Cryptoflora Field Guide
2024-ongoing (WIP). photogrammetry/3D scan, 3D modeling, virtual habitat, artist book
Cryptoflora Field Guide is a project that is in the initial experimentation work in progress stage. The project imagines potential plant taxonomies that flourish in a post-human landscape inspired by research into the present situation between plants and people specific to different geographical locations around North America. A virtual 3D modeled herbarium, interactive habitats, and field guide in e-zine and printed formats will be accessible through a central website. Hypothesized plant hybrids are fantastically fictional, based upon projected outcomes of native, invasive, and threatened species essential to the fragile ecosystems they are inspired by. The future archive focuses on existing vascular and non-vascular plants that have developed evolutionary survival adaptations in response to regional effects of global warming such as drought, forest fire, and rising sea levels. Virtual space and new media technologies are used to re-invent the practice of a naturalist through non-intrusive material methodologies that can be implemented by citizen scientists.
Spotted Bladderpod
Physaria stellapilis
Family: Brassicaceae
Evolutionary Adaptation
Over thousands of years, the Spotted Bladderpod has developed adaptations to survive the fell field scree slopes of the alpine tundra. At high elevations, this plant withstands extreme solar radiation, strong winds, and impoverished soils with high concentrations of loose surface gravel. This species has evolved into a miniature cushion plant with a strong, deep taproot that penetrates crevices in rock to access water and nutrients. Visible star-shaped trichomes cover the surface of the leaves and stems to prevent desiccation, protect from UV light, and help retain heat at below zero temperatures. These protruding hair-like structures resemble sea anemones that live within coral colonies. The leaves have a thick, fatty waterproof epidermis similar to plants found in desert environments.
