Acclaimed Botanist Phumlani Cimi opened an exhibit of Xhosa plants at the Albany Museum, saying plants have always played a role as mediators of the sacred.
Acclaimed Botanist Phumlani Cimi opened an exhibit of Xhosa plants at the Albany Museum, saying plants have always played a role as mediators of the sacred.
The exhibition, which opened Friday 12 December, was organised by the Selmar Schonland herbarium section of the museum, which is a resource centre for all botanical and related research studies.
Cimi said the focus of the exhibition was on the relationship between the AmaXhosa and plants.
"Since time immemorial plants have played a significant role as mediators of the sacred," Cimi told them.
"No matter which race or culture we may belong to, once upon a time plants significantly affected our experience of the divine world and often literally acted as gateways to gods. Plants provide a way of connecting with the very essence of life."
He said the relationship between plants and humans is beyond the obvious fact that plants emit oxygen that people need to survive and, in return, people emit the carbon dioxide plants need to survive.
"Plants affect every aspect of our lives, without them life as we know it would not be possible at all.
"Plants not only regulate the concentration of gases in the air, but are also the only organisms capable of transforming sunlight into food energy, which all other forms of life ultimately depend upon," he said.
"Plants are capable of producing a number of chemical compounds, which modern chemists still find difficult to imitate, let alone imagine, without the aid of these natural models."
Curious guests flocked into The Natural Sceince section of the museum to observe the colourful exhibition.
Chairman of the Board Cecil Nonqane said the museum is the biggest in the Eastern Cape because it has the largest number of researchers. Although Albany never succeeded with attempts to make it a national institution, Nonqane still believes that it is the queen of all museums.
