Our botanical collection continue to grow, strengthening the foundations for the long-term study of ethnobotanical knowledge systems in the Bolivian Amazon. In close collaboration with the National Herbarium of Bolivia (LPB) and our long-term research partner Dr. Mónica Moraes, our team has established a carefully curated reference collection that links ethnobotanical knowledge with rigorously identified plant specimens. So far, the project has collected and taxonomically identified 93 plant vouchers, now deposited at the National Herbarium of Bolivia with legally authorized duplicates at the Herbarium of the Botanical Institute of Barcelona. Alongside these collections, the team has documented more than 170 plant uses. We are grateful for the opportunity to learn about the plants of this remarkable region and the many ways in which the Tsimane’ people use and relate to them, recognizing that such knowledge reflects generations of close engagement with the forest and continues to evolve and adapt over time.
The accompanying photograph captures Mireia Alcántara-Rodríguez and Robin Bredero-zur-Lage while botanizing in the field, carefully documenting plant specimens that enrich the project’s growing botanical collection. Scenes like this are a familiar rhythm of our fieldwork: walking forest trails, pausing to observe, collect, and learn, and gradually weaving together botanical science with the deep, ancestral knowledge of Tsimane’ communities.
