Planting the Future: Saving Our Medicinal Herbs [Paperback]

Voted one of the Top 10 books in 2000 by the Vermont Book Publishers Association. A collective endeavor by United Plant Savers, featuring America's most respected and well-known herbalists.

Contributors include Don Babineau, Tim Blakley, Mark Blumenthal, Jane Bothwell, Stephen Harrod Buhner, David Bunting, Richo Cech, Tane Datta, Shatoiya and Rick de la Tour, Ryan Drum, Doug Elliott, Steven Foster, Cascade Anderson Geller, Kate Gilday, Rosemary Gladstar, James Green, Pamela Hirsch, Christopher Hobbs, Sara Katz, Kathi Keville, Robyn Klein, Richard Liebmann, Brigitte Mars, Pam Montgomery, Nancy and Michael Phillips, Janice J. Schofield, Joanne Marie Snow, Deb Soule, Paul Strauss, Gregory L. Tilford, Krista Thie, Susun S. Weed, David Winston, Martin Wall, Matthew Wood.

While the renaissance in the U.S. botanical market is positive in many respects, medicinal plant populations are suffering from loss of habitat and overharvesting, and many bestselling herbs are now at risk including echinacea, American ginseng, goldenseal, Hawaiian wild kava, and wild yam. The authors share their extensive experience with using and growing thirty-three of these popular herbs and include suggestions for creating your own private herbal sanctuary--whether a city balcony, suburban backyard, or rural retreat. Full-color photographs will inspire experienced and novice herb users alike to protect and cultivate these remarkable healing plants. Readers will also find out how to use herbal analogues for at-risk plants--other medicinal herbs that provide the same benefits and exist in plentiful amounts--and learn ways to make their herbal purchases a vote for sustainability. Planting the Future shows us how we can participate in the land stewardship, habitat protection, and eco-friendly consumption that will ensure an abundant, renewable supply of medicinal plants for future generations.

All author royalties will be used for replanting native medicinal herbs on a 370-acre botanical sanctuary in Ohio.

Appendix 2 Concern for European Medicinal Plants Cascade Anderson Geller

Medicinal plants around the globe are at risk due to many complicated factors. Though United Plant Savers is stepping up to speak regarding North American herbs, other organizations are beginning to bring similar concerns to the forefront in their own regions. The indigenous European herbs, which have had a long history of use in Europe, North America, and all other European-colonized areas, have been experiencing pressure from overharvest and loss of habitat for many years now. The fact that some of these famous species, such as yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea or Arnica montana), are still found in mountain meadows of Europe at all is quite amazing onsidering the many centuries these plants have been used in the herbal pharmacy. The diminishing reserves of these herbs in Europe can cause further harvest pressure on related wild American species. Protection of native stands worldwide coupled with continued efforts at domestication and cultivation are therefore of paramount importance.

A special report prepared by TRAFFIC, a branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), known in Europe as the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) that monitors wildlife trade, has laid out specific goals for countries both in and outside of the European Union. Their goal is to establish the Medicinal Plant Task Group, which will create a database for monitoring species in trade and allow dialogue among specialists. Their plans also include efforts to aid more sustainable cultivation, as well as the creation of refuges for medicinal plants, seed storage banks, guidelines for sustainable harvest, and monitoring programs by every European nation involved in the trade of wild medicinal plants. TRAFFIC supports strict adherence to the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) treaty.

In June 1998 TRAFFIC hosted the First International Symposium on the Conservation of Medicinal Plants in Trade in Europe at Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom. The special reports with lovely photographs of their top fifteen species of concern are on the Web. Interesting to note is the inclusion of such commonly used herbs as uva-ursi (Arctostaphylos spp.), all species of thyme (Thymus spp.), and licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra). The UpS list and TRAFFIC's list contain some of the same genuses, such as Drosera, Arnica, and Gentian. Both organizations are concerned about various species of orchids. TRAFFIC is particularly interested in removing salep, a mucilaginous blend of various species of orchid tubers, from the required ingredients list for the manufacture of ice cream in Turkey.

Though we face a new millennium full of major environmental challenges, we can find some solace in the fact that people in every nation are challenging old assumptions that the earth is here for the sole purpose of administering to the needs of human beings over and above all other species. As United Plant Saver herbalists, we join the ever growing circle of those endeavoring to better understand and preserve life in all its glorious forms.TRAFFIC has a host of sites, all of them very interesting; this one features lovely color photos along with monographs on most of the species below. If you have trouble with the address, try searching for TRAFFIC sites.

TRAFFIC's Current Species of Concern Adonis spp. Arctostaphylos spp. Arnica montana Cetraria spp. Drosera spp. Gentiana spp. Glycyrrhiza glabra Gypsophila spp. Menyanthes spp. Orchids (various) Paeonia spp. Primula spp. Ruscus spp. Sideritus spp. Thymus spp.