A visit to Bennett's Botanical Basement
A walk in the woods kicks off my tour of Bruce Bennett's herbarium. I've come to see what may be the Yukon's best collection of native plants, but before showing me plant presses and cabinets, he leads me around his property.
"This is a sub-alpine fir," says Bennett, pointing to a knee-high sapling not far from the house. It's an unusual find in the woods around Whitehorse, and Bennett seems quite pleased that the Yukon's official tree took root in his yard on its own.
We wander down a path through boreal forest, and then circle back to the house. Here Bennett points out several rare Yukon plant species that he has propagated in the garden.
"Someone asked me to identify the Yukon aster, and I was able to start this plant from a tiny piece of the root," he says, showing me a scruffy, unspectacular plant that looks like it has already seen a good dose of September frost.
"This one is Yukon sage that I rescued from Five Finger Rapids when they were expanding the parking lot. It only grows in a couple of places in the territory."
Inside the house, Bennett shows me framed photos of Frederick Funston, a botanist with the Smithsonian Museum who came to the Yukon on a collecting expedition in 1896. The fur-clad botanist is posing with snowshoes and hauling sledges across ice. Funston spent a full year traveling in the territory, including long journeys to places like Herschel Island and Rampart House.
"His are the first botanical collections from the Yukon," says Bennett, pointing out that Funston's expedition pre-dates the Klondike Gold Rush. "Not many people think of botanists as pioneers up here," he adds.
Deposited throughout Bennett's house are stacks of newspaper and cardboard that contain pressed, dried plants he has collected this year in the Yukon and Alaska. Bennett knows exactly which stack belongs where, and is preparing for another winter of processing, labeling and filing new specimens.
His tools for adding to the collection are scattered around the computer workstation: field notebooks, GPS, printer labels, identification keys, collection stamps. Bennett has over 4,000 specimens in his collection.
Bennett is consulted on matters related to northern plant taxonomy by botanists from around the world. He often spends his holidays on collecting trips, and provides valuable samples to institutions across the north and overseas. Bennett's day job is working as a biologist, and he develops his herbarium in his spare time. It's a consuming hobby that provides a resource of enormous value to scientists and students.
When Bennett built a new home two years ago, the most important feature he wanted was to have a large basement that could house his expanding herbarium and accommodate the many botany students who pass through the Yukon each summer.
"I wanted a herbarium where students could come and go, leave their stuff, have a shower or check their email. I don't charge them to stay here," says Bennett. "They come to use the herbarium and library. All I ask is that they send me copies of their publications and results."
Though his herbarium is unregistered and not affiliated with any institution, the botany community is small and most Yukon-bound students quickly find their way to Bennett. In just two summers he has already hosted botanists and students from Norway, Switzerland, Scotland, Alaska, and universities across Canada and the U.S.
The walls are covered with maps of Yukon soils, geology, vegetation and topography. A separate bedroom and bathroom await Bennett's next guests. Around the corner is an office with overstuffed bookshelves, cases of historic texts and an immaculate collection of plant specimens.
"Ninety percent of the Yukon's flora is here," says Bennett, opening his fireproof herbarium-quality cabinets to reveal stacks of carefully labeled files.
The collection is impressive, but Bennett has saved the pièce de résistance for last. Hanging in archival frames above the desk are two original pages from John Gerard's Herbal, Historie of Plants, the oldest mass-produced plant book. This English edition is dated 1597.
Even someone with just a mild interest in plants would be fascinated by Bennett's collectibles. One can imagine newly arrived botany students poring over texts in his library or sifting through the specimens, eager for the opportunity to access his collection. But as Bennett says, the benefit is mutual.
"My interest is in tracking what they're doing," says Bennett. "I can be a link and offer the herbarium as a resource, and in return we learn so much about Yukon plants from their studies."
- To find out more about Bruce Bennett's herbarium, contact him at (867) 667-5331.
