Ethnobotany is the study of how people use plants. The Science Museum of Minnesota’s (SMM) rich resource of seeds and agricultural tools came from Wesley Hiller, who began collecting in 1938. Hiller’s forethought and careful gathering created an exceptional collection of indigenously cultivated species of corn, beans, squash, rice, pumpkin, watermelon, cotton, tobacco and sunflowers, mainly from the Upper Midwest, Plains, and Southwestern regions of the United States.

SMM has a unique and active ethnobotany program where we germinate, grow, and harvest seeds from the Museum’s permanent collections. I’ve worked with guest curator Paul Red Elk in planting and caring for SMM’s research gardens over the past three years, and even harvested one of the cobs seen in this display! During May-October, you can visit the ethnobotany exhibit gardens in the Museum’s Big Back Yard.