New York Botanical Garden

I was the 2021 Andrew W. Mellon Summer Research Fellow at the New York Botanical Garden. I worked in collaboration with the Jamaican community in NYC on medicinal plants used in Jamaican Root Tonics.

Grounded in Jamaica’s rich botanical diversity, full-flavored, fermented root tonics provide nourishment, health, and a sense of identity and tradition. In yards, roadsides, and storefronts across the Caribbean island of Jamaica and in communities of the Jamaican Diaspora in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, these centuries-old artisanal beverages represent traditional knowledge, unique island biodiversity, Black well-being, and resilience.

photo by Ina Vandebroek (of blood wiss, milk wiss and black wiss)