Forensic Botany

• Author: Rolf W. Mathewes
• Pages: 436-456

436

A. OVERVIEW

Forensic botany is the study of plants and how they can relate to law and

legal matters.1

In a broad sense, all def‌initions of forensic botany refer to the scientif‌ic

use of plants and plant parts in legal cases. Several books and publica-

tions have showcased the discipline as a useful investigative tool across

a variety of cases.2 In addition to criminal investigations and court pro-

ceedings, forensic botanical evidence may also be useful in cases involving

Aboriginal land claims, as described in Section F, below. Botany’s possible

forensic applications rely on a broad range of studies involving plant anat-

omy, growth patterns (i.e., growth rings in wood), phenology (i.e., timing

of f‌lowering, pollination, fruiting, and leaf fall), taxonomy (i.e., identif‌ica-

1 David W. Hall, “Introduction to Forensic Botany” in D.W. Hall & J.H. Byrd, eds., For-

ensic Botany: A Practical Guide (West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) at 1 [Hall,

“Introduction to Forensic Botany”].

2 Ibid; Heather Miller Coyle, ed., Forensic Botany, Principles and Applications to Criminal

Casework (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2005) [Coyle, ed., Forensic Botany Applica-

tions] (a particularly good summary of various sub-disciplines of forensic botany);

Shirley Graham, “Crime Solving Plants” (Fall 2006) 52 Plant Science Bulletin 78

[Graham, “Crime Solving Plants”]; A.G. Brown, “The Use of Forensic Botany and

Geology in War Crimes Investigations in NE Bosnia” (2006) 163 Forensic Science

International 204 [Brown, “Forensic Botany in NE Bosnia”].

CHAPTER 13

Forensic Botany

Rolf W. Mathewes

LEgAL ConTExT: CAiTLin PAkosH

Forensic Botany 6 437

tion), ecology, and other aspects, including the use of plant DNA to con-

f‌irm identif‌ications or establish links of investigative interest.

Forensic botany has a long history in several jurisdictions globally

and has been successfully used and accepted in court proceedings in the

United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Australia, among others.

Published information and legal decisions involving forensic botany are

rare in Canada, suggesting that forensic botany is an underused forensic

tool.3 The reasons for this underuse are many, including a general lack of

knowledge about plants by police investigators, relatively few specialists

in plant science who conduct forensic investigations and testify in court,

and educational systems that de-emphasize classical whole-plant botanical

studies in favour of new molecular approaches. Current trends are clear-

ly towards the use of plant DNA and palynology as key tools in forensic

botany.4

The 1935 Lindbergh kidnapping case in New Jersey is a particularly

well-known and instructive landmark case involving forensic botany in

North America. The investigation and court proceedings relied heavily

on testimony by Arthur Koehler, an expert in wood anatomy and identif‌i-

cation, whose f‌indings ultimately contributed to the conviction of Bruno

Richard Hauptmann, who was later executed.5 Two pieces of wood played

a key role in the trial. One was part of a rail from the homemade ladder

used in the abduction. The other was from a cut f‌loorboard in the attic of

Hauptmann’s residence in the Bronx, discovered after he was arrested for

passing marked money from the ransom. Koehler’s analysis made a con-

vincing match of wood species, growth rings, tool marks, and nail holes

that showed the ladder was constructed, in part, from wood in Haupt-

mann’s attic and fashioned by Hauptmann’s plane.

A host of other case applications in the United States have followed

the Lindbergh case, notably through the work of Dr. V.M. Bryant, Jr. and

his co-workers in Texas, using the relatively new techniques of palynology.6

3 Jane H. Bock & David O. Norris, “Forensic Botany: An Under-Utilized Resource”

(1997) 42 Journal of Forensic Science 364; Heather Miller Coyle et al., “Forensic

Botany: Using Plant Evidence to Aid in Forensic Death Investigation” (2005) 46

Croatian Medical Journal 606 [Coyle et al., “Death Investigation”].

4 Coyle et al., “Death Investigation,” ibid.

5 Hall, “Introduction to Forensic Botany,” above note 1; Graham, “Crime Solving Plants,”

above note 2.

6 D.C. Mildenhall, P.E.J. Wiltshire, & V.M. Bryant, “Forensic Palynology: Why Do It and

How It Works” (2006) 163 Forensic Science International 163 [Mildenhall et al., “Why

Forensic Palynology”].