or elevation.

In regards to why I chose this article, it caught my attention as I was scrolling through the many articles because it seemed interesting to me. I’m partial to flowers, and most of my projects for this class have been about flowers instead of other plants. Also, after reading the article, I found it interesting that the new computer method of seed analysis was determined to be less effective. I figured the computer method would make the process more efficient. If it does prove to be helpful in the future, it would be beneficial for much more research beyond just sunflowers. Also, I’m curious as to why the trend in the size of the seeds has changed over time. Overall, this was a very interesting article to read.

A month has passed since we first observed these trees, and you can tell from the pictures that there has been many changes. In the first photo, all of the trees are green. There is some variation in color, but for the most part they are around the same shade. The picture looks like it was taken in the summer, not necessarily in the fall, because the trees have not started to change color. The process of leaf senescence has not occurred yet.

Now lets look at the second photo. There is a definite variation in the colors of the leaves. We can see shades of red, orange, and a bit of yellow. Also, there is still a lot of green on some of the trees that have started changing color. Other trees are completely green because they have not started the color changing process. The leaves are changing color because the tree is absorbing nutrients from the leaves, which removes the green color from the leaves and changes it to the beautiful warm colors we see. This picture clearly depicts a fall scene.

Another thing to take into consideration is that all the trees look different from one another. They are not changing colors simultaneously. Some are more colorful than others, and some have yet to change at all. Why is this? First of all, we are looking at a photo that includes multiple species of trees. Each kind grows and changes colors at its own rate. In this picture, we have multiple sugar maples, which look similar in their color change because they are the same species. Farther down the line, there is a willow oak, and a tulip poplar. While each species changes at its own rate, they also change certain colors. Sugar maples have orange and red hues, which we can see in the photograph. Oak trees change to a reddish brown color, which we can see at the very tops of our oak trees. On the other hand, poplar trees tend to have a golden yellow hue. This has yet to happen to our tree in the picture, but it does have more of a yellowish hue to its green leaves, compared to the rest of the trees. Hopefully the next time we photograph these trees, they will be vivid with a variety of fall colors.

Taking Gigapan photos for our botany class