Wildflower Harvest article [edited & condensed]

[Guest Guest]

Excerpted from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center publication "native plants" article titled The Quest for a Healing Harvest:

 

For well-to-do women in Greece about 3,500 years ago, birth control may not have been a worry. At exorbitant prices, a street vendor of the ancient world may have offered an herbal root said to prevent pregnancy. Apparently this herbal contraceptive worked.

 

Known as Silphium to the Romans and as Silphion to the Greeks, the plant grew in the hills around the ancient Greek city-state of Cyrene in northern Africa. This principle export of Cyrene was sold throughout the Mediterranean region, commanding a price exceeding its weight in silver. The plant is believed to have been a member of the carrot family, related to giant fennel (Ferula spp.)

 

Throughout the world, health professionals and plant conservationists recognize the need to ensure the availability of medicinal plants for future generations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture documents that about one-third of flowering plant species--about 80,000 species--are used as folk medicines worldwide, and the World Health Organization estimates that 21,000 plant species represent herbal medicines in global trade today. Still, as much as 90 percent of medicinal plants are harvested from natural habitats, with fewer than 100 species supplied by significant cultivated source material.

 

Along with the increased demand came conservation concerns over the harvest of wild medicinal plants such as goldenseal, echinacea and black cohosh, for use in the dietary supplement market.

 

Because the entire world supply of Echinacea purpurea [purple coneflower] is commercially cultivated, it does not represent a conservation concern. The vast majority of E. angustifolia and E. pallida supplies are harvested from wild habitats in the Midwest and Plains regions [of the United States]. Their popularity has placed pressure on wild populations, drawing attention to the sustainable harvest of these plants.

 

Two rare species of Echinacea have been protected under federal law. The Tennessee coneflower...was one of the first plants to be placed on the Federal Endangered species list. In 1992, the smooth purple coneflower (E. laevigata)--a rare species from the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia--was also named federally endangered.

 

In the United States, attention has been drawn to conservation of medicinal plants by several grass-roots organizations such as the Ohio-based United Plant Savers. The problem also has come to the attention of the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and other government agencies that control natural resources and their use. In addition, non-government organizations such as WWF's TRAFFIC North America have addressed the problem. Some states already have instituted legislation to control the harvest of wild Echinacea on both private and public lands.

 

[The ancient] Sylphion could be found only in Cyrene. Attempts to grow it in Greece and Syria failed. Ultimately harvested to extinction, now the plant survives in only one form--as a crude botanical imprint on rare Cyrenian coins. Today as demand grows for wild-harvested medicinal plants around the world, one must wonder if a modern-day Silphion awaits a similar fate.

 

[This article edited and condensed by Carol Brown. LBJWFC is online at ]http://www.wildflower.org]

 

[Guest Guest]

I've been to Lady Bird's Wildflower and Native Plant garden in Vail, CO. Really lovely, amid all the pines and Colorado Blue Spruce. There are fountains, small streams, a pond, with plenty of benches along the pathways for enjoying a quiet spell with Mother Nature.

 

[ozzzyyy]

I have such respect for those that live a total natural lifestyle. To me, natural medicine that comes from plants, roots and flowers will naturally coincide with healing the body without all the harsh side effects that so many pharmacy drugs are known for.

 

Thank you, Seldiesgirl, for this articla and the link, I shall visit soon