Indian Botanists Blog-o-Journal

www.indianbotanists.com
Year 2014
Forensic Botany: An Emerging Discipline of Plant Sciences
Rabish Chandra*1 and Vinny Sharma2
1Central Excise Officer, Central Excise Customs and Service Tax, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
(*Views expressed herein are personal)
2
Research Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007

How to cite this article

Chandra, R., Sharma, V., (2014), Forensic Botany: An Emerging Discipline of Plant Sciences. Indian
Botanists Blog-o-Journal. http://www.indianbotanists.com/2014/03/forensic-botany-emerging-
discipline-of.html

ABSTRACT: Various disciplines have emerged due to vast expansion in the studies of plant
sciences. Discovery of new methods, protocols and analytical techniques facilitates for
thorough and deep study of the given subject. One among many disciplines which has
appeared as an offshoot from basic plant science is forensic botany. Forensic botany is an
interdisciplinary area where the knowledge of botany is applied to solve the crime. This paper
introduces about the basic of the subject explaining various sub-disciplines and its application
in forensic science. It also cites some cases where botanical evidences have been the part of
judgements.

Plants since the beginning of Forensic Botany is defined as the

human existence have played important
role in their civilizations. They have been
used as both weapons and protector. The
role of plants as evidence for solving the
criminal cases though is comparatively
new. It was only after 1932 when during
the trial of Lindbergh kidnapping case the
botanical evidences were accepted
(Graham, 1997) and the judgement was
made based on them the plants were
recognised as crime solvers. This case
marked the birth of Forensic Botany.
The term Forensic comes from the
Latin word ‘forensis’ meaning “of or for
the forum”. Forensic Science is often
defined as the application of scientific
methods and techniques for the purposes
of justice. Forensic Science has been
branched into various headings viz.
forensic biology, forensic anthropology,
forensic chemistry, forensic physics,
forensic botany, forensic entomology,
forensic serology, etc.
use of plant evidence in court. In other
words, examination of plant materials or
remains collected at a crime scene and
using them to solve crimes or other legal
problems may be loosely termed as
Forensic Botany. Forensic botany can
play a valuable role in criminal
investigations, but it has been underused
because of the lack of botanical
knowledge among most people involved in
criminal investigations. Although forensic
botany has been underused in criminal
investigations over the years, resourceful
investigators and scientists with initiative
are beginning to change this.
Forensic Botany is subdivided into
several specialities of botanical fields like,
plant taxonomy, palynology, plant
ecology, limnology etc. and more recently
molecular plant biology. Forensic botany
is useful in the examination of gastric
contents in homicide victims. It can help
determine the contents and location of a
Indian Botanists Blog-o-Journal
victim's last meal. If a victim has been
moved from the location of death, plant
analysis can determine whether plant
remnants on the body are characteristic
of the vegetation where the body was
found or of some other location where the
victim was killed. Finding of clandestine
graves requires the expertise of plant
ecologists who can recognize localized,
unusual areas of plant succession.
This paper is an attempt by the
authors to discuss different sub-
disciplines of forensic botany with some
suitable illustrations. Also the authors
have attempted to present a few
interesting cases in which botanical
evidence have been the part of
judgements.
MAJOR SUBDISCIPLINES OF
FORENSIC BOTANY
Ecology and Limnology
Ecology is the branch of biology
that deals with the relations of organisms
to one another and to their physical
surroundings. When we take plant
ecology, it includes the distribution
abundance of plants in a region, their
effects upon environmental factor and
interactions among and between plants
and other organisms. Knowledge of
ecology is useful for the forensic
investigators in determining the relation
of victims, crime scene and suspects. As a
forensic ecologist one need to know
several things in relation to ecology. Not,
only the structure of plants but also their
natural and semi natural habitat, biotic
and a-biotic component of the habitat,
how one species affect others, their
possible and probable time of abundance,
growth, structure and overall functions.
Apart from these, forensic ecologists are
expected to know about garden and
gardening too. They are required to keep
the knowledge of plantation parks, ponds,
canals, road-sides verges hedge rows and
wastelands. Though forensic ecologists
cannot be an expert in every aspect of
Chandra & Sharma, 2014 2
ecological sciences, knowledge of
vegetation, soil sediments, aquatic and
terrestrial habitats are some essential
areas for investigations (Whiltshire, 2009).
Individual may develop an interest and
subsequent expertise in any specific area.
The study of the structural and functional
interrelationships of organisms of inland
waters as they are affected by their
dynamic physical, chemical and biotic
environments is called limnology. Though
limnology involves the study of both
freshwater and saline inland water,
freshwater bodies are of more importance
to human activities (Wetzel, 2001). Thus
forensic limnology is more concern to
freshwater ecology.
Various cases exemplify the
applicability of plant ecology to forensic
investigation. In one case, victim was
brutally attacked to death and was
drowned into a nearby pond. Fortunately
the accompanied person with victim
managed to escape and informed to the
immediate possible option. Investigators
resumed water soaked, mud encrusted
footwear and clothing from the
apprehended suspect. Investigators also
obtained samples of pond water
sediments and aquatic vegetation from
the pond aiming to establish the linkage
between the clothing of suspects, victims
and pond biota. Investigators with the
basic ecological application and certain
liminological tests established the linkage.
Numerous species of diatoms and
planktonic algae were recovered from the
victims and suspects clothing and
reference samples of pond sediments
(Siver et al., 1994).
Horton et al., (2006) developed a
quantitative diatom based reconstruction
technique to confirm drowning as cause of
death and localise the site of drowning.
They collected samples from the
local/regional water bodies to act as
control in the examination of diatom
assemblages associated with lungs and
clothing of the subject.
Forensic Botany: An Emerging Discipline
Palynology
Palynology is the branch of botany that
deals with the study of pollen grains, their
shape, size, structure, origin, etc.
Forensic palynology involves the solving of
criminal cases with the help of
identification of pollen grains and spores.
Pollen grains being smaller in size are not
seen by the culprit and thus remain at
the crime scene helping the investigator to
solve the crime. Pollen grains also help in
fixing the location of the crime as certain
plants are found in particular regions and
identification of their pollens and spores
determine the location of the crime
occurred. Pollen grains are microscopic
and not visually obvious trace evidence
during crime scene collection but are
retained on clothing, embedded in
carpets, pervasive in soil, etc. Pollen grain
morphology can be used to identify a
plant genus and often the species.
Crime scenes which are restricted to a
smaller, such as a rape scene, are good
choices for pollen evidence. Generally
areas have a specific pollen distribution
pattern representing the combination of
plant species found in the surrounding
vegetation. Forensically, the pollen grains
which are commonly found hold less
evidentiary value than those which are
uncommon, or belong to the species
which is poorly distributed.
In a case reported in Auckland, New
Zealand, a woman alleged that the
suspect had raped her in an alleyway few
meters away from his car. While the
suspect claimed that he never moved
away from his car and nor did he entered
the mentioned alleyway. Adding to this he
strongly pointed out that he had never
had any sexual intercourse with the
victim and the soil found on his clothes is
from the driveway area. During the
investigation the officials collected the soil
samples from both the mentioned areas
and also from the suspects’ clothes. The
analysis of soil samples which also
Chandra & Sharma, 2014 3
contains pollen grains proved the sexual
assault taking place in alleyway, the
suspect was convicted later on the basis
of this evidence.
Anatomy
The construction of plant’s body
and its components can provide a wide
variety of forensic evidences. The rigid
external cell wall covering the plant cells,
unlike the animal cells, does not allow the
plant cells to wash away or degenerate
easily. The varying percentage of cellulose
and lignin making up the cell wall are not
digestible by animals except ruminants,
termites and a few other anthropods as
far as cellulose is concerned whereas with
lignin it is somewhat more difficult to
digest due to its being more complex
structurally and chemically which can be
broken down only by a few fungi. In
addition to this, cells that make up wood
have a secondary wall that has much
higher percentage of lignin, which adds on
to the strength and long life of these cells,
proof of which stands tall with the wooden
churches of Norway which were built
during the end of the eleventh century
and the still remain standing and are in
use.
In forensic science, the
identification of wood is done on the basis
of the physical and anatomical properties
of wood. Physical properties include
colour, odour, weight, hardness, lustre
and texture of the wood sample. Also, the
water extract of some timbers show
distinct fluorescence which helps in
identifying the unknown wood samples.
Anatomical properties include whether
the pores are present or absent and if
present then the further identification s
done on determining the pore number,
pore size and pore arrangement.
The manner in which cell walls are laid
down and the patterns formed by cells are
peculiar to given taxonomic groups. The
herbaceous (non woody) plants have
Indian Botanists Blog-o-Journal
characteristic cell shapes, sculpturing of
the cell walls, arrangements of cells of the
epidermis, and combinations of cell types
in their pulpy parts. Some cells contain
crystals of calcium oxalate or starch
grains of types that vary among species.
Identification of starch grains is based on
three characteristics – size, shape, and
presence or absence as well as shape of
markings on the starch grains called the
hilum. Identification of starch grain is
easy on freshly prepared starch. In old
starch or boiled starch or chemically
modified starch the hilum change from
dot to transverse or transverse to satellite
and satellite to ruptured grain. Thus, too
much reliance should not be placed on
hilum unless history of starch is known.
Comparison of unknown sample with
known sample is always desirable. In case
of decomposed starches identification
should be based on few grains which are
left intact.
In forensic work, plant parts specifically
adapted for dispersal can be particularly
useful. As plant species are each best
suited to a particular set of environmental
conditions, not all species grow
everywhere. Plant species occur in
association, or communities, whereas the
environmental requirements of several
species overlap. Anatomical knowledge
about species can be useful forensically,
because a botanist can identify plant
fragments found on the clothing of a
victim, and can determine whether those
plants came from the site in which the
victim was found or from some other area.
Correct identification of plant samples
depends on trained botanists’ abilities to
gain access to recorded information on
the characteristics of the species to which
the sample belongs. Therefore, anyone
who identifies a new sample of plants
must publish the contents as all
information is needed and is can help in
solving the criminal cases. Lancia &
Conforti (2013) studied the growth rate of
the bryophyte Leptodyctium riparium, was
used in estimating the Post Mortem
Chandra & Sharma, 2014 4
Interval of some human skeletal remains
that were found in a wooded area near
Perugia, in Central Italy.
Forensic Plant Biotechnology
Plant Biotechnology in recent few decades
has emerged as an exciting area of plant
sciences. Through this technology various
biological manipulation and interpretation
can be done (Chawla, 2002). Techniques
like DNA fingerprinting, DNA barcoding,
Molecular markers are extensively used
these days by investigators to solve the
cases. In forensic botany it is mainly used
for species identification, endemism of the
subject plant.
During the course of plant species
identification in the field for general
academic purposes one gathers maximum
morphological character in the field note
book to identify the plant up-to species
level. Unlike the conventional taxonomic
identification the morphological character
is limited in forensic investigation, plant
species found as evidence material are in
fragment and in such instances
identification of the species with the
convention available key in any flora
becomes difficult. Though DNA barcoding
is one option but it has limited scope in
plant science as there is no gene in the
plant which can be the barcode unlike in
animal where the mitochondrial
cytochrome c oxidase I has become
universal barcode. In these
circumstances one has to depend on the
biotechnological tools such as ‘Short
Tandem Repeats (STRs)’, ‘Single
Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs),
‘Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs),
Variable Number Tandem Repeats
(VNTRs) (Zaya & Mary, 2012) . Discussing
details of these techniques may be out of
scope of this article. One can find more
about techniques in ‘Plant DNA
Fingerprinting and Barcoding; Methods
and Protocols. Methods in Molecular
Biology’ edited by Sucher et.al., (2012).
Forensic Botany: An Emerging Discipline
Eurlings et.al., (2013) has reported
forensic identification of Rauvolfia sp.
using DNA bar coding technique which
can be used to control illegal international
trade as manually the root samples
cannot be identified at species level.
Gilmore et.al., (2003) diagnosed profile of
93 cannabis plants (Cannabis sativa)
using STRs. Bryophytes can be wise
choice for forensic investigation in a case
where the criminals walk in a forest or
semi urban area and bryophytes
fragments get attached to shoes even after
a wearer walks for several hours. Also
DNA of bryophytes stays intact in
fluctuating environment which allows
DNA profiling for evidence (Virtanen et.
al., 2007).
Hence one can apply various tools of
biotechnology in multidimensional
forensic analysis and evidence.
Bioinformatics and Forensic
Botany
From the above it is evident that the DNA
profiling is the centre for biotechnological
application in forensic botany. Forensic
DNA and bioinformatics are inherently
interdisciplinary and draw their
techniques from statistics and computer
science bringing them to bears on
problems in biology and law.
Identification of plants and micro-floras
reported in the crime scene can be re-
sequenced using microarray and can be
analysed using bioinformatics standard
techniques. During the investigation
objective is to match DNA recovered from
crime scene and criminals. Bioinformatics
tools and available database can be used
to estimate and determine the probability
that a particular genotype might occur
(Bianchi and Lio, 2007). Plant Expression
Database, PlantGDB, Gramene, PGF-DB
(Plant Gene Family Database), Mendel,
GreenPhyIDB, GARNet are few plant
genetic databases which provides many
algorithmic tools that allows users to
Chandra & Sharma, 2014 5
analyze sequence data using broad array
of information tools.
When the crime has taken place in
grassland vegetation, grasses are
preferred to as trace evidences to solve the
case. Database ‘Gramene’
(www.gramene.org) may be used for a
comparative analysis. It is a comparative
genome mapping database for grasses.
Though mainly for rice, it uses rice as a
framework genome to organise
information for other grass species
(Doreen et.al., 2002). Botanists at the
Australian National University, Canberra
developed a molecular identification
database for the identification of hundred
Australian grasses. The identification
system is built on a phylo-genetically
sound framework and consists a series of
taxon specific PCR assays for the
progressive identification of grass samples
and thus claiming it as a novel technology
for forensic botany (Ward et.al., 2005,
2009).
Although the bioinformatics tools and
application are more focussed toward the
important crop plants, gradually it is
attaining the attention of forensic botany
as well. A larger database for wild grass
needs to be developed and all the regional
databases require to be integrated with
national and international databases
keeping forensic analysis in mind. Plants
occurred in the past investigation should
be listed out and depending upon the
frequencies and complexity order research
project may be formulated under the
monitoring of forensic department and
collaboration with research institutes and
universities.
FORENSIC BOTANY AS PART OF
JUDGEMENT
Forensic botany has reported a number of
cases in which it was difficult to establish
the correct manner of crime that has
taken place. Such cases are being
reported all over the world a few of them
are mentioned below.
Indian Botanists Blog-o-Journal
1. Investigation: In case of Ch. Hymavathi
Vs Govt. Of Andhra Pradesh and others,
forensic report of the poisonous
substance (plant extract) used in the
murder solved to identify the real culprit.
Ignorance of forensic report leads to
harassment of innocent acquitting the
real culprit. Later the forensic report was
taken into cognizance to solve the case
(http://indiankanoon.org/doc/723998/).
2. Homicide or Suicide: These cases were
reported in Taiwan which shows the
simple use of plant material evidence to
establish whether the body found is the
result of homicide or suicide.
a) The first case, a body of a
young woman was found in the gutter.
Since no bone fractures were seen (before
the autopsy) it was taken as a hit and run
case. On viewing the surveillance tapes
she was seen but as soon as a truck
passed her she was not seen so it was
concluded that she has been hit by the
truck and to hide the accident the driver
has hid her body in the gutter. While
during the autopsy some plant material, a
tiny berry and stem, were found in her
hairs which were uncommon for that area
suspected to be from the family
Solanaceae. Later on, while the
investigators visited the scene of crime
they found the similar plants on the
railing of the building present there whose
height was such that no person walking
on street can come into its contact. Thus
they concluded that the woman has felled
from the top of building and while falling
down her body made the contact with the
plants and so the plant materials were
transferred to her hairs and felled into the
gutter. The autopsy report mentioned the
cause of death as the impact injuries and
the interviews held with her relatives
confirmed her suicidal tendency due to
her suffering from depression. Thus,
confirming the theory of investigators.
b) In another case, a male body
was found hanging on a tree. The mode of
the death was established as asphyxiation
Chandra & Sharma, 2014 6
due to hanging but it was difficult to
determine whether it was homicide or
suicide. During the investigation it was
found that moss has been smeared on the
inside of his wrists and the identical moss
was fond growing on the tree. It was
concluded that the moss must have been
transferred onto the skin while tying the
rope to an upper branch. Thus, the
manner of death was established as
suicide.
3. Primary and Secondary Crime Scenes:
A dead body of a young man was found in
the gutter on the side of the road in
Taiwan. The dead man was grasping plant
material in his hand. Most of the injuries
were below the knees and the autopsy
report revealed the presence of fragments
of bamboo in his stomach contents. But,
in the gutter where the body was found no
bamboo was growing. Thus, the bamboo
evidence helped in locating the scene
where the man was injured, it was
thought that the man before dying
survived on bamboo and water. The
holding of grass in his hands proved that
he was alive when he was in gutter. Later
it was found that it was a hit and run
case and guilty persons threw him in the
bamboo grave to hide the accident.
5. Plant Succession and Clandestine
Graves: Whenever an area covered with
plants is cleared say for a purpose of
grave site, then due to plant succession
process after sometime plants re-grow
there. By analysing the soil conditions
and plant growth one can estimate about
the time of death at such sites. An
example of this is the post mortem dating
of a skeleton found in a field by
determining the age of the plant growing
in the eye socket of the skull.
5. Time of Death: One of the cases
reported in Colorado, marks as an
example for determining the time of death
by analysing the stomach contents. A
man was suspected to be murdered by his
own wife, Jil Caroll, he was her eighth
husband. During investigation was found
that the deceased was in habit of having
the same breakfast daily. During autopsy,
the stomach contents were misidentified
as noodles later on they were reported as
potatoes. The knowledge of estimated time
to digest this type of food, it was
concluded the he died between two to four
Forensic Botany: An Emerging Discipline
hours after the breakfast which was not
consistent with the wife’s alibi. Later she
was convicted for the murder.
CONCLUSION
Forensic botany, though, not new but has
emerged as an important discipline in
solving the mysteries and crimes. It is an
interdisciplinary of various branches of
botany where a forensic botanist has to
acquire knowledge of different fields of
botany. With recent advancement in
molecular technology investigation with
application of forensic botany has become
more precise and accurate. However, to
develop a full proof and reproducible
techniques specific to region and cases
have to be developed. Using of plant
based public database and its
development according to the need of
forensic analyst will help the investigating
officer for easy and comparatively fast
closure of the case. Training at various
levels and multitier programmes should
start at university level. High level centre
for excellence is the need of hour.
Allocation of adequate fund for training,
research and development will help to
enhance the utility and develop human
resources.
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