How can we capture the beauty in our plant biodiversity? We are surrounded by variety in floral tributes, leaf design and textural features of foliage. Have you created an artistic interface with this natural beauty? Have you explored colour as offered in flowers, leaves, seeds and bark? Have you heard of printing with botanicals? Join us as we explore the beautiful diversity in plant life!

For your review and for persons who missed Forum #3, the video is now available when you click the button above. However, it requires that you have a Gmail account for access. If you do not already have Gmail, this will require you to create an account. Click here to submit your Gmail address.

Preserving Plant Specimens

Persons who attended Unit III of the recently concluded Plant Medicine Training Course 1 were tasked with preparing a herbarium type plant specimen with an artistic view. It was noted that plants used in traditional medicinal practices are often referred to by many different common names. This can create confusion in terms of their identification. Botanists, horticulturalists and plant enthusiasts often collect plant specimens and dry them by pressing between sheets of paper and card. This not only aids in identification of plant species but preserves a specimen that can be used for future reference.

Normally, an identification card is kept with the specimen; it gives common name, scientific name, collector, date and place of collection and any specific information about the specimen's habitat. Special features can also be added. The collection of plant specimens is stored in a herbarium. However, pressed plants can make beautiful artwork for your home! Below is an example using Periwinkle flowers.

**Image 1.** Freshly Picked Periwinkle Flowers

**Image 3.** Pressed Periwinkle Flowers Arranged

**Image 4.** Pressed Periwinkle Flowers Artwork

Plant Dyes

Through the eyes of the artist, beauty can be found in the most unlikely of places. Most persons know Turmeric (Curcuma longa) not only for its flavour, but for the vibrant gold colour it adds to our food. Have you ever thought to create art with it? Below shows how it took only approximately 1 tsp of turmeric powder in a glass, add water and mix to create a beautiful gold colour dye. Prickly pear (Opuntia genus) that can be seen growing freely around Barbados could also be used. However, one must be cautious when handling this plant, preferably handle with garden gloves when cutting, to minimise getting the prickles in your fingers. Once you have safely, retrieved the fruit and cut it, all that is then needed is to scoop the prickly pear flesh/pulp into a glass, add water to it and stir to create a vibrant red dye as shown below.

With your dyes ready, the creativity can begin! Whether you paint with it or even dye material as shown. What is even more amazing is that with just two dyes (gold and red) you can create even more colours like orange, which was obtained simply from dipping the fabric in the gold dye and then dipping it in the red dye.