Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and other Woodland Medicinals

by Jeanine Davis, W. Scott Persons

Overview

The most comprehensive, truly practical guide to the cultivation of woodland botanicals

Not all saleable crops are dependent on access to greenhouses or sun-drenched, arable land. Shade-loving medicinal herbs can be successfully cultivated in a forest garden for personal use or as small-scale cash crops. Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and other Woodland Medicinals is a complete guide to these increasingly popular botanicals, aimed at aspiring and experienced growers alike.

In this fully revised and updated edition, authors Jeanine Davis and W. Scott Persons show how more than a dozen sought-after native species can generate a greater profit on a rugged, otherwise idle woodlot than just about any other legal crop on an equal area of cleared land. With little capital investment but plenty of sweat equity, patience, and common sense, small landowners can preserve and enhance their treed space while simultaneously earning supplemental income. Learn how to establish, grow, harvest, and market:

• Popular medicinal roots such as ginseng, goldenseal, and black cohosh;
• Other commonly used botanicals including bloodroot, false unicorn, and mayapple
• The nutritious wild food, ramps, and the valuable ornamental galax.

Packed with budget information, extensive references, and personal stories of successful growers, this invaluable resource will excite and inspire everyone from the home gardener to the full-time farmer.

Jeanine Davis is an associate professor and extension specialist with North Carolina State University. Her focus is helping farmers diversify into new crops and organic agriculture.

W. Scott Persons is the author of American Ginseng: Green Gold and an expert in growing and marketing wild-simulated and woods-cultivated ginseng.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781550925630
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	05/16/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	546
File size:	46 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Jeanine Davis is an associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Horticultural Science with NC State University. For over 25 years, she has focused on helping farmers increase their profitability by diversifying into new crops and organic agriculture. Jeanine is passionate about medicinal herbs and is in demand as a conference speaker and workshop leader in North Carolina and beyond. She also maintains several websites (ncherb.org, ncorganic.org, and ncspecialtycrops.org), aimed at supporting small- to medium-scale commercial growers.

W. Scott Persons is the author of American Ginseng: Green Gold and is widely recognized as an expert in the growing and marketing of wild-simulated and woods-cultivated ginseng. For over 30 years, his Tuckasegee Valley Ginseng Farm has supplied planting stock and consultative assistance to ginseng farmers across North America. Dr. Persons presents extensively on woodland ginseng production and has helped establish operations in countries all over the world including New Zealand and Argentina.

Read an Excerpt

American Ginseng: Its Life Cycle, Range, Related Species, and Government Regulation

Though it is one of the world's most valuable herbs, American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius (Linnaeus, 1753), is a rather ordinary-looking little plant — about 20 inches high — that grows inconspicuously on the floor of hardwood forests throughout eastern North America. Ginseng produces a new stem and leaf top each year, but its value lies buried in its slow-growing tuberous rootstock. The great demand for its root has led to the regulation of American ginseng's harvest and export.

Life Cycle

The First-year Seedling

When it sprouts between late April and early June, a ginseng seedling has a small, short stem supporting three tiny furled leaflets. Within four or five weeks of sprouting, the herb is about three inches tall and leaflets are unfurled and fully developed. At this point, the seedling looks something like a wild strawberry plant. No further foliar growth occurs after midsummer, even if leaflets are damaged or lost. This is true in subsequent growing seasons as well. In autumn, the foliage turns a rich yellow ocher and soon dies off, often hastened by frost.

When the ginseng seed germinates in the spring, it is the young root, or radicle, that first emerges through the seed husk. However, the root does not develop to any appreciable extent until mid-summer, after the leaflets have unfurled and completed their season's growth. The small skinny root then grows from midsummer through the fall and develops a solitary bud at its top, below the ground. The root survives the winter, freezing as the ground freezes. It is from the bud that the single stem and leaves will grow and unfurl the following spring. Interestingly, examination of the bud under magnification reveals the configuration of the next year's foliar top (that is, the number of prongs and leaflets).

Foliage and Berries

In its second year, under optimal growing conditions, the plant can reach five or more inches in height and produce two prongs branching from the central stem, each prong being a single leaf composed of three to five leaflets. If conditions are friendly and fertile, the number of prongs will increase with age, and the plant may eventually reach a height exceeding two feet. In cultivated shade gardens, ginseng typically produces three prongs in its third growing season and often four prongs in its fourth. However, in the wild, plants are usually five to nine years old before they add a third prong and begin to produce berries (with seeds) in any quantity. In later years, particularly healthy and vigorous specimens can have as many as five prongs radiating from the top of the stem, with each prong typically having five leaflets (occasionally, as many as eight).

The species name, quinquefolius, means five-leafed. The two smallest leaflets on a prong are less than two inches long and the other three larger leaflets are three or four inches in length. The shape of the leaflets is lanceolate, with saw-toothed edges ending in a sharp point.

From the center of the whorl of prongs, a delicate cluster of small, nondescript blossoms arises in early summer, usually on plants that are at least three years old. Each blossom has five greenish-white petals only a few millimeters in width. A ginseng plant is capable of self-pollination, but reproductive success is greater when sweat bees and other insects cross-pollinate the flower clusters. By July or August, as few as two or three green berries or (on large, older plants) as many as 50 berries follow the blossoms. These kidney-shaped berries about the size of bloated black-eyed peas turn a beautiful bright crimson color as they ripen. Each ripe berry usually contains two slightly wrinkled, hard whitish seeds about the size and shape of a children's aspirin tablet. Young plants sometimes produce berries containing only one seed, and vigorous older plants often have berries with three seeds in them. Under normal conditions, the seeds do not germinate and sprout until 18 to 20 months after they fall from the plant in August or September.

The Root

The root continues to develop each growing season. Young roots are long, slender, and generally light in color. As the root matures, its color often darkens, and the root may become forked with tendrils extending from the main body. Occasionally, the mature root grows into a form suggesting human arms, legs, and torso. The name ginseng means "man root " or "man essence" in Chinese. First-year roots are usually between ⅛ and ¼ inches in diameter, while the main trunk root of four-pronged plants may thicken to an inch or more in diameter and often exceed four inches in length. Under ideal growing conditions, roots can double or triple their size during each of the first few seasons. During harsh conditions such as prolonged drought or if fertilization of otherwise poor soil is stopped, roots can actually decrease in size with commensurate reduction in the size of the foliar top. Of course, malnourished plants eventually die when there is no energy left in the root to support a top. Even under optimal conditions, once the plant begins fruiting heavily, its growth rate gradually slows until increases in root weight are only about 20 percent each year.

When the foliage dies in the fall, the base of the stem breaks off just below ground level, leaving a scar at the top of the root. The next year's bud will have developed on the opposite side of and just above that scar. This yearly scarring produces a root "neck," technically called a rhizome, which bears a series of alternating and ascending marks that indicate the age of the ginseng. Under harsh conditions, plants will lie dormant for one, or even several, growing seasons, and no stem and hence no scar will form. Twenty-year-old plants are not rare, and one venerable survivor over 132 years of age has been documented. (See photo in color section.)

American Ginseng's Wild and Cultivated Range

Ginseng occurs naturally throughout the eastern half of North America as part of the forest flora under hardwood timber. Its range runs from southern Ontario and Quebec to central Alabama, and from the East Coast to just west of the Mississippi River (see Range Map for United States). As with sugar maples and many other plants that grow in northern temperate zones, ginseng's southern range is limited because some extended exposure to cold is required over the winter months to stimulate its seeds and roots to break dormancy and to sprout in the spring. Although there have been reports of wild 'sang (as ginseng is often referred to throughout much of its range) growing as far west as the Texas Panhandle, its western spread is probably curtailed by the drier climate and the lack of hardwood shade trees.

The shaded area of the range map displays ginseng's present wild range in the United States as determined by the Department of the Interior's International Convention Advisory Commission and published by the World Wildlife Fund. Within its natural range, ginseng is being cultivated successfully on sites with good soil, shade, and drainage. Indeed, it has been grown commercially in eastern North America since the late 1880s.

Outside its native habitat, cultivation of Panax quinquefolius has been difficult until very recently because so little was known about its horticulture. Since the 1980s, however, two extensive plantings of enormous commercial significance have been established: one in the northeastern provinces of China and the other (less successful one) in the arid interior of British Columbia, Canada. In addition, a few small-scale growers are now farming American ginseng in temperate climates all over the world. There are, for example, successful farmers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and North Dakota. In Europe, I know of growers in Switzerland, Sweden, England, France, Italy, Belgium, Poland, a prospective grower in Hungary, and a hydroponic grower in Berlin. I have also supplied seed for an experimental operation in the treeless Golan Heights of Israel. Even in the Southern hemisphere — in Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia — enterprising individuals are attempting ginseng cultivation. (Chapter 2 covers more about the history of farming American ginseng.)

Related Species

American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius, is one of approximately 700 plant species in the ancient Araliaceae family, which also includes English ivy, schefflera, and sarsaparilla. The 700 modern species of Araliaceae are grouped into approximately 70 genera, one of which is Panax. (Panax, incidentally, translates as "panacea," or cureall, which is what ginseng is believed to be.)

The Panax Genus

Depending on who is doing the taxonomy, there are anywhere from 5 to 13 species of the Panax genus — all forest plants. The five species about which there is little debate are the following:

1. Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer, found (now rarely in the wild) in northeast China, the Korean peninsula, Manchuria, and extreme eastern Russia near the Chinese border (where the only sizeable populations remain). It is usually referred to as Oriental or Asian ginseng, or sometimes as "true" ginseng.
2. Panax quinquefolius L., found in eastern North America, and commonly called American or Canadian ginseng, or colloquially, "'sang" in its southern range and "shang" in its northern range. The North American Indians used it in a similar manner to the ancient Chinese use of Panax ginseng.
3. Panax trifolius L., found in North America, and called dwarf ginseng.
4. Panax notoginseng Burkill, found in southwest China and Vietnam, and sometimes called Sanchi ginseng.
5. Panax japonicum Nees, found only in Japan, and called Japanese ginseng or bamboo ginseng.

Of these five ginseng species, Panax quinquefolius and Panax ginseng are thought to have exceptional curative properties, and they have the greatest commercial value. (As raw root, P. quinquefolius is the more valuable per pound.) They have similar, but distinctive, chemical compositions and are used differently in traditional Chinese medicine. Thus, they do not compete directly with each other in the Asian marketplace. Their foliage is strikingly similar in appearance, as are the roots. The best way to tell the two apart is to break a root in two and look at the cross section. The vascular bundles in P. quinquefolius are round, while those of P. ginseng appear jagged and irregular, which contributes to its more fibrous quality. Like trillium, mayapple, and other flora that have close counterparts in eastern Asia, American ginseng probably did not evolve into a separate species until the ancient land bridge between Alaska and Siberia disappeared.

Modern chemical analysis shows Panax notoginseng has pharmacological properties similar to the two more widely valued species, which it resembles, and its popularity and commercial value in the world of medicinal herbs is increasing. Panax japonicum is used in some regions of China and has modest economic value. Panax trifolius is distinctively different in appearance from other ginsengs and has virtually no medicinal use or worth.

Several other Asian species (or perhaps only subspecies or geographical variations of Panax japonicum) have been identified — some fairly recently. These include three species found in western China: Panax pseudoginseng Wall, or Tienchi ginseng; Panax zingiberensis Wu and Feng, or San qi ginseng; and Panax stipuleanatus, or Pingbiann ginseng. None of these is widely used medicinally, and none has significant commercial value at present.

Other "Ginsengs"

The plant commonly called "Siberian ginseng," which has been widely marketed as ginseng, is also a member of the Araliaceae family; however, it is not a true ginseng, as it is not a member of the Panax genus. Its proper botanical name is Eleutherococcus senticosis, and it is a shrub, not an herb. Traditional Chinese medicine uses E. senticosis as a sleeping aid and to treat acute bronchitis, but never as a substitute for ginseng. Both the bark and the root of E. senticosis do produce some medicinal effects similar to ginseng, and in the 1960s, Soviet scientists touted it as a useful, cheap substitute for Asian ginseng. An American importer, in the process of persuading a customs agent to allow his shipment of E. senticosis from Siberia into the United States, explained that it was similar to ginseng. The agent, who apparently could find no guidelines covering Eleutherococcus, solved his dilemma by labeling it "Siberian ginseng" and letting it through, thereby setting a precedent. Since then, when sold in Europe or the United States, much of E. senticosis was misleadingly labeled as "Siberian ginseng" or even just as "ginseng." Federal legislation, enacted in 2002, now prohibits such false labeling in the United States.

Another member of the Araliaceae family, Echinopanax horridum, or devil's club, is found in wet areas all over northwestern North America and is sometimes referred to as Rocky Mountain or Alaskan ginseng. Although a medicinal plant in Native American culture and related to ginseng, it does not have the same medicinal properties.

There are at least ten other plant species from all over the world that are sometimes marketed as ginseng, though they have no botanical relationship to the Panax genus or even the Araliaceae family.

Finally, anyone shopping for ginseng is likely to encounter "red ginseng" and "white ginseng." Red ginseng is made from high grade, usually six-year-old, Asian ginseng (P. ginseng) roots that are steamed (sometimes with other ingredients) and dried at high temperatures for at least eight hours. This process produces a translucent reddish brown root with the look and feel of hard candy. When sold (usually at high prices) as whole root, red ginseng is separated into three grades: heaven, earth, and good — with each grade having nine size categories. American ginseng and other species can be processed in this same way, but little market has been developed for such products. Asian ginseng roots are also the source of white ginseng, traditionally made from roots that are of lower grade than those processed into red ginseng. Scraping or removing the outermost layer of root tissue before drying lightens the appearance of the roots. However, sometimes the term "white ginseng" refers to fresh roots or to any ginseng roots — regardless of species — that are dried normally. For example, P. quinquefolius that is grown in China and dried normally is sometimes misleadingly labeled as "China White."

Government Regulation of the Ginseng Trade

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) identifies Panax quinquefolius as one of the species that needs the protection of an international trade agreement. (Only ginseng roots are included under CITES; seeds and leaves are not.) The United States and Canada are two of more than 160 countries that are party to the Convention, having signed on in 1977. CITES monitors, controls, and restricts trading in the identified species to prevent adverse impacts on their populations and to insure the continued existence of those species in their natural habitat.

In the United States, obligations under the CITES agreement are the responsibility of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), more specifically the responsibility of two divisions of USFWS: the Division of Scientific Authority (DSA) and the Division of Management Authority (DMA). Under the authority of CITES (Article IV), the USFWS will only allow export of American ginseng — both cultivated roots and roots collected from the wild — if the DSA advises the DMA that such export will not be detrimental to the survival of the species. In addition, the DMA must be satisfied that the specimens intended for export were legally collected or cultivated. (Ninety percent of our ginseng is eventually exported — see next chapter.)

In accordance with CITES, the DSA has chosen to use a state-by-state basis in determining whether or not ginseng export will be detrimental to the survival of the species. As of this writing, the DSA has determined that the export of cultivated American ginseng roots would not be detrimental to the survival of the species if a state has a program in place to certify the roots for export. The following states have such a program: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Of these states, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Maine, and Michigan export only cultivated ginseng. The remaining states have all established laws and state programs, including a legal foraging season, that regulate the harvest of wild ginseng and require the certification of ginseng roots as either wild or cultivated prior to their export. At present, the DSA finds that in all these remaining states the export of both wild and cultivated ginseng would not be detrimental to the survival of the species.

Every year the DSA reconsiders its nondetriment findings based on information from each state, such as pounds of wild ginseng harvested, average number of roots per pound, average age of harvested plants, and trends in abundance of wild ginseng populations as measured in field surveys. In 1999, the DSA found that throughout all states the continued harvest of wild plants younger than five years would be detrimental to the survival of the species. Therefore, all states must now prohibit the harvest and sale of wild roots less than five years old (as evidenced by the number of scars on the neck, or rhizome). In anticipation of future ginseng harvests, the DSA continues to seek trade and biological information concerning the impact of ginseng harvest and international trade on wild populations of the species. The DSA seeks input from the public, the ginseng industry, and scientific authorities, as well as from conservation groups and other interested parties.

For its part, the DMA requires that each state monitor all commerce in American ginseng (wild or cultivated) within its borders. Beginning with the 1978 harvest season, all states seeking export approval for wild or cultivated ginseng roots were required to have legally mandated ginseng programs that included the following: (1) state registration of dealers who purchase ginseng in the state; (2) requirements that such dealers maintain records and submit annual reports to the state government concerning their purchases and sales of ginseng; and (3) inspection by state officials and the issuance of accompanying State Certificates of Origin for each lot of ginseng being shipped out of the state, documenting that the ginseng was legally foraged or grown within the state. In addition, the DMA issues its own CITES permits, which must be obtained in order to ship American ginseng out of the United States.

In all of Canada, the export of wild ginseng has been prohibited since 1989. In Quebec, the harvest of wild ginseng was prohibited since the species was listed on Appendix II of CITES in 1973. The harvest of wild ginseng (but not the export, since 1989) was allowed in Ontario until June 30, 2008, but both the harvest of, and the trade in, wild ginseng is now prohibited there. Moreover, to be exported, roots can now only be cultivated in open fields under artificial shade on land licensed (with a fee) by the Ontario Ginseng Grower's Association under the Farm Products Marketing Act.

All shipments of field-grown ginseng artificially propagated in Canada must be accompanied by valid CITES documentation. Exports of woods-grown ginseng are currently assessed on a case-by-case basis by the Canadian Scientific Authority. According to Adrianne Sinclair of Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service, no Canadian export permits are being granted for woods-grown ginseng, due to concerns related to habitat disturbances associated with site preparation and maintenance, the introduction of seed-borne pathogens that are common in cultivated seed sources, and the potential for genetic contamination of wild ginseng populations. Also of concern is the difficulty in differentiating between the roots of wild and woods-grown ginseng. Not surprisingly, there is now very little commercial woodland ginseng farming in Canada. [Author's note: Despite, and perhaps in part because of, these regulations, wild ginseng in Canada is under increasing pressure.]

United States Department of Agriculture

The USFWS works closely with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to enforce and implement ginseng regulations. APHIS is responsible for inspecting all exported and imported ginseng to make sure that it is properly certified as to state of origin, is accompanied by the required CITES permit, and is at least five years old. Since the necks (which are needed for proof of age) of many dried ginseng roots easily break off during shipping and handling, it is fortunate that so far the inspectors are not being too rigorous and technical in their assessments (because every container of roots has individual roots with their necks broken off and therefore of unverifiable age and subject to rejection for export). In addition, a general export permit must be obtained from the USDA in order to export any agricultural product. [Author's note: Contact PPQAPHIS- USDA, Permit Unit, listed in the Comprehensive Resource Directory under USDA.]

Impact of Government Regulation on the Individual

Because state laws vary slightly, the impact of CITES regulations on the individual will differ from state to state. To determine what the laws are in your state, ask your county agricultural extension or conservation agent about ginseng regulation and what department of state government is administering your state's program. If your agent does not know, then you can contact the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Management Authority. The DMA will advise you whom to contact in your state. I urge you to learn your state's law, whether you are a digger, a grower, or a buyer. Contact information for the DMA is listed under USFWS in the Comprehensive Resource Directory.

To hunt wild ginseng, you will need to know your state's legal season and any other state laws, such as a license for hunting 'sang, or requirements that you only take plants old enough to bear seeds or that you immediately plant some of the seeds on the site where you dig the plant. Selling wild roots out of state requires a State Certificate of Legal Take. This document will accompany the roots on any resale because ginseng roots (alive or dead) cannot be exported without state certification. An in-state buyer will have certification forms available himself.

If you are interested in just growing ginseng, then CITES will probably affect you only when you are ready to sell your roots. Furthermore, if you always sell to an instate buyer or to an out-of-state dealer who has registered as a buyer in your state, then you will likely never have to deal with permits or certifications of any kind. (All you have to do is grow the roots.) In any case, contact your state regulatory office, as they may be able to put you in touch with fellow growers and other knowledgeable people in your area. In addition, if your state should ban the collection of wild ginseng sometime in the future, you may need support from a representative of the state to verify that your roots were grown from seeds that you planted. Along this line (and, of course, for tax purposes), keeping records of your purchases of planting stock is important. A few states require growers to acquire nursery licenses and meet other reporting regulations.

If a grower wishes to sell his roots out of state, he will have to comply with regulations. Like wild roots, cultivated roots must have proper documentation before they can be bought and sold. All ginseng sold across state lines is required to have a State Certificate of Origin accompanying it. State personnel must inspect the roots and determine whether they are wild or cultivated and then issue an appropriate certificate documenting the state of origin. My experience in North Carolina has been that this documentation is convenient to obtain. (Note that seeds or live roots intended for transplanting in the United States need no certification, even if sold out of state.)

In addition to the documentation needed to ship out of state, a grower who wishes to directly export his roots must also obtain a USDA General Export Permit and a CITES permit from the DMA. The grower must then ship or hand carry the roots, along with the necessary documentation, to a designated port of export for APHIS inspection. (Contact the USDA for a list of ports.)

If you live in a state where there is no regulation of ginseng commerce as mandated by CITES, then there can be no legal ginseng buyers in your state, and any ginseng you grow (or forage) cannot be legally exported directly from your state. You will have to ask your county agricultural extension agent or some other state official to write an informal certificate of origin on some official state letterhead, which will allow you to move your roots (accompanied by the informal certification) out of state. Then you will be able to sell your roots to a registered dealer in a state that complies with CITES, and, in turn, that dealer can legally export or resell them as long as he documents buying roots from your state in his annual report to his state's administering office.

While compliance with government regulations is no great burden for the 'sang digger or most growers, anyone who wishes to buy and resell ginseng is destined to fill out a lot of paperwork. Ginseng buyers must register with their state as dealers and are required to fill out and submit forms supplied by the state, recording all root purchases and sales. In addition to knowing state law and becoming a state-registered dealer, a buyer must thoroughly understand and comply with the CITES regulations (which can be obtained from the DMA — see the Comprehensive Resource Directory under USFWS). To export ginseng, a dealer must follow the same procedures as a grower. This includes acquiring CITES permits and a USDA General Export Permit, and shipping or hand carrying roots (along with the necessary documentation) to a designated port of export for APHIS inspection.

Table of Contents

List of Tables
Preface I (Scott Persons)
Preface II (Jeanine Davis)
Author Biographies
Abbreviations and Definitions (Jeanine Davis)
General Introduction (Jeanine Davis and Scott Persons)

Part One: American Ginseng (Scott Persons)
1. American Ginseng: Its Life Cycle, Range, Related Species, and Government Regulation (Scott Persons)
2. History of the Ginseng Trade: Ancient China to the New Millennium (Scott Persons)

Part Two: A Ginseng Grower's Manual (Scott Persons)
3. Under Artificial Shade (Scott Persons)
4. Wild-Simulated Planting (Scott Persons)
5. Woods Cultivation (Scott Persons)
6. The Harvest: Picking Berries and Stratifying Seeds, Digging and Drying Roots (Scott Persons)
7. Business Decisions and the Future Market Outlook (Scott Persons)
8. A Grower Tells His Own Story: Oscar Wood (Scott Persons)
9. Ginseng Resources
10. Ginseng References

Part Three: Other Species of Green Gold: Goldenseal and Ramps (Jeanine Davis)
11. Goldenseal: Its History, Range, Description, Uses, and Government Regulation (Jeanine Davis)
12. Goldenseal Growing Instructions: Methods, Care, Protection, Harvesting, and Marketing (Jeanine Davis)
13. Goldenseal Growers' Stories (Jeanine Davis)
14. Ramps: History, Description, and Uses (Jeanine Davis)
15. Ramps Growing Instructions: Methods, Care, Protection, Harvesting, and Marketing (Jeanine Davis)
16. Ramps Growers' Stories (Jeanine Davis)

Part Four: There Are Many Other Woodland Medicinals You Can Grow (Jeanine Davis)
17. Bethroot (Jeanine Davis)
18. Black Cohosh (Jeanine Davis)
19. Bloodroot (Jeanine Davis)
20. Blue Cohosh (Jeanine Davis)
21. False Unicorn (Jeanine Davis)
22. Galax (Jeanine Davis)
23. Mayapple (Jeanine Davis)
24. Pinkroot (Jeanine Davis)
25. Spikenard (Jeanine Davis)
26. Wild Ginger (Jeanine Davis)
27. Wild Indigo (Jeanine Davis)
28. Other Forest Botanicals Growers' Stories (Jeanine Davis)

Part Five: Growing Woodland Medicinals in the Home Garden (Jeanine Davis)
29. Making the Perfect Woodland Garden Site (Jeanine Davis)
30. Choosing the Plants to Grow in Your Garden (Jeanine Davis)
31. How to Grow a Garden in the Woods (Jeanine Davis)
32. Ginseng - A Horticultural Challenge (Scott Persons)
33. Making Some Simple Products from Your Woodland Medicinals (Jeanine Davis)
34. Home Gardeners' Stories (Jeanine Davis)

Part Six: Sustainable Wild-harvesting (Jeanine Davis)
35. What Is Wild-harvesting? (Jeanine Davis)
36. Why There Will Always Be a Place for Wild-harvesting (Jeanine Davis)
37. Rules and Regulations for Wild-harvesters (Jeanine Davis)

Part Seven: Supplemental Information (Jeanine Davis)
Appendix 1: Forest Botanicals Bought and Sold in the United States and Canada (Jeanine Davis)
Appendix 2: Prices Paid for Forest Botanicals from 2004 through 2013 (Jeanine Davis)
Appendix 3: Interesting and Helpful Calculations, Tables, and
Miscellaneous Information (Jeanine Davis)
Appendix 4: Good Agricultural, Collection, and Manufacturing Practices (Jeanine Davis)
Appendix 5: Joe-Ann McCoy's Disease List (Joe-Ann McCoy)
References and Resources for Parts Three through Six
Comprehensive Resource Directory
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book is the complete resource for ginseng. I recommend this book to our members and visitors who are interested in learning and growing their own green gold. Thank you for bringing so much helpful and useful information."
— Michael S. Lee, President of WildGrown.com

"The definitive guide to growing our shade-loving native medicinal plants for fun and profit. As an ecologist and conservation biologist, I particularly appreciate the fact that woodlot owners can help take some pressure off wild populations through careful cultivation of medicinals on appropriate plots in their forested landscape. By passing on lessons from their vast hard-won experience in this enterprise, Davis and Persons have done a great service."
— James B. McGraw, Eberly Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, West Virginia University

"My office is like a shell midden, with the oldest and most decomposed material at the bottom, and more recent and vital material located somewhere near the surface. I am delighted to report that my copy of Davis and Persons' book has always stayed right at the top! Upgrades to the information found in this book will help maintain this tradition of growing valuable plants close to home, and I believe the plants will join me in thanking the authors for a job well done. May we all go out to the woodlands, drop to our knees in the cool, soft earth, and cultivate, for the love of life, a rare plant."
— Richo Cech, herbal author and gardener at Horizon Herbs, LLC in Williams, Oregon.

"The recent popular interest in wild American ginseng spurred by high prices in Asian markets means that now more than ever it's important to create cultivated woods-simulated supplies of American ginseng and other woodland medicinal plants. Scott Persons and Jeannine Davis have combined decades of experience and expertise to create the most significant, must-have reference on growing ginseng, goldenseal, and other woodland medicinal plants. Anyone interested in understanding any aspect of wild American ginseng, it's biology, history, economics, and the practical details of production needs this book."
— Steven Foster, Senior author, Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants.

"Important revised work on how we can encourage conservation through cultivation of two medicinal and economically important plants that have been on United Plant Savers At-Risk list since UpS created this list."
— Susan Leopold, Executive Director of United Plant Savers.

"This work is a plant lover's treasure. What Jeanine and Scott have accomplished with this book will be revealed for years to come, as the layers of wisdom and knowledge are deep. Scientists, herbalists, growers, conservationists, native plant enthusiasts, 'plantophiles' in general will thrill at the research and clear, user–friendly information that is in these pages. You can easily tell that these authors have made this a life long passion and profession."
— Kathleen Maier, RH (AHG), Sacred Plant Traditions, LLC

"This book is required reading for anyone interested in growing ginseng and other woodland botanicals in a shady site. Persons and Davis have captured the wisdom of a generation of ginseng growers in this comprehensive book, now updated to include practical information for home gardeners who want to enrich a patch of woods with native medicinal plants."
— Barbara Pleasant, award-winning garden writer and contributing editor to Mother Earth News

"The first edition of this book became an instant classic in the fields of medicinal plant horticulture, sustainable agriculture, and agroforestry. With this latest edition, Scott and Jeanine have remarkably managed to expand, improve and update this classic so that it is now even more useful and full of up-to-date information. Their combined knowledge, experience and wisdom is abundant throughout this book. I heartily recommended this updated edition to anyone interested in native woodland plants and their culture."
— Eric P. Burkhart, PhD., Program Director, Plant Science, Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, The Pennsylvania State University

"Scott Persons and Jeanine Davis have written the only accurate and comprehensive grower's guide to woodland cultivation of American Ginseng and other forest medicinal and culinary herbs. This new revision of their original book is a significant improvement over the first edition, with updated and expanded information. In addition to being full of practical "how to" data, based on both University peer reviewed research, as well as first-hand knowledge and experience, it is a delightful and easy to read textbook. I consider this book as truly a "must read" for anyone who is seriously interested in pursuing this form of Agroforestry."
— Bob Beyfuss, American Ginseng Specialist, Cornell University Cooperative Extension (retired)

"This unique book is a comprehensive guide on the history, production and marketing of medicinal plants native to the forests of eastern North America. Practical experiences are included from both an American and Canadian perspective. It is a valuable, easy to read resource for both the beginner and experienced grower."
— Dr. Sean Westerveld, Ginseng and Medicinal Herbs Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Ministry of Rural Affairs