Kyra Pollitt reviews Murder Most Florid by Dr. Mark Spencer (Quadrille, 2019

Murder Most Florid: Inside the Mind of a Forensic Botanist (Spencer, Mark; Quadrille, 2019) Reviewer: Kyra Pollitt

Family lore has it that, on hearing a siren, my great aunt Edie would lift her skirts and chase off after it, sparks flying from her clogs. Ostensibly rushing to offer help, it was widely suspected that she was merely feeding an insatiable fascination with the morbid. I may have inherited the gene. I’m a huge fan of Scandi-noir, most kinds of detective fiction and confess to scanning the news for curious incidents of criminality.

So Dr. Mark Spencer’s account of his work as a forensic botanist leapt out from a list of book titles. Promising chapters like ‘The Case of the Scabby Ankle’, who could resist? Spencer was working as curator of the British and Irish herbarium at the Natural History Museum when the call came. The book charts his journey from initially helping the police assess how long a badly decomposed body had lain in brambles, to the realisation that botany has much to offer the science of forensics, to exploring the strengths and limitations of this new practice, and the frustrations of persuading swarthy, hardened SOCIs* of its worth.

The reader gets a clear sense of the emerging practice of forensic botany; the grim corporeality of decomposition, the drudge of long hours in the cold and rain painstakingly studying unglamourous ditches, the challenges and joys of working in impromptu teams, the battle to educate, the relief of finding a supportive colleague.

As a good botanist, Spencer details many of the plants that fall under his hand lens, giving their Latin binomials, discussing their behaviours, and listing the traits that render them useful to crimefighting. This is very satisfying. We feel his despair when he is called to a crime scene, only to find “the police have cut down most of the vegetation and raked it into piles” (p.3). Less satisfying, though understandable, is his inability to discuss many of the cases in any depth. Neither is Spencer a natural raconteur— no David Sedaris of the plant world —but he does have something interesting to tell. One suspects a slightly nervous publisher, unsure where this book’s market might lie. Quadrille might have a little more faith in the subject matter, and also invest in a more thorough edit and proof. In my hardback copy (retailing at £16.99) page 130— the climax of how mushroom spores were crucial in resolving a rape case— is missing in its entirety: The fungal spores from the woodland were particularly distinctive and strongly supported the proposition that both the victim and the suspect had been in woodland. On being presented

We’ll never know how the Frustrating, isn’t it? rapist responded.

Spencer’s next book, and I hope there is one, should benefit from a greater depth of experience in the field, more adept navigation of the strictures of police confidentiality, clearer intent in writing style, and confidence in its market. We are out here, and we do like this.

*Scene of Crime Investigation

Duncan Ross offers a snippet from his latest booklet ‘Herbs of the Southern Hemisphere’, available from www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk. This extract has not been edited by Herbology News.

PLANT MIMICRY……………… We already know a fair amount about the interrelationships that can occur between plants in many ways. There are several that act not only as close companions to help enhance each other’s growth opportunities, whilst others deter predators and diseases from each other and their neighbours. Some species help by creating a symbiotic relationship with a particular soil, others have sophisticated beneficial arrangements with pollinators from the insect world. However on a garden scale we do not yet know much about how intelligent plants are and in what way they respond to their own gardens and other situations. To give one example, some “weeds” or unwanted plants have the ability to cleverly masquerade themselves amongst other plants that are being cultivated, in an attempt to avoid being handweeded by organic gardeners. This may seem bizarre to the non gardener but through personal observation of over four decades does often occur and should be noted. This mimicking can be seen in our garden with several species and is regularly repeated from season to season. These “unwanted “plants usually hide themselves at the seedling stage, a critical time for the plants development. It is a clever biological manifestation that can go unnoticed even by experienced gardeners. It can be more easily seen and has been better researched for the animal kingdom, and is usually there to avoid predation.

There has been some valuable research by a Russian scientist called Nikolai Vavilov in 1924 on agricultural crops. His work identified the crop, then its plant mimic and finally the farmer attempting its control. The advantageous and intelligent plant evolved to combat the last stage and has been doing so ever since humans cultivated crops from the neolithic. On a garden scale we can get actively involved…. Preview First the garden trial would need Garden to organic or biodynamic, something quite alien in modern conventional horticulture who depend on herbicides that systematically obliterate unwanted plants. Second, it takes several years for a garden to become “settled” enough in its natural rythmns for the effect to be noticed. Third, the gardeners need to be to be introduced to mimicry and become aware of the plant interactions that can occur. Fourth, records should be kept detailing the observations with independent second opinions. The garden should also be well maintained, free from rampant weeds so that a careful evaluation can take place. Fifth, why not take a long look at your own gardens and see what may be emerging? It may help you to weed more carefully and thoughtfully. It could become more of an observational therapy with the potential to be closer to the “secret” side of your natural organic garden. In addition some of these apparently unwanted plants can be of benefit in a personal herbal context, so once identified can be left to grow on to maturity. This can bring us onto another subject of…. personal herb plant manifestation, which will be discussed in our next booklet.

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