1. Forensic Botany
Ahmed Belghith

2. Objectives: Understand the meaning of Forensic Botany
Learn what questions are answered by botany
Learn the major case dealing with botany
Learn about dendrochronology
Learn the role of gastric contents in inverstigations
Learn about plant assemblages

3. Objectives Continued Learn how drowning can be analyzed using botany
Establish the use of gravesite evidence
Identify the parts of a plant
Identify the two types of plants
Discover the definition of palynology
Learn the role of a palynologist
Learn how evidence is collected and analyzed
Learn how botany is useful today

4. Vocabulary Angiosperm Gymnosperm Palynology Pollen grain Spore Diatom
Postmortem interval
Forensic botany
Pollination
Dendrochronology
Autogamous
Clandestine Grave
Horticulture
Photosynthesis
Ecology
Locard’s Principle of Exchange
Lichen
Vascular

5. What is Forensic Botany?
Forensic Botany is the application of plant science to crime-scene analysis for use in legal cases
Uses botanical evidence to solve crimes

6. Questions answered by Botanical Evidence
Who?
When?
Where?
What was eaten before death?
Was the body moved?
Post-Mortem interval?

7. First Major Trial The Lindbergh kidnapping trial of 1931
Charles Lindbergh’s son abducted
Richard Hauptmann convicted
Used wood from his attic to fabricate a ladder
Tracked to his attic by multiple wood tests
Wood used in court as legal evidence
Arthur Koehler’s botanical evidence was deemed as a Forensic Botanist expert

8. Continued Charles Lindbergh’s son, Charles, before his abduction
Richard Hauptmann: the one convicted and executed for the abduction
The ladder made by Hauptmann used to get into the house of Lindbergh

9. Dendrochronology
A method of determining the age of a tree by examining rings
Different environments lead to a variety of ring conditions

10. Assemblages A group of plants dominated by a particular species
Habitat samples are extracted from assemblages

11. Gastric Contents Allows specialists to determine: Last meal
Post mortem interval
Stage of digestion of food
Type of food consumed
Mastication
Where the food was purchased
in some instances

12. Drowning Victims
A persons lungs and airways are crucial to this aspect of forensic botany
Upon a person’s demise in a body of water or transportation there allows foreign particles into the body
Bacteria, diatoms, algae, and many other unnatural particles could relocate inside of a dead body.

13. Continued
Forensic lab specialists can determine PMI by examining the prevalence of algae and diatoms in the lungs
Can also determine:
Secondary crime scenes
Cause of death

14. Gravesite Evidence
Old graves without a vault sink into and fill the actual site
New gravesites recognized by:
Different plants on the disturbed surface
Absence of vegetation
Mounds of soil

15. Continued Clandestine graves are graves that are meant to be hidden
Check soil for:
Magnetism
Resistivity
Use ground penetrating radar
Can find remains from many years ago (not carbon dating)

16. Parts of a Plant
Each part of a plant serves a different function that supports its daily functions

17. Two Types of Plants Gymnosperms angiosperms Not flowering
Unenclosed seeds on a cone
Scaly or needle like leaves
Flowering
Seeds enclosed in an ovary
Flat like leaves

18. Palynology
Palynology is the study of pollen, pollen grains, and spores in a geographical area
There are over 300,000 types of pollen and they all are native to a specific area
Pollen Grain- number and type of pollen characterized to a certain area

19. Palynologists
Palynologists study, interpret, and analyze pollen and spores
Can be crucial in legal cases
Pollen shares similar characteristics with spores but not the same function and each palynologist has to be knowledgeable of the differences

20. Methods of Pollination
Pollination can occur in many ways:
Wind
Animals
Water
Insects
Pollination Types:
Self-pollination
Cross-pollination
Sometimes both

21. Spore Producers
Spores are a unit of organisms that are unicellular and reproduce asexually
Consist of:
Fungi(mushrooms)
Mosses
Liverwarts
Ferns

22. Type of Information that should be Recorded in Botany
When botanical evidence is gathered, certain information must be collected
Evidence should be labeled with:
Height
Description
Color
Shape of flower, leaves, seeds, and stems

23. Evidence Collection Habitat Samples are extracted from assemblages
Any plant sample should be placed in paper not plastic
Samples could be temporarily stored using a plant press

24. Evidence Analysis
When at a crime scene photographers should photograph:
Dominant and surrounding plants
Unusual plants for an area
Depressed grasses
Possible entrances or exits

25. How Important is Forensic Botany
Although Forensic Botany is a newer science, it has been very beneficial in cases
It has been vital to cases and has even solved or at least helped to solve many crimes
It has brought justice to many people, and as technology advances, the field of forensic botany could become even more helpful

26. Works Cited http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forsite/idtype.htm