Aarati Asundi (00:12) Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Smart Tea Podcast where we talk about the lives of scientists and innovators who shape the world. I'm Aarati. Jyoti Asundi (00:20) I'm her mom, Jyoti. Aarati Asundi (00:22) So before we get into the podcast, I have very exciting news. So you remember how we did an episode on Alice Stewart a few months ago? Like two episodes actually. Jyoti Asundi (00:34) Yes, the scientist who did so much to set the standards for radiation to have those protections in place for people who work with radiation. Aarati Asundi (00:45) Yes, so for that episode I got a lot of the information, from a book called Alice Stewart The Woman Who Knew Too Much, written by Gayle Greene. And Gayle Greene actually contacted me. She wrote an email saying, "I just happened upon your podcast, which I loved. And I want to thank you for your interest in my book, a pleasant surprise. Hearing you tell Alice's story brought back one of the most interesting writing projects of my life, and many details I had forgotten." Jyoti Asundi (01:18) Oh my goodness! Aarati Asundi (01:19) We're famous! Jyoti Asundi (01:22) This is fantastic news. Thank you. Thank you for reaching out to us to let us know that you enjoyed our retelling of your story. Aarati Asundi (01:32) That book just had so much information that I had to do two episodes on Alice Stewart. And even then I was cutting things and like unfortunately I had to summarize so much of the detail that she had in there. She just... it was an amazing book. Jyoti Asundi (01:46) Because her book was a fire hose of information. Aarati Asundi (01:49) Yes, it was just amazing. Jyoti Asundi (01:52) Oh wow. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Greene, for reaching out to us and... Aarati Asundi (01:53) Amazing. Jyoti Asundi (01:57) ...making us feel that our shouts into the void are actually heard somewhere by somebody. Aarati Asundi (02:02) Yeah, we're making it into the big leagues now. Jyoti Asundi (02:06) That's fantastic. Thank you, Dr. Greene. And thank you for supporting us. Aarati Asundi (02:10) And also I let her know, like anytime she wants to be a guest on the podcast, she is more than welcome. We would love to have her. Because I'm sure she knows so much morea bout other scientists. She already kinda hinted that she knows some juicy details about Alice Stewart's nemesis, Richard Doll. Jyoti Asundi (02:31) The guy who did not support her, and then later they tried to reframe her work as basically his contribution. Aarati Asundi (02:38) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (02:39) Yes. that would be wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Greene. Aarati Asundi (02:39) Yeah. So anytime, anytime you want to come on the podcast, you're welcome. Yes. Amazing. So for today's story, I have a really good one for you. Jyoti Asundi (02:50) Yes. Aarati Asundi (02:52) I blatedly actually realized that it's been one year since you took over co-hosting the podcast with me. Jyoti Asundi (02:58) Can you believe it? And I've enjoyed every minute of it. Aarati Asundi (03:03) It genuinely makes me happy that you enjoy listening to the these stories. Jyoti Asundi (03:07) Oh yes, oh yes, because I learned so much from you, Aarati. I really do. The podcasts are so informative, so beautifully scripted out, very engaging. Aarati Asundi (03:17) Oh thank you. Jyoti Asundi (03:18) Really, it's my privilege to be your co-host. And hopefully one of these days I'll do better and actually contribute a story of my own. Aarati Asundi (03:26) Yes, we have gotten some questions. "When's your mom telling a story?" Yes. So at some point you definitely need to do that, but I know you're very busy. Jyoti Asundi (03:32) Yes, I will. I will. I am very busy. I always bite more than I can chew. So at some point, I'll get there. Aarati Asundi (03:44) Yes. But in honor of your one year anniversary, I knew I had to pick a really, really good story. So today's story I think is going to be your new heroine. The new person that you will, you know, look up to for the rest of your life. Jyoti Asundi (03:59) Go fangirling on? Aarati Asundi (04:01) Yes. Her name is Ynes Mexia and... Jyoti Asundi (04:04) Okay. Aarati Asundi (04:05) I actually heard about her through someone that I was working with. His daughter watched this kid's show called Eleanor Wonders Why. And in that show, they had a little song about Ynes Mexia. And so he's the one who told me about her. And so then I started digging into her life. And it is just incredible. Her life is incredible. Jyoti Asundi (04:30) Alright. Aarati Asundi (04:31) So most of the information for this episode, I got actually from another book by an author named Durlynn Anema, and it's called The Perfect Specimen. Jyoti Asundi (04:40) Okay. Aarati Asundi (04:42) And so what that's a reference to is Ynes Mexia became one of the most famous botanical collectors. She went around collecting plant specimens that would then be given to natural history museums and researchers for them to study. Jyoti Asundi (05:00) She did the field work for people who did the lab work, which is actually very difficult when you think about it because you have to keep the context very strong. The specimen has to be transported correctly. You have to know how to do that. And then also, are the other species that are surrounding it? The temperatures, the elevation, how close is that plant growing towards the water body? thinking of all this because I, with great difficulty, try to keep my garden going. Aarati Asundi (05:29) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (05:30) I manage to kill more than I grow, think. Aarati Asundi (05:33) Well, this is why I thought you would like it, because you take so much pleasure in your garden, even if it is a bit of a struggle to keep it alive. Jyoti Asundi (05:41) They are all friends. The plants in the garden, And in fact, I don't know if I ever told you that the tree, unfortunately, that we lost last year, was the reason I bought the house that we live in. Because I felt... Aarati Asundi (05:53) Yes, you told me that. Jyoti Asundi (05:55) I went up to the tree when I came to view the house the first time, I looked at the tree and I said, this is a friend. And of course the friend cannot come visit me wherever I am. So I need to be here to visit my friend every day. that's how I bought this house actually. I feel such a strong bond with trees and nature and plants and everything. Aarati Asundi (06:15) Yeah, that's why I thought you would really like this story because she is absolutely cut from the same cloth. And one more note that I want to say about her name. Her last name, Mexia, is spelt M-E-X-I-A. And so in some places or sometimes it will sound like Mexia but like she's from Mexico, so it's pronounced Ynes Mexia. But I just wanted to say that. Jyoti Asundi (06:40) Okay okay. Aarati Asundi (06:42) So, okay, so her full name is Ynes Enriquetta Julietta Mexia, and she was born on May 24, 1870 in Washington, DC. Her father, General Enrique Mexia, was a Mexican diplomat who was living in DC, and her mother, Sarah Wilmer Mexia, was American. So they got married, they had an older daughter named Adele, and then Ynes came after that. Jyoti Asundi (07:08) Okay. Aarati Asundi (07:09) Enrique had inherited a vast amount of land in Texas from his father, and in 1870, the same year that Ynes was born, he helped found the town of Mexia, Texas, which still exists today. so you can go visit. Mm-hmm. Yes. Jyoti Asundi (07:24) Those are strong roots. Ancestral land? That's fantastic. Aarati Asundi (07:30) And so shortly after her birth, Ynes and the family moved to Mexia, Texas. Jyoti Asundi (07:35) Yeah, it's their town. Aarati Asundi (07:39) It's their town. Ynes was a very shy child and she didn't have many friends. Her father was always away on business, and her mother and older sister were always hosting social gatherings and attending parties, very socialite type of people, which Ynes did not like at all. Jyoti Asundi (07:55) I want to make a weird... I want to make a horrible pun. Aarati Asundi (07:58) Yes? Jyoti Asundi (07:59) She was the plant and they were the butterflies. Aarati Asundi (08:01) Yes. The social butterflies. Jyoti Asundi (08:04) The social butterflies while she was the plant person. Aarati Asundi (08:07) Yes. Yes. Jyoti Asundi (08:09) Horrible, I know. Forgive me for my stupid jokes. Aarati Asundi (08:13) But so because of this, she was largely ignored by her family, and instead she spent her time reading and going on walks in the countryside observing nature. When she was six years old, her life changed suddenly when her parents separated. Jyoti Asundi (08:28) Oh no, okay. Aarati Asundi (08:29) Her father went back to Mexico and even though Ynes would write to him about her life and ask him when he was coming back, he ignored the letters and she never heard back. Jyoti Asundi (08:41) Oh no. I wonder what happened? Did they get intercepted or something? Aarati Asundi (08:44) No, he just couldn't be bothered. Jyoti Asundi (08:47) Oh that is very sad actually. Aarati Asundi (08:49) Yeah, it was just very uncaring. Her mother moved Ynes and Adele to Philadelphia and enrolled the girls in a private school. But Ynes did not fit in well here because even though she also came from very wealthy background with very high social standing, she wasn't a socialite like her mother and sister. Jyoti Asundi (09:09) Her mom probably chose that kind of school to begin with some sort of a girls finishing school or debutante school or something like that. If she had picked a school that was fostering scientific curiosity or something, Ynes would have fit in. Aarati Asundi (09:21) Yes. Yeah. And then add to this that her mom kept on moving them around. So they went from Philadelphia to Toronto to Maryland. She keeps on having to hop, and that's like an introvert's nightmare, I feel like, to keep on being thrown into these new... Jyoti Asundi (09:33) Correct. Absolutely. New situations, new friends. Yes, yes, absolutely. She's not allowed to develop any roots. Aarati Asundi (09:45) Mm-hmm. And so she ended up retreating further and further into herself. Her one constant was the Catholic Church. She was extremely devout and she found a lot of comfort going to the church and praying and telling the idol, the Virgin Mary, about her life and walking around the church grounds. And in fact, Ynes dreamt of becoming a nun when she was older. Jyoti Asundi (10:08) That fits, okay. Aarati Asundi (10:10) Then in 1887, just after Ynes graduated from high school, her father, out of the blue, wrote to her and asked her to come stay with him in Mexico City. Jyoti Asundi (10:20) Oh that is nice. Aarati Asundi (10:22) Yeah, so Ynes was like, This is a weird sudden change of heart after a decade with no contact, but she felt she had to obey her father. Jyoti Asundi (10:29) Yeah. Aarati Asundi (10:32) So she packed her bags and she took the train to Mexico City, and when she arrived at the house, her father told her he brought her there essentially to take care of the huge household that he had because he was away on business all the time. Jyoti Asundi (10:46) Oh he wanted a housekeeper and she was just old enough to be useful. Aarati Asundi (10:50) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (10:51) What a selfish narcissist. Aarati Asundi (10:53) And you know, she's like barely 18, and this household is huge. She'd have to supervise cooks and maids and gardeners, and he had a ranch, so she'd have to take care of all the workers that worked on the ranch. And she didn't know any Spanish, which is the primary language that all these people speak. And so Ynes realized like he doesn't actually care about her at all. He's just using her. Jyoti Asundi (11:16) Absolutely. Aarati Asundi (11:18) But she did stay, maybe because she felt again she needed to obey her father, respect for your elders or something. But she did not approve of his lifestyle at all. Jyoti Asundi (11:29) Okay. Aarati Asundi (11:29) He had many mistresses who would come and go. It turned out she also had an older half sister, Amy, and a half brother, Clarence, from her father's previous marriage. Jyoti Asundi (11:40) Which she did not know. Aarati Asundi (11:43) She might have known, but she did not know that they were staying in the house and that, she would kind of be expected to interact with them. Jyoti Asundi (11:52) But if there was an older half-sister, why was the older half-sister not put to work before Ynes was? Aarati Asundi (11:58) No idea. Well, maybe a little bit of an idea. We'll get to that in a minute. In 1896 Enrique fell ill and died, leaving almost everything he owned in Mexico and Texas to Ynes and her sister Adele. Jyoti Asundi (12:13) Oh really? Aarati Asundi (12:14) Yes. He had one stipulation that if Ynes did go off and become a nun, then her portion would also go to Adele. He left very little to their half siblings Amy and Clarence. Jyoti Asundi (12:25) I see. Aarati Asundi (12:25) And this devolved into a huge legal battle. So it turned out that Enrique possibly had never officially married Amy and Clarence's mother, and so proving that they were legitimate heirs to his fortune was really difficult. Jyoti Asundi (12:42) I see. Aarati Asundi (12:44) And so that might be why he kind of groomed Ynes to take over the ranch and the property. Jyoti Asundi (12:50) I see. Oh he kind of wanted it to go to his legitimate heirs. I hate to sound very judgmental, he sounds like a piece of work, the father. Aarati Asundi (13:00) He- yes, he definitely does. He's... Jyoti Asundi (13:03) Because it sounds almost as if like he did not even marry that first lady who gave him two kids. And this is we are talking of old times, having a son would have been a very prized thing in those days. And that also did not. make him bend down, which makes me feel that he did not respect the mother of Ynes's half siblings, the older half siblings. He did not respect Ynes. Aarati Asundi (13:27) Yeah, he's definitely a terrible person. Jyoti Asundi (13:31) But now Ynes is an heiress. Aarati Asundi (13:34) Yes. So Ynes and Adele won the legal battle and Ynes fully took over all of her father's property and business in Mexico, and... Jyoti Asundi (13:44) Okay. Aarati Asundi (13:44) Adele didn't really have any interest in going to Mexico, so I think Adele kind of got whatever he had in Texas and Ynes got whatever he had in Mexico. And so now you have this young, very pretty 26-year-old woman who's in charge of this huge property and fortune, and so suddenly she finds herself being courted by many men. Jyoti Asundi (14:07) Jane Austen said it for men actually a young man with a desirable fortune... Aarati Asundi (14:11) ...must be in want of a wife. Jyoti Asundi (14:12) ...must be in want of a wife. A young woman with a desirable fortune must be in want of a husband. Aarati Asundi (14:19) Exactly. And so they're all after her. But there was one in particular who was very persistent a German Spanish merchant named Herman Laue. He proposed and Ynes who had never actually really been in any sort of romantic relationship before, and she didn't really know much about marriage or intimacy. She just accepted. She was like, okay. without really knowing, I think, what she was getting into. Jyoti Asundi (14:49) Of course. Her bent of mind is more towards becoming a nun. Aarati Asundi (14:53) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (14:53) That tells you a lot. She's introspective, she's introverted, she probably cloisters herself because that's her true nature and so she is pretty vulnerable. Aarati Asundi (15:08) Yes. Yeah. And so she just accepted. They were married in 1898 in a quiet ceremony. Herman, I think, had really good intentions. He wanted to take care of her and take care of the ranch, but Ynes had a really hard time with this because she had grown up so used to being alone and managing everything herself. And she wasn't able to be close with other people, even if it was her own husband. And so things like, you know, letting go and letting him handle some stuff, or, you know, accepting or giving love, communication. These things are really hard for her. But they both tried their best until suddenly in 1904, six years after they had married, Herman died. And I'm not sure of what. Some illness probably? Jyoti Asundi (15:57) But he was a good man at least? Aarati Asundi (15:58) It seemed like it. Jyoti Asundi (16:00) So even though she was vulnerable, it was not a very bad hand. Aarati Asundi (16:04) No, it wasn't too bad, yeah But... Jyoti Asundi (16:07) I think the concept of marriage went against her true nature probably. Aarati Asundi (16:11) Exactly. Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (16:12) That is that was her- that was the issue Aarati Asundi (16:14) So Ynes continued managing the ranch, and then four years later she met and married another man named Augustin de Reygadas, who was 16 years younger than her. Jyoti Asundi (16:25) Okay. Aarati Asundi (16:26) I'm really not sure what they saw in each other, and although it seems like Augustin tried his best, he was not a good partner for Ynes. He didn't know how to manage the ranch and he started to screw up the business. And so Ynes, probably from the stress of the failing ranch and the fact that she's not used to being married. She's in this really bad head space. She felt extremely lonely, and she would curl up in bed and just lie there. And Augustin had no idea what to do. Jyoti Asundi (16:58) Horrible turn. Aarati Asundi (17:00) He brought in doctors to try and understand what was wrong with her, but nothing helped. Finally, in 1909, she had such a severe mental breakdown that a doctor advised her that she needs to just leave Mexico completely and try to find a psychiatrist in the US. Psychiatry was a very new field at the time. Jyoti Asundi (17:20) Because mental illness was legitimately called an illness much later. Aarati Asundi (17:25) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (17:25) People just said you can just overcome it or whatever. even now that stigma is there yeah. Aarati Asundi (17:30) Or they probably chalked it up to like female hysteria or something stupid like that. You know. Jyoti Asundi (17:33) Exactly, it was not considered illness, a true illness. Aarati Asundi (17:38) but Ynes's doctor was able to recommend Dr. Philip King Brown, who practiced in San Francisco. So Ynes and Augustin went to San Francisco and got an apartment there, and Dr. Brown started to help her. And she did slowly start to improve, but Dr. Brown warned her. it's gonna take some time for her to get better. This is not something that you can cure very quickly. Jyoti Asundi (18:02) Makes sense. Aarati Asundi (18:03) And so Ynes understood this and she was like, "Yeah, I'm willing to stay whatever it takes to get better." But Augustin was uncomfortable in the US because he didn't speak English very well. Jyoti Asundi (18:14) yeah, he's a fish out of water. Aarati Asundi (18:17) Meanwhile the ranch is really suffering without anyone to take care of it. Jyoti Asundi (18:20) Correct. Aarati Asundi (18:21) And so Ynes told Augustin to go back and handle things in Mexico while she stayed in San Francisco. Jyoti Asundi (18:28) Okay. Aarati Asundi (18:28) He was reluctant to do that, but eventually he went back, but he was not at all able to handle the business and the property the way Ynes had. And so by 1911 the business was bankrupt and Ynes had to sell the house. Jyoti Asundi (18:42) Yeah. We can see this coming. Aarati Asundi (18:44) Yes. Augustin wanted to come back to the US and stay with Ynes, but by this time Ynes had been working on her own mental health with Dr. Brown, and she had come to that realization, like you said, that marriage is not for her. It's not gonna work. Jyoti Asundi (18:59) Yeah, she's not cut out for all that marriage Some people are born to be introverts and their own best friends, actually. Aarati Asundi (19:07) And she also knew that Augustin would not be happy in America, so she wrote to him saying, You know what, we should just get a divorce. It's our best option. Jyoti Asundi (19:16) And they didn't have children at this point it sounds like. She did not have any children. Aarati Asundi (19:19) No. No, she never had children. Jyoti Asundi (19:21) So yeah, she's right. Set him free, and she's free to then pursue her own way of life. Aarati Asundi (19:27) Yeah, so that's what she did. And because of this, Ynes slowly finally started to find herself. She loved living in San Francisco and she especially loved walking in Golden Gate Park. Jyoti Asundi (19:41) Beautiful place. Absolutely perfect for somebody who wants to do introspection. She must have felt a fresh sense of freedom. Aarati Asundi (19:49) Yes, yes. Jyoti Asundi (19:50) And walking along Golden Gate Park, feeling that freedom. I can practically taste her happiness. Aarati Asundi (19:56) Dr. Brown became a friend and almost like a father figure to her, taking an interest in her hobbies, which was a new type of support that she had never had. No one in her family had ever really cared what she was into and not into before. But he also made sure that she didn't become too dependent on him by encouraging her to get involved in new things. She became particularly interested in photography and painting, focusing her artistic lens on nature. In 1917, she joined the Sierra Club, which was founded by John Muir of Muir Woods. Jyoti Asundi (20:32) You have to do a little geniflecting there. Aarati Asundi (20:34) Yes. The Sierra Club is dedicated to the preservation and exploration of the Sierra Nevada region, including Yosemite. And so she started making friends with the other members in the Sierra Club. Jyoti Asundi (20:46) She's in good company. That's absolutely beautiful. Aarati Asundi (20:51) Yeah, and they would go on outings together and you know, it's just this nature lovers club. Jyoti Asundi (20:56) Yes, being in nature, being with each other and leaving each other in peace to enjoy nature. That's beautiful. Aarati Asundi (21:02) Yes, exactly. She also enjoyed hiking through the redwoods and joined the Save-the-Redwoods League and advocated strongly to preserve the forests, which I mean in California that's the best place to be doing that. Jyoti Asundi (21:19) Plus imagining this and I'm practically turning green with envy because this was the time before Instagram or selfie or any of that nonsense. And so she would have been really at peace, just being in the moment. Aarati Asundi (21:34) I can just imagine her, you know, walking through these redwood groves and just absorbing the forest and the woods, yeah. Jyoti Asundi (21:43) That's the way to live life. Aarati Asundi (21:45) Oh yeah, side note, from 1920 to 1928, the Save-the-Redwood League purchased a number of Redwood groves to preserve them, which later ended up becoming the California Redwood State Park system. Jyoti Asundi (21:58) Fantastic. Which we are benefiting now because of that. Aarati Asundi (22:01) Yes. And she was part of that. She was, you know, part of advocating for preserving these forest groves and... Jyoti Asundi (22:08) Big thank you to her, big thank you to her and all the people who did that. Aarati Asundi (22:13) So now that Ynes had spent a few years really having the freedom to do what she wanted and explore nature, she realized how little she actually knew about the things she was seeing. She doesn't actually know how plants grow or why there's so many different species. So in 1921, at the age of 51, she decided to enroll in classes at UC Berkeley to learn. Jyoti Asundi (22:38) Good for her! That's the spirit. Aarati Asundi (22:41) She was the oldest student, but she was like, "Hey, we're all here for the same purpose." Jyoti Asundi (22:45) Yeah, so what? Age is just a number. Aarati Asundi (22:48) Yes. And here at UC Berkeley is where one of her professors introduced her to botanical collecting, which, like it sounds, is where you collect specimens of plants and then either press them or dry them to preserve them for researchers to study. This absolutely hooked her, and she started taking more classes in botany and went on botanical expeditions to collect specimens. Ynes never actually earned a degree, but she continued taking classes at Berkeley sporadically over the years. Jyoti Asundi (23:22) Knowledge for the sake of knowledge not to show off a degree, not to then employ that degree to kind of land a job. It's like true pursuit of knowledge. Aarati Asundi (23:31) True curiosity. So, in between that and going on botanical expeditions, she did additional studies at the California Academy of Sciences, which is right there in Golden Gate Park. And here she met and became friends with a prominent botanist, Alice Eastwood. In 1925, she took a course in flowering plants at the Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California. And here she met Roxanna Ferris, who was the assistant curator at the Dudley Herbarium at Stanford. Roxanna and her husband were planning a trip to Mexico to collect plant specimens. And when they found out that Ynes had spent so many years living in Mexico, they invited her to come along, knowing that she would know more about the culture and maybe be able to assist them in getting into places that Americans normally wouldn't be able to access because she knows the language and the people and... Jyoti Asundi (24:28) Excellent, excellent thinking and a very serendipitous juxtaposition there. Aarati Asundi (24:33) Yes. And Ynes, of course, was super excited. She's thrilled. Jyoti Asundi (24:37) Of course, yes. Aarati Asundi (24:39) And very cleverly, she wrote to Alice Eastwood at the California Academy of Sciences, asking if they would willing to fund Ynes's expenses for this Mexico trip in return for Ynes essentially duplicating whatever Roxanna Ferris's collection was. Ynes would duplicate it and give it to the Academy. Jyoti Asundi (25:00) Okay, yes, Aarati Asundi (25:01) So the Academy agreed to pay Ynes for her specimens when she returned, and so off she went. Jyoti Asundi (25:06) Okay, all right. Aarati Asundi (25:08) However, shortly after arriving in Mexico, Ynes fell back into her old groove of wanting to be alone. She really didn't enjoy the company of Roxanna and her husband. And Ynes kind of had come up with her own agenda of places she wanted to explore. And so they agreed to part ways, and Ynes was then free, basically, to go off on her own and collect whatever she wanted. Ynes wanted to start her expedition at Mazatlan, which is on the western coast of Mexico, and then traveled down the coast collecting plants as she went. She hired a native guide who knew the trails, and the two of them went by horseback along the coast through the foothills. Jyoti Asundi (25:52) I can see her in the cool morning mist on the back of a horse, going along the trails, going along the west side of Mexico. This is beautiful, beautiful. What a beautiful life. Aarati Asundi (26:04) However, just two days into this exploration, Ynes saw a specimen out on a ledge that was jutting out over a cliff. Jyoti Asundi (26:13) No. She went chasing that? Aarati Asundi (26:15) Yes, she went and tried to collect it, and she fell over the cliff... Jyoti Asundi (26:21) Yeah. Aarati Asundi (26:21) ...and ended up fracturing her hand and breaking some ribs. Jyoti Asundi (26:24) Of course, come on. You have to have common sense. Come on. Aarati Asundi (26:30) No, she was just focused on like, I want that plant that's growing up there, and didn't watch her footing, and over the cliff she went. Luckily, she had her guide with her, who was able to bring her back to her horse and take her back to Mazatlan. She was extremely disappointed when she learned that she would have to cut her trip short and go back to the US in order to heal. However, despite this, on this short expedition, Ynes had collected over 500 different species of plants, one of which was a new undiscovered plant, which had this gorgeous purplish-pinkish flower that looks like an exploding firework. It's really pretty. Jyoti Asundi (27:12) So a very short amount of time, she collected only a lot of specimens, 500 is a lot of specimens, but also extremely unique unknown ones. Aarati Asundi (27:22) Yes, so this was an undiscovered plant and it was named Mimosa mexiae after her. Jyoti Asundi (27:28) Okay, lovely. Aarati Asundi (27:28) And I think that's how you pronounce it, even though- like I was saying- even though her last name is "Me-hay-uh" I think the Latin name for this flower is Mimosa mexiae.I think. Jyoti Asundi (27:38) Makes sense. Aarati Asundi (27:39) Yeah, so she's back in the US, she's recovering, but she's already planning her trip back to Mexico. She acknowledged that her first trip had been kind of sudden, like she had just been kind of whisked along on this trip by Roxanna and her husband. Jyoti Asundi (27:55) She rode the tide of their enthusiasm. Aarati Asundi (27:58) Yeah, and so while they may have planned out their trip, she did not plan out hers. And so... Jyoti Asundi (28:03) She was a tag along, yeah. Aarati Asundi (28:04) Yes and then she didn't stick with them and it ended by her abruptly falling off a cliff. Jyoti Asundi (28:09) This time she's going to actually mean it and plan it accordingly. Aarati Asundi (28:13) Yes, exactly. And so this time she planned out a six-month expedition that would start again in Mazatlan and explore the coast and the mountains in that area. She got some funding from the University of California's Botany Department and then more funding or promises of payment for specimens from various natural history museums and institutions. Jyoti Asundi (28:35) Okay. Aarati Asundi (28:36) So in August 1926, after she's healed, she's headed back to Mexico again. From Mazatlan, she went to Tepic, which is a small city in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Here she hired another guide named Mauro who also learned how to press the specimens, so he was able to assist her in her work. Jyoti Asundi (28:55) Yes she got some help. Aarati Asundi (28:56) But even so, with the two of them working together, it would often take almost six hours to preserve every specimen that Ynes had collected each day. Jyoti Asundi (29:05) So she's collecting a lot of specimens and then after that she's working six hours. At some point she's got to sleep and eat and actually cook something and feed herself. These make very long days. And probably enjoyed every minute of it. Aarati Asundi (29:19) Oh yes. After two weeks in the Sierra Madre, she traveled south to Ixtlan Del Rio, which was even higher in the mountains. After collecting in that area for a few days, she returned to Mazatlan to drop off her collection because remember she has to carry all of this equipment and specimens around with her everywhere she goes. Jyoti Asundi (29:41) That's right so she's created kind of a central holding spot at Mazatlan. Aarati Asundi (29:46) Yeah, exactly. She said, "My dryers get filled up and still numberless plants sit and look at me and announce that they are still waiting to be collected." Jyoti Asundi (29:57) Oh she's talking to them! This is so sweet! Aarati Asundi (30:02) Yes. "I work to my capacity with what green help I can find in each new locality, and then everyone tells me of all sorts of delightful points to which I have not yet gone. And all kinds of plants I've not yet come across. It's terribly trying for a greedy collector like myself." Jyoti Asundi (30:20) Oh I can see that. Everybody telling her, but if you like this, will surely like this other one that I know about and I can take you there. It's only 10 hours away from here. And all you have to do is cross two more cliffs. Aarati Asundi (30:34) Yes, exactly. And all of these places she's going are very wild. Like you know, she has to hire local guides who can actually take her to these places because it's not like she's walking... Jyoti Asundi (30:45) And there is no path, I'm sure it's not, it's not what we are imagining at all where, you know, nowadays all our hiking and trekking and all that... Aarati Asundi (30:54) We can never truly get lost, yeah, but she could really get lost. Jyoti Asundi (31:00) Exactly. Don't say that to me. You know... Aarati Asundi (31:01) Okay, yeah, that's true. Yes. Jyoti Asundi (31:02) You know how I managed to get lost. I can get lost in many places. But yeah, I mean, this would have been completely uncharted territory looking for unknown specimens. This is fantastic. Okay. Aarati Asundi (31:15) Yeah, so she's traveling from place to place, she's climbing mountains, she's taking canoes, going down rivers and lagoons, and then she's staying in small villages. And the people in these villages thought she was very strange because she's running around and she's getting all excited, picking plants. "And why are you getting so excited about plants in the first place? Yeah, they grow around," you know? Jyoti Asundi (31:38) Yes, this is a natural thing that happens around here. Aarati Asundi (31:42) Never met someone who's so interested in plants, you know. Jyoti Asundi (31:44) Yes, yes. Aarati Asundi (31:45) But she was really on a mission to collect as many new samples from unexplored places as possible. And many times the people that she's staying with are very poor. And although she herself couldn't offer them much, she was very impressed at how willing they were to take care of her. In return for their hospitality, she would give her guides and her host families photographs of themselves, which were highly prized because no one had a camera in those areas. Jyoti Asundi (32:14) That's a very fair trade actually. They would never have a photograph of themselves otherwise. Aarati Asundi (32:18) Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (32:19) Yeah, a little bit of money from her would come and it would go away. But a photograph and then memories that it would hold, that's a more than fair trade. Aarati Asundi (32:29) Oh yes. So she travelled to the coastal city of Porto Vallarta next because she knew that very few, if any, botanical collectors had ever explored that region. She then hiked east inland to a town called San Sebastian, which was an old mining town high in the mountains. For reference, I mapped it out on Google Maps. The hike from Puerto Vallarta to San Sebastian is nearly 40 miles and roughly a 4,500 foot elevation gain. Jyoti Asundi (32:58) That's a lot. How long did it take her? Aarati Asundi (33:01) I don't know, but a couple of days I would assume. 40 miles, like that would probably take you... Jyoti Asundi (33:06) No, it has to be more than that. It has to be a lot more than... No, I'm just saying at least a few days. At least a few days. Jyoti Asundi (33:12) At least a few days, yeah, yeah. Aarati Asundi (33:14) Yes, so she hikes for 40 miles from Puerto Vallarta to San Sebastian, gaining elevation as she goes. And then on her first day after arriving in San Sebastian, she hiked to the peak of the tallest mountain in that area, La Bufa, which is about 8,000 feet above sea level. Jyoti Asundi (33:33) So she's already done 4,500 and now she's climbing another practically 4,000 feet on the first day itself. Aarati Asundi (33:41) Yeah, like literally no break. Jyoti Asundi (33:42) Her enthusiasm is unbound. Aarati Asundi (33:45) Absolutely. So by the time she was done with this trip and headed back to the US, Ynes had collected 33,000 specimens from nearly 6,600 different plants. Jyoti Asundi (33:58) Why am I not surprised? If she could collect 500 in just a few days? This is well planned, well thought out. Of course, she's got them in the thousands, if not in the tens of thousands. Aarati Asundi (34:12) Yes. She distributed them as promised to natural history museums and universities, where they determined that she had collected one entirely new genus. So that's one level above species. So for perspective, humans have the genus Homo. We are Homo sapiens. So sapien is the species. So we are in the same family as great apes like gorilla and chimpanzees. So this would be like her discovering an entirely new category of great ape. Jyoti Asundi (34:47) Ah wow. That is something. Yes. Aarati Asundi (34:49) So an entirely new genus. She also discovered fifty new species. Jyoti Asundi (34:53) What a remarkable woman. Aarati Asundi (34:57) And ultimately that genus was named Mexianthus in her honor and is part of the Daisy family. Jyoti Asundi (35:04) That is nice. Aarati Asundi (35:05) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (35:06) I don't think I look at the daisy again the same way. When I look at a daisy I have to think of Ynes Mexia now. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Aarati Asundi (35:19) Hi everyone, Aarati here. I hope you're enjoying the podcast. If so, and you wish someone would tell your science story, I founded a science communications company called Sykom, that's S-Y-K-O-M, that can help. Sykom blends creativity with scientific accuracy to create all types of science, communications, content, including explainer videos, slide presentations, science, writing, and more. We work with academic researchers, tech companies, nonprofits, or really any scientists. To help simplify your science, check us out at sykommer.com. That's S-Y-K-O-M-M-E-R.com. Back to the story. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Aarati Asundi (36:06) So now because of this her reputation is cemented and she was quickly chosen by the British Museum of Natural History to collect specimens in Alaska. So on this trip, she was accompanied by a young botanist named Frances Payne. The two of them set off in June 1928 to explore McKinley Park, which is now Denali National Park and Reserve. But Frances soon realized that there was no way she could keep up with Ynes. Jyoti Asundi (36:35) Wait a second. She's at this point, she's crossed 55, I think. Aarati Asundi (36:39) Oh yeah, yeah. Jyoti Asundi (36:40) Yeah, and so Frances, youngster, is unable to keep up with Ynes. Aarati Asundi (36:45) Yes. Ynes was willing to go off trail and climb jagged peaks and basically go places where no one had ever been before. Jyoti Asundi (37:53) She has shown herself to be willing to break ribs and fall off cliffs. What's a little off-trail business? Aarati Asundi (36:59) Yes. And Frances is like, "No, no, we should stay close to park headquarters. Like I don't wanna get lost. What if we end up in a bad situation?" So Frances wanted to play it safe and Ynes was not about that. And so again Ynes is separated from her travelling partner to go off exploring on her own. Jyoti Asundi (37:17) Which suits her fine. Aarati Asundi (37:20) Yes, she had some pack dogs to help her carry all of her equipment and specimens, but other than that, she was alone. She didn't even have a guide. Jyoti Asundi (37:27) And they are the best. They are the best of friends. Pack dogs come on then you can never be lonely Aarati Asundi (37:31) Yeah, but no guide or anything. No human guide. Jyoti Asundi (37:34) Who needs humans? Aarati Asundi (37:35) Yeah, who needs that? She collected samples from as many different areas as far away from each other as she could. Rain, wind, and rough terrain often made her job difficult, and she was only able to get about 400 specimens. Jyoti Asundi (37:49) Only. Aarati Asundi (37:50) Only, yes. But she had to finally admit defeat in September when it snowed so heavily that she and her dogs got trapped at their campsite and had to be rescued by park rangers. Jyoti Asundi (38:03) So basically it's like I will take this to the absolute limit and until everything gives way I'll continue. Aarati Asundi (38:12) Yes, I will go through rain, I will go through sleet, I will go through wind, but until I actually get trapped by snow, there's no stopping me, yeah. By this time Ynes had truly blossomed, not only as a collector but as a person as well. Dr. Brown, her therapist, was thrilled at all the activities she was doing, and she would visit him often and tell him about her adventures. Jyoti Asundi (38:33) That's nice that she has kept in touch with him or maybe she was still seeking his help to keep herself on the right path. But it's wonderful that she's able to have that and they have maintained that kind of bond. Aarati Asundi (38:47) Yes. And then because of his help, she's also, you know, now made a number of friends through the Sierra Club... Jyoti Asundi (38:54) Yes, yes. Aarati Asundi (38:54) And working with various natural history museums. One very good friend she made actually through another course that she took at UC Berkeley in 1927 was Nina Floy Braclin, also known as Bracie. Bracie was a young student and loved hearing about Ynes's adventures, but she came to realize that while Ynes was very enthusiastic about collecting specimens, she wasn't as excited about organizing them and properly documenting and packaging them up to be sent to the various museums. So Bracie, who's interested in botany but also loved organizing things, offered to help Ynes catalog all of her collections. Jyoti Asundi (39:36) What a fantastic pair. Aarati Asundi (39:38) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (39:38) A very nice symbiotic relationship there. Aarati Asundi (39:41) Yeah, so Bracie would deal with the paperwork, she would keep up with the correspondence to all these universities and museums who are interested in Ynes's collections, and she would help with fundraising, and so that left Ynes free to plan her exploration trips and give presentations about what she had learned. In 1929 Ynes is now 59 years old. She travels to Brazil on her longest expedition yet. So she boards a ship headed to Brazil, and on that ship there was a ceremony for people who had never crossed the equator before. So what they would do is they would paint each person and then throw them into the ship's swimming pool as a joke. So Ynes swam in that pool all the time during the journey, and she decided that she was going to flip the script, and so when they threw her in the pool, she pretended to go limp and sank to the bottom and stayed there. Jyoti Asundi (40:41) She has become a prankster. Aarati Asundi (40:43) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (40:44) Not only is she now coming out of her shell, she's reversing the whole thing and playing pranks on people. Aarati Asundi (40:52) Yes. So the guard and the crew freaked out and they dragged her back out and she pretended to come to. And she said, "The joke was not on me this time as it had been with the others." Jyoti Asundi (41:05) Yes, yes, got it. Aarati Asundi (41:08) But like you said, I think it's a really nice way to depict how much she's blossomed and really, you know, come out of her shell. Jyoti Asundi (41:14) Absolutely. That's right. Aarati Asundi (41:17) So on this trip to Brazil, Ynes travelled with Agnes Chase, who worked at the Smithsonian, but Agnes was completely unequipped for wandering in the wilderness. She hadn't planned on bringing any food or warm clothes which Ynes insisted on. Jyoti Asundi (41:34) Yes. Aarati Asundi (41:35) So their first goal was to climb over Pico de Caparao, which is the third tallest mountain in Brazil at over 9,000 feet. Jyoti Asundi (41:43) Oh my goodness, high altitudes now. Aarati Asundi (41:46) In the mountain, Agnes and Ynes were able to collect samples, but after days of being out in the wilderness and the rain, Agnes fell sick. So by the time they reached the other side of the mountain, Ynes insisted that Agnes had to return to Rio de Janeiro, where they had started their journey, while Ynes stayed behind to keep collecting. And so again, Ynes is like off on her own as she's managing to ditch these partners. Jyoti Asundi (42:13) Somehow, somehow she manages to ditch her scientific partners, traveling partners, but they also seem to keep underestimating what's required. I'm sure they were thinking, oh, she's almost 60. How much can she do? I'm definitely going to be able to keep up with her. And then all of a sudden they realize actually not. Aarati Asundi (42:34) And there was a quote in there actually from Ynes. Ynes said something like, "These scientists, they have absolutely no idea of what is required. Like they're very unpractical." You know? Jyoti Asundi (42:44) Yes, so buried in their own elite towers that they don't recognize what real life is about. People who have been buried in lab work don't understand what field work entails. Aarati Asundi (42:55) No. And Ynes was like, you have to be prepared, you have to have food, you have to have shelter, you have to have warm clothes, you have to have all these things. Whereas people like Agnes were like, we'll just muddle through somehow. And... Jyoti Asundi (43:07) Yeah, I'm strong, I'm young, yes. Aarati Asundi (43:09) Yeah and Ynes is like "No, there's no muddle... you don't understand the conditions that we're gonna be going into. Jyoti Asundi (43:13) That's right. I've read a book this. I should be able to muddle through. Aarati Asundi (43:16) Yes, we'll be fine. And it's like, no, you will not. Pack food, pack clothes, pack a shelter. Yeah. So now Ynes is traveling on her own through Brazil. A few weeks later in early December, Ynes made it to Mina Garayas, which is a large state in eastern Brazil. She stayed in the town of Vicosa, where there was an agricultural college, and here she teamed up with a local student, Joaquin Braga, who was also interested in botany. They would take three mules to carry all of their equipment and specimens to go on collecting expeditions. And, you know, again, it's like her lifestyle is very surprising to the people that she's encountering here. By this time, she learned that she preferred to sleep outdoors, even when somebody offered her a room to stay in. Partly because she liked being alone and having the privacy. but partly because, you know, insects would come into people's house and bothered her. So she's like, I'll just sleep under the stars. Jyoti Asundi (44:21) Yeah. Aarati Asundi (44:22) She also rode astride on mules while wearing trousers or divided skirts, which was quite a sight for the locals. Like a woman wearing pants? Jyoti Asundi (44:31) Yes, yeah, yes. That side-saddle business was extremely dangerous actually for a woman. Aarati Asundi (44:37) Yes, and she was like, I'm not messing around with that. No, no, thank you. Jyoti Asundi (44:42) Correct. Yes. Aarati Asundi (44:43) She stayed here for a year and was very reluctant to leave because she found the place so beautiful and the people were so friendly. But eventually she felt that she needed to move on and keep traveling around South America as she had originally intended. Jyoti Asundi (44:49) Yes. Aarati Asundi (45:00) She was particularly excited to explore the Amazon River and the abundance of tropical plants that grew along it. Jyoti Asundi (45:08) The biodiversity there is phenomenal even today. What it must have been in those days. Aarati Asundi (45:15) Amazing, it must have been amazing. So in August 1931, she boarded a steamship called the Victoria to travel west along the river. She still wasn't sure where she would end up, so she got visas for Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia just to be safe. Jyoti Asundi (45:33) She is pragmatic, isn't she? Aarati Asundi (45:35) Very yes. Jyoti Asundi (45:36) It shows you that for things that matter, she knows how to be practical and resourceful about it. But then when it comes to falling off cliffs and all that, she's highly impractical with the eye on the prize and just crawling up a cliff in order to grab something and then falling off and breaking ribs. Aarati Asundi (45:55) I would like to say she learned from that experience, but then she got snowed in in Alaska, so I'm not really sure, you know, so... Jyoti Asundi (46:00) That's true. Yeah, so it so I think it's like her focus is so laser sharp on what she wants in some cases reality breaks through it's like "You're crossing borders! You cannot enter without a visa." "Okay. Okay. I'll get a visa." Aarati Asundi (46:16) So as they traveled down the river, Ynes made some observations that actually tie into some of our previous episodes. So first of all she was pleasantly surprised to note that there were not as many mosquitoes buzzing around, and I double checked the dates and this was just after Carlos Finlay and Walter Reed's experiments and efforts to eradicate yellow fever from episode 58. Jyoti Asundi (46:39) Ah yes. Yes. Aarati Asundi (46:42) Her second observation is they stopped in the city of Manaos, which was thriving because of the rubber industry, because rubber trees grew abundantly along the Amazon. And this is a few years before Charles Goodyear came up with synthetic rubber, whose story we covered in episode 45. Jyoti Asundi (47:00) Correct. These people are all in their own circles, but we are... Aarati Asundi (47:04) But it's all connected. Jyoti Asundi (47:04) ...drawing a picture of how the world was connected in those days. Aarati Asundi (47:09) Yes. They traveled for 2,500 miles along the river, out of Brazil, briefly into Colombia, and then finally into Peru, ending her journey in Iquitos. Ynes stayed here for a month, preparing for her journey into the Amazon's wilderness. She hired three men, Jose, Valentino, and Neptali, as guides, porters, and hunters, who would help her during her planned three-month expedition. They travelled along the river by canoe, and Ynes loved seeing the beauty around her. This is kind of a long quote, but it's worth it. She wrote "The shining cream brown river stretching from sunrise to sunset, confined by living green walls on the right and on the left, and above all the high arched sky delicately clouded at dawn, its intense blue relieved as the sun rose higher by fleecey white clouds, which soon piled aloft in huge cumuli, and turning black and threatening as they bore down upon us in a torrent of blinding rain, with thunder and lightning for the afternoon storm. The deluge lessened, passed us by, travelling Andes- ward, and left us crawling in its wake, refreshed and enlivened under a cloudless sky until we headed into the burning heart of the tropical sunset." Jyoti Asundi (48:36) Such beauty evoked poetry in her. Aarati Asundi (48:39) She's actually an amazing writer, yeah, now that I think about it. Jyoti Asundi (48:44) Also the wording shows you that she spent practically all day floating on that river. For me, floating on a river reminds me of my short visit to the Everglades in Florida. And that was a magical experience on its own, even though it was just a one hour boat ride along the water. It was simply magical. Aarati Asundi (49:05) I don't remember this. Was I born? Jyoti Asundi (49:08) You were. You were barely a year old at this point. Aarati Asundi (49:10) Oh okay. Jyoti Asundi (49:12) Beautiful place. And I can imagine, if she spent all day, every day gliding along those rivers, her life must have been truly enriched. Aarati Asundi (49:20) So amazing. I mean what a life. Just climbing mountains, exploring rivers, like just... Jyoti Asundi (49:26) Yes, gliding along, yeah, Aarati Asundi (49:28) Yes. And again, the book that I read, The Perfect Specimen by Durlynn Anema like has so much more detail. Again, just like the Alice Stewart, you know, book. Really, you need to you need to read these books to really get a full picture of everything that she saw because I can only summarize so much in like a one hour podcast. These books have so much more detail about, the things that she saw and the plants that she collected and the people that she talked to. So Ynes and her team met various local native tribes that lived along the river. Jyoti Asundi (50:03) Okay. Aarati Asundi (50:03) Ynes had thoughtfully packed small needles and fish hooks as gifts for the natives. And of course, she took pictures of them, which they were thrilled with, Jyoti Asundi (50:11) Yes. Aarati Asundi (50:12) And of course, she's collecting all the time. This was the biggest adventure of her life. And so when they finished the trip in Baranca on the coast of Peru, Ynes had collected 65,000 specimens. But although she had to go back to the States to deposit her collection and distribute them around to the people that she had promised, she didn't stay there for long. She had become sort of a legend, this now 65-year-old woman who's climbing up mountains and rowing up and down the Amazon basically by herself and having all these adventures, which was very strange for a solo woman to be doing on her own. Jyoti Asundi (50:54) Yes, yes. Aarati Asundi (50:55) But when people questioned her about it, she said, "I don't think there's any place in the world where a woman can't venture." Jyoti Asundi (51:01) What wonderful spirit! Aarati Asundi (51:03) Her next trip was to Ecuador in 1934, funded by the US Department of Agriculture, into the Andes, where she stayed again for a year. And as she's going to all these places and she's meeting the locals of all these different places, she says, "Yet the further I stray and the more queer corners I visit, the more convinced that after all, life is pretty much the same everywhere. Here I eat what there is, sleep on my cot, and work collecting and caring for my plants, and the Indians,"- or the natives- "go about their business of living and making a living and feeling ordinary sentiments so familiar to us without great differences except in non essentials." Jyoti Asundi (51:48) She's taking such a philosophical view of life now. Aarati Asundi (51:52) Mhm. Well I mean she's seen so much that she's like, you know, people are basically the same. We- we live, we work, we laugh, we cry... Jyoti Asundi (52:01) Human beings are really way deep down, it's the same DNA. It's emotions that drive us. We have the simple hopes and aspirations and dreams. Everybody has the same kind of thought process really. Aarati Asundi (52:15) Yes exactly. In Ecuador, Ynes collected one of her most famous specimens, the wax palm tree. She had heard descriptions of it, but she had never actually seen one, and no one in the US had one or had a specimen of it, so she was very determined to get it. It's a tall, slender tree that could grow as tall as two hundred feet. And interestingly it grew high in the mountains because it likes cold air. Jyoti Asundi (52:44) This sounds like a real challenge. Aarati Asundi (52:48) She asked the locals about it, and she finally found someone who told her about a possible location on a snow covered volcano called Volcan de Chiles on the border of Colombia and Ecuador. Jyoti Asundi (53:01) So again, off to inhospitable areas to collect rare specimens. I see. Aarati Asundi (53:10) Yes. And the hike up there was terrible. Her horses frequently slipped and got stuck in bogs, but they finally succeeded and Ynes was able to add the wax palm to her collection. Jyoti Asundi (53:24) Incredible woman. Aarati Asundi (53:27) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (53:27) Hang on. She collected a 200 foot tall tree that grows high up in the mountains? Aarati Asundi (53:34) Yes. I don't think she collected the entire tree. She would collect specimens like the bark and the leaves and the seeds and stuff. But yes. Jyoti Asundi (53:38) Oh my goodness! Okay. Aarati Asundi (53:49) I think they did cut down one tree in order to get all of the pieces of it that she needed. Like she would need to collect the inside Jyoti Asundi (53:46) All the pieces of it. So she brought a whole tree back in pieces. More like, yeah. Aarati Asundi (53:51) Basically. Like she would- yeah. But they were saying even one of the fronds of the- you know how palm trees kind of grow in these big like fronds like that? Even one of those fronds took two people, to lift and carry. So... Jyoti Asundi (54:06) Just one frond. Aarati Asundi (54:08) Yeah, so there's no way she could bring back the entire tree, but she would have brought back multiple pieces of the bark, the inner, you know, portion of the tree... Jyoti Asundi (54:17) I see. I see. Aarati Asundi (54:18) ...some seeds, some leaves, you know. So that's why it's like she's collecting, 33,000 specimens, but from 6,000 species, like that. Jyoti Asundi (54:28) Yes, that makes sense. Okay. Aarati Asundi (54:39) Some of the roots, some of the leaves, some of the, you know, stems, she's collecting all different parts of the plant. Jyoti Asundi (54:37) Okay. I get it. Okay. Aarati Asundi (54:38) Yes. And then that way she can send them to the researchers and, you know, label them and the researchers would know, okay, now I'm studying the bark of the wax tree or the leaf or the seed or whatever. Jyoti Asundi (54:48) Okay, got it, okay. Aarati Asundi (54:50) I think wherever she could she would bring back an entire plant, but you know, But I think she did bring back some seeds in hopes of planting one in the US. Jyoti Asundi (55:00) They wouldn't have made it because that's a very unique climate that is required. Altitude plus climate, all of, too many, too many very. Aarati Asundi (55:09) No, but in some in some greenhouse or some like, you know, controlled lab environment. Like they- she can't just scatter them around, but maybe you could cultivate one somewhere in a in a lab and, get some information that way. So... Jyoti Asundi (55:21) Yes, find another mountain to plant it on. Yes, I get it. Aarati Asundi (55:25) But also, on the way back from collecting the wax palm, she accidentally ate some poisonous berries and fell violently sick. Jyoti Asundi (55:34) Okay. Aarati Asundi (55:34) So once they returned to the village they were staying at, the locals interestingly- this is an interesting remedy- So the locals caught a chicken. They pulled off a feather and stuck it down her throat in order to make her throw up. And after that she recovered quickly. So all- all in a day's collecting, you know. Jyoti Asundi (55:53) Yeah, good Lord. But at least they knew what they were doing. She was in good hands. Aarati Asundi (55:58) Yes. So Ynes continued to make trips to South America with one trip taking her to the very southernmost tip of Chile. When she was back in the US she would take courses that interested her, although sometimes at this point she was more of a teacher than a student because she had so much field experience. Jyoti Asundi (56:15) I can imagine. She's just entering the classroom in order to be with like-minded people really. Aarati Asundi (56:20) Yes. In April 1938 she was on an expedition in Oaxaca, Mexico, and started to feel sick. She reluctantly returned home to see a doctor who told her that she had advanced lung cancer and had very little time left. Jyoti Asundi (56:37) Lung cancer? Aarati Asundi (56:38) Mm-hmm. One of the random, rare ones that I don't think was caused by smoking or anything. Jyoti Asundi (56:46) And she spent so much time in nature. Aarati Asundi (56:50) Mm-hmm. Jyoti Asundi (56:51) It must have been some kind of genetic factor at play. Aarati Asundi (56:54) Yeah. Her friend Bracie cared for her at her home in Berkeley until her death on July 12, 1938. Jyoti Asundi (57:02) Very short illness. She fell sick in April, came back home and she moved on... Aarati Asundi (57:08) Passed away in July Jyoti Asundi (57:09) ...passed away in July. So a short illness at the end, that is always a good thing actually. It's hard for everybody when the person lingers. Aarati Asundi (57:20) Yes, it's a blessing in its own way. Jyoti Asundi (57:22) Correct. Aarati Asundi (57:23) In her will, she left a large portion of her money to the Sierra Club and the Save-the-Redwoods League, with some money also going to Adele, her sister, Doctor Brown and her friend Bracie. All the important people and organizations in her life. Jyoti Asundi (57:41) She remembers everybody with gratitude. That is such an important lesson to keep in your heart. Aarati Asundi (57:47) The Save-the-Redwoods League named a redwood grove in Montgomery Woods State Reserve after Ynes, which was one of her favorite places. Jyoti Asundi (57:57) Nice. Aarati Asundi (57:58) After her death, Bracie wrote an article about Ynes for Science magazine and said, "She collected approximately 9,300 numbers," -which are distinct botanical collections- "from 140,000-150,000 specimens and over 500 new species, the last collection being yet unidentified. Many new species and one new genus were named in her honor." Jyoti Asundi (58:28) Remarkable woman. Aarati Asundi (58:30) Yeah, so even at the time of her death they still hadn't finished going through everything that she had collected. Jyoti Asundi (58:36) Yeah, they haven't finished cataloging her work. Aarati Asundi (58:39) Yes. Which I think Bracie was in charge of and, you know, continued doing that work after her death. Jyoti Asundi (58:46) Amazing. Aarati Asundi (58:47) Yeah, so as I said, I first heard about Ynes because of that kid show, Eleanor Wonders Why. But in other media, PBS has also put out a documentary short featuring Ynes in their Unladylike 2020 series. Jyoti Asundi (59:04) Ah! I like that. Unladylike. Aarati Asundi (59:06) Unladylike, yes. And of course, my favorite, the Google Doodle, honored her in September 2019. And that is the story of Ynes Mexia. Jyoti Asundi (59:15) Beautiful story. Just thinking about her life practically makes me envious wanting to go explore these places, look at new plants. She conquered a completely different frontier, her unique set up early in life she has one foot in America and one foot in Mexico. And because of that, she was set up very well to go explore a completely different region than what others had discovered before. A bulk of the cataloging before her would have happened in in the countries of Europe, etc. But... Aarati Asundi (59:54) Yeah, or places that people were comfortable going to, like around cities and things like that in Mexico or in South America. Jyoti Asundi (1:00:01) Yeah, no, I'm sure- I'm sure there were adventurous men who like John Muir for example who have ventured into Total wilderness and enjoyed it immensely so I wouldn't take that away. But again, it's part of the Western world But she was able to go into a completely different area because of her unique setup where she had dual citizenship practically which then set her up to be this pioneer in a very unique frontier. Aarati Asundi (1:00:33) Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (1:00:34) Beautiful story. Aarati Asundi (1:00:35) also really liked her story because, like the scientific part of her story started so late in life. She, you know, went through divorces and psychological and physical breakdowns. Before finally when she's, you know, over fifty years old, then she finally finds herself and starts to take classes in botany and if you look at her scientific career, it really was the last like fifteen or sixteen years of her life, and that's it. And in that she was able to accomplish so much. Jyoti Asundi (1:01:10) That is a very good point and so optimistic in its viewpoint because there is hope for all of us. Aarati Asundi (1:01:18) Yes, exactly. Jyoti Asundi (1:01:18) I can still figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Aarati Asundi (1:01:24) Yeah. So that's why I thought you would like this story... Jyoti Asundi (1:01:26) Absolutely. Aarati Asundi (1:01:26) ...'cause I know we talk about that all the time, like, it's never too late. It's never too late to find what you're really truly interested in and chase after it. Jyoti Asundi (1:01:35) Yes. It's highly optimistic, I think. There is hope for us yet. Aarati Asundi (1:01:41) Yes, there's hope for everyone. Yeah, it's never too late. Jyoti Asundi (1:01:46) Thank you, Aarati. Thank you for sharing a really beautiful story to celebrate the fact that we have been together for one year. Aarati Asundi (1:01:52) Yes. One year of podcasting! Jyoti Asundi (1:01:55) And I don't know who else is enjoying it. I hope a lot of people enjoy these stories. I sure am. Aarati Asundi (1:02:02) Yes, good. I'm glad you're with me on this journey. Thanks for listening. If you have a suggestion for a story we should cover or thoughts you want to share about an episode, reach out to us at smartteapodcast.com. You can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Blue Sky @smartteapodcast and listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And leave us a rating or comment. It helps us grow. New episodes are released every other Wednesday. See you next time!