The Botany of Desire documentary focused on four different plants: apple, tulip, cannabis, and potato. The journey each of these plants have taken over the past millennia or so largely reflect the globalization of humans that has occurred simultaneously, demonstrating the extremely interdependent relationship between humans and certain plants. Apples, for example, originated in central Asia and were transported via the Silk Road, eventually reaching Europe and then spreading, with European colonization, to the Americas. In the United States, apples accompanied settlers west.
Like applies, tulips likely originated in the mountains of central Asia. The first tulips likely had smaller, duller flowers with a slightly different shape and were bred, as the tulip spread, to feature different characteristics. Although tulips came from central Asia, they have, for the past few centuries, been most strongly associated with the Netherlands.
The large flower market in Holland demonstrates very well the impact globalization of humans has had on flowers. At the large auction, flowers are very rapidly sent out to destinations all over the world. The breadth of locations where the documentary was filmed and the range of diverse interviewees also demonstrate the results of globalization.
With the potato segment of the documentary, we follow a crop from the Andes to the rest of the world a few centuries ago and also see the impact of globalization and the global spread of a certain restaurant (McDonald’s) on the potato industry, as many growers are forced to cultivate a certain type of potato to fit industry demand and make a profit.
The documentary touches upon food shortages, primarily during its discussion on the potato. Ireland had essentially come to rely entirely upon a specific type of potato and when a disease was introduced from South America, the whole potato crop was killed, resulting in a famine that left, according to the film, 1 in 8 people dead. Apple scab had a devastating effect on apple trees in the United States when one cultivar was commonly planted. This demonstrates the devastating effect that monocultures can have, highlighting the need for diverse varieties within a species as well as cultivation of multiple types of plants.
Works Cited
The Botany of Desire. Michael Shwarz and Edward Gray. Kikim Media, 2009. Film.
