Ms. Steele's Journals


The adventure begins!   ( Jan. 5, 2008 )
Today (Saturday) I begin the big plant-collecting adventure in Bolivia and Peru. The trip will last 20 days. I've packed my bags with quick-drying rainforest clothes, protein bars, and all the tools I'll need in the field. I have a GPS unit and maps to guide me to the best places to search, and I have clippers, collection bags, and silica (to dry leaves for preservation) to store the plants until they are shipped to the US.

My American Airlines flight leaves at 1:25pm today. First, I'll fly to Dallas, then to Miami, and finally, to La Paz, Bolivia. The final leg of the flight will be a long one, 6 hours and 20 minutes; I won't arrive until 6:30am Sunday! The total trip time is over 15 hours. I'll be glad when I get there!

Just a reminder as to the purpose of my trip, I'm hoping to collect samples of the plant group that I study, Psiguria. For my doctoral dissertation research, I'm trying to determine how many species of Psiguria there are, understand the relationships between the species, and discover the geographic history of the group. In order to do that, I must observe plants in the field and collect samples for study in the lab.

Psiguria grows in the Neotropics - Central America, northern South America, and islands of the Caribbean (basically any country in the New World between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn). I've already collected plants in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Hopefully I will have success finding Psiguria plants in Bolivia and Peru.