Natural medicines are in danger
By Marjorie Grubb
Tucson Green Times – September 2009
Yesterday, by a trailhead parking lot, a brilliant orange butterfly rested on a patch of orange flowers that matched its wings like camouflage. “It’s butterfly weed,” I told my friend. I explained that Asclepias tuberosa, in the hands of a skilled herbalist, can help heal bronchitis, pneumonia, and any congestion or infections that have settled into the lungs.
But returning today with a camera, we found the flowers gone – every one – picked, no doubt, by someone who wanted a bouquet. Did that person know that in order for that plant to survive and thrive in the wild, the flowers must be left to ripen and go to seed?
Wild botanical medicines are suffering this kind of loss on a much greater scale.
The popular and beautiful Echinacea, which once bloomed for miles on end on the American prairie, has been bulldozed out by the hundreds of tons, and without any care for replanting and nurturing the wild stand of it. Much of the prairie is now cultivated for corn, and anything not corn gets killed.
We need our medicinal plants more than ever. Pharmaceuticals are being priced out of some people’s reach. Their manufacture is destructive to the planet, and they even damage the environment after consumption, as toxic compounds are excreted and enter the waters of rivers and streams.
Yet some of the best loved and most used plants are disappearing, according to Rosemary Gladstar of United Plant
Savers. United Plant Savers (www.UnitedPlantSavers.org ) is a nonprofit organization of herbalists, botanists, health-care professionals, organic farmers, business owners, wild-crafters, seed savers, manufacturers, and plant lovers from all walks of life. Their work includes plant sanctuaries, plant give-aways, publications, internships, raising public awareness, and promoting both the cultivation of medicines and the reintroduction of species into their natural wild habitats. They have established a list of medicinal plants that they consider to be “at risk,” and they provide information about preservation and conservation, and cultivation.
United Plant Savers also teaches about plants that can be used as alternatives to the at-risk species – plants that are abundant, easy to find, easy to grow, hard to kill, and full of good medicine: dandelions, mallows, hollyhocks, plantains, and epazote, many of which can be found poking through cracks in Tucson sidewalks!
You may have used or heard about Arnica, Lobelia, Kava, St. Johnswort, Echinacea, Goldenseal, Ginseng, Black Cohosh, Wild Yam, White Sage. What you may not know is that all of these are considered by United Plant Savers to be at risk or in trouble in their wild habitats. Most of these plants are slow growing and may take many years to mature enough to reproduce, and ill-informed harvesters may take them before they have a chance to do so. They may be plants where the medicine is in the roots, so the plant is destroyed when the medicine is harvested.
Some wild plants have succumbed to climate change and pollution. Ginseng, for example, is very sensitive to ozone and sulphur pollution, a growing problem in its native range. Others are experiencing habitat loss. Drain a swamp and you destroy the homes of many great medicines. Venus’ Flytrap makes its home in the disappearing swamps of the Southeastern United States. This funny little bug-eater is being used in therapies for cancer, AIDS, herpes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other chronic diseases.
I close with this message from Rosemary Gladstar: “The plants are calling you … No matter what language you speak or comprehend, the plants will converse in a manner you can understand, though it may take a listening ear and an open heart to hear them … The wild plants are calling us now, asking us for help. The wild gardens are in trouble, and the precious medicines of the earth are being lost.”
Author: Marjorie Grubb, a retired professor of early childhood education, is an artist and amateur botanist/herbalist in Tucson; she is a long-time member of United Plant Savers and a founder of Tucson Herbalist Collective.
WHAT TO DO
On National Herb Day – October 17 – plan to attend “Planting The Future, a United Plant Savers event hosted by the Tucson Herbalist Collective and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. Southwestern herbalists, botanists and plant lovers will be presenting on the beauty, usefulness, cultivation and sacredness of Southwestern medicinal plants such as creosote, mesquite, yerba mansa, and many more. There will be music and food, and an exhibit hall as well. For information and registration, go to UnitedPlantSavers.org or call 802-476-6467.
Tucson Herbalist Collective meets on the first Sunday of every month, 2:30 p.m., at Pima County Public Library Martha Cooper Branch, 1377 N. Catalina Ave., mid-town Tucson.
