The tradition of using native plants for healing is at least as old as the sophisticated healing practices of the Cherokee Indians, whose knowledge of the region’s flora is legendary and whose use of medicinal plants was far more sophisticated than that of the first Europeans arriving in North America. It’s estimated that at one time most Cherokee people were able to recognize and use several hundred medicinal and edible plants. Tribal healers may have known the medicinal values of as many as 800 local healing allies.

In the past 20 years, loss of native plant habitat and renewed demand for botanical medicines has placed increased pressure on wild plant populations. Of the top 125 medicinal herbs used around the world, 75 percent are native to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Many of these plants are still collected from wild sources, while supplies of cultivated medicinal herbs, especially woodland botanicals that require shade, are few.

Can wild plants continue to be the source of herbs for a growing commercial market? Not without the chance that many will be driven to extinction. The sixth century B.C. is one particularly stark historical example of this. Roman and Greek records describe a wild herb known as sylphion (Ferula historica), a fennel-like plant used by women as an oral contraceptive that once grew abundantly in the hills near Cyrene, a Greek city-state along the coast of what is now Libya. Word of its properties spread throughout the Mediterranean, and the plant became one of Cyrene’s main trade exports. But by the fourth century B.C., sylphion had been harvested almost to extinction. Last minute attempts to cultivate the plant failed, and eventually sylphion became extinct.

To prevent a similar situation today, we need to protect our wild places and the native medicinal plants that grow there. At the same time, in order to reduce our reliance on wild plant sources, we must increase supplies of high quality, preferably organically cultivated plants. But where will the plants come from?

With the help of small grants and the leadership of some visionary growers, a homegrown solution has taken root in Georgia. A cooperative of goldenseal growers, formed under the auspices of a grant administered by Randy and Cindi Beavers of Sleepy Hollow Herb Farm in Dalton, now produces 50 percent of the certified organic goldenseal available on the U.S. market.

“We formally organized last March, and the co-op (called OrganiPharm) is just a year old now,” says Randy. Our first product will be an oral health dietary supplement that will be good for mouth ulcers, gingivitis and oral thrush.”

Most of the 23 co-op members are first-time organic growers, with four acres or less of goldenseal under cultivation. In addition to pooling their crops, the cooperative processes their herbs into high quality organic products such as tinctures, salves and other items. Co-op members then sell these products directly to consumers, bypassing the eight to ten large-scale brokers and herb buyers that dominate the U.S. herb market. “As much as $.87 of every consumer dollar stays in the small farmer’s product,” explains Randy.

Nea and Robert Permenter of Beyond the Boonies Farm in southwest Georgia’s Lumpkin are new goldenseal growers. “Row-cropping didn’t suit our lifestyle,” relays Nea. With half of their 20 acres wooded, the Permenters were inspired by the Beavers to plant goldenseal beneath their shaded canopy. Now, with three quarters of an acre with 20,000 plants in the ground, they’re ready to start their first harvest next spring.

“All of the groups in the co-op will be taking their first harvest this fall,” says Randy Beavers. “It takes four years to get the first harvest.”

Growers in the Southeast are especially well situated for cultivating medicinal herbs that are native to the region, but the available data about propagation and cultivation methods is still slim. To address this problem, research is being done by the Medicinal Herbs for Commerce Project in North Carolina—whose work is providing detailed guidelines for successfully growing and marketing medicinal herb crops. Additionally, a recently published book, Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals by W. Scott Persons and Jeanine Davis [who is this month’s Life’s Leader, turn to page 54 to learn more about her efforts], two leaders in the field of growing woodland bontanicals, gives detailed information about crop yields, propagation and market opportunities.

OrganiPharm is also working on demonstrating the medical benefits of their crop, in cooperation with a grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Lacking a product that contains a reliable and verified source of goldenseal has hampered clinical studies on the effect of this powerful herb. “Seven out of ten products on the market have been adulterated with other plants—only one out of three is actually goldenseal,” says Randy. In addition to producing an herb free from toxic and persistent chemical fertilizers, organic certification requires documentation of source, identity and contamination: the same verification required for participation in the clinical trials.

Farmers cultivating woodland herbs and forming innovative marketing partnerships leave wild sources of native medicinals breathing space to recover. Their success echoes what small-scale organic farmers have learned: consumers want to know where their herbs come from, they want to be certain that the products they buy are made from a clearly identified herb, and they want their herbs and herb products to be guaranteed free of contaminants like toxic chemicals and heavy metals.

OrganiPharm products will be available in stores starting this summer and can be purchased directly from the co-op at www.organipharm.com.

Patricia Kyritsi Howell, registered herbalist (AHG), owns and operates BotanoLogos (www.botanologos.com), a school for edible and medicinal plant studies located in Rabun County, Georgia, and she authored Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians. Suzanne Welander is the communications director for Georgia Organics, a member-supported, nonprofit organization working to integrate healthy, sustainable and locally grown food into the lives of all Georgians. Visit www.georgiaorganics.org for more information.

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