Medicinal Plant Use in the Southern Appalachians
Medicinal plants have been used in the Southern Appalachians since prehistoric times, but historical accounts document Native American use of medicinal plantsin the early18th century. American ginseng, a valuable commodity on the world market since the early-18th century, grew abundantly in the rich deciduous forests of the Southern Appalachians, particularly on north-facing slopes above 1,500 feet. Ginseng was used by the Cherokees for a variety of ailments, including headaches, "weakness of the womb and nervous infections," and as a general tonic. (Mooney 1900).
Seneca Snakeroot, another common plant of the Southern Appalachians, was also gathered by the Cherokees, who believed it to be an excellent remedy for snakebite. The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants (Foster and Duke 1990) states that "American Indians used it as an emetic, expectorant, cathartic, diuretic, antispasmodic, sweat inducer, menses regulator; also for cols, cough and croup..." Snakeroot was purchased in great quantities by English and French apothecaries, and like ginseng, became a significant trade item during the18th century. The Moravians of North Carolina, who settled on the eastern border of the Appalachian frontier, reported that Indians routinely helped gather hundreds of pounds of the plant, which they later shipped to European merchants (Fries 1968).
As in the case of ginseng and snakeroot, Cherokees shared much of their knowledge about the mountain environment with the trapper, trader, and later, mountain settler. Even after their forced removal in 1838, the remaining Cherokees of the Qualla Boundary and Snowbird Mountains in North Carolina stayed in close communication with white mountain communities. Without question, their close contact with whites facilitated exchanges in ecological knowledge between the two groups, and helped to later shape southern mountain culture. In fact, upon their first arrival to the region, European settlers adopted many Cherokee ways: some out of sheer necessity, others simply due to their practical utility. In the mountains of North Carolina and southwest Virginia, for example, ginseng was gathered from the18th century forward by settlers who must have learned of the plants medicinal properties from Cherokees (Davis 1993).
Among other native plants, both Cherokees and white mountain settlers gathered wild leeks or ramps from late fall to early spring, and their abundance in the mountains helped to convince whites of their value as an important food source. Like the Cherokees, the settlers transplanted ramps near their homes to flourish in a semi-cultivated state. Pokeweed, referred to on the frontier as "Cherokee sallet," became another green regularly eaten by frontiersmen. The fruits of the pokeweed, sometimes believed to be poisonous by contemporary mountaineers, was believed to have important medicinal properties as well. The young shoots of the Green-headed coneflower or sochan were also eaten by the Cherokees as well as used for a variety of medicinal purposes. "Sochan," an actual corruption of the Cherokee word for the plant, was cooked and consumed by mountain settlers, as were a number of other native plants (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975).
The influence of the Cherokees on medicinal plant use in the mountains is without question. Not only did they educate settlers to the medicinal properties of native plants, they also facilitated the mountaineers participation in the trade and sale of these plants to extra-local markets. Root and plant digging in the mountain region has provided an important source of income to mountaineer farmers since at least the early19th century. The War Between the States actually increased the cultivation and digging of many native plants by mountaineers. One of the first crude-drug houses in North Carolina was established in Lincolnton during the height of the conflict (Davis 1999).
After the War, the "crude-drug" industry, as it was then called, became concentrated in the Southern Appalachians, particularly in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky. By the end of the19th century, the enterprise was fast becoming an important source of supplemental income for individuals who were otherwise living on subsistence agriculture. By the turn of the century, the collection of plants for medicinal uses became important enough that the United States Department of Agriculture developed the Bureau of Plant Industries around 1903. The Bureau of Plant Industries produced numerous publications describing in detail leaves, roots, barks, and weeds used in medicine. These publications were designed to be guides and reference books for farmers, drug collectors, druggists, students, or others who might be interested in the collection of medicinal flora (Lane, n.d., p. 5).
Although medicinal plants were also collected in the wild in the mountains, many were cultivated as supplemental agricultural crops. The Bureau of Plant Industries publication, "American Medicinal Plants of Commercial Importance" gave specific instructionsfor collecting and preparing of plant material for the crude-drug market. The bulletin emphasizedthe economic importance of collecting medicinal plants for crude-drug market. It reported thatsome plants were commonly sold in quantities ranging from "a few tons to50 tons." To ensure potency and quality, many of the larger firms claimed adherence to provisions found in the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906, one of the very first American laws designed to regulate the marketing and distribution of medicinal herbs (Lane n.d.).
Another early publication of the Bureau discusses the popular herb goldenseal, which it began seriously investigating in the spring of 1899. The publication includes a2 1/2page description of the plant showing diagrams of both the first and second seasons growth and the rhizome that is medically important. The section on collection and preparation is characteristically detailed. Interestingly, it is clear from the description that the individuals cultivating and/or collecting these plant materials were quite knowledgeable about their product and about the importance of protecting and preserving it for future generations. The Bureau of Plant Industries provided additional relevant and useful information about cultivating the plant, illustrating detailed construction drawings of drying sheds and elaborate lathe-work designed to provide artificial shade for commercially grown plants (Bureau of Plant Industries 1899).
By the end of the first decade of the20th century, the Southern Appalachians had attracted numerous medicinal plant buyers; many soon opened processing facilities and collection points for growers and gatherers. One suchfirm was S.B. Penick & Companywhich had offices in Asheville and Boone, North Carolina, and St. Louis, Missouri. Penick contracted with small farmers and local businessmen to collect medicinal plants ranging from bloodroot to wild sarsaparilla. These businessmen often operated community stores and would purchase materials from individuals in the community to satisfy market demands. A few decades later, Penick contracted withthe C.R. Graybeal Companyin Roan Mountain, Tennessee. Graybeal provided one J.P. Morgan with a truckto drive around backcountry roadsand collect materials from isolated farmers (Davis 1999).
By the late 1920s, Penick was a major supplier of crude drugs to the world market, a market that was now largely dependent upon the Southern Appalachian region. In fact in a company price list and manual published in 1929, Penick claimed that in "the Piedmont District" [read: Southern Appalachia], eighty-five percent of all American Drugs were gathered and prepared for the drug market, and that Asheville, N.C., was the center of the collection market (Price 1960). A close competitor to Penick was the Wilcox Drug Company, established in Boone, North Carolina, in 1900 by General Grant Wilcox. According to company records, the Wilcox firm purchased roots, herbs, and barks from across the entire Southern Appalachian region, with most sales "carried out through New York brokers" (Penick and Company 1919).
The extensive collecting activities of such firms and individuals may well have contributed to the decline of many medicinal plants in the mountains, several of which are presently listed as endangered or threatened species. Dr. Edward Price, who in the 1960s published an important article on the geography of botanical drugs in the Southern Appalachians, claimed that these collection centers greatly encouraged the depletion of the forests.For example, one firm collected some 13,000 pounds of ginseng in a single year (Price 1960). By the late 1960s, most of the major crude-drug houses established in the mountains earlier in the century had moved to other regions of the United States, leaving only the Blue Ridge Drug Companyin West Jefferson, the S.S. Penick Company in Asheville, and the Wilcox Drug Company in Boone. Although smaller collectors in the mountains continued to trade regularly in medicinal plants, their work became much more seasonal. Nevertheless it provided an important, albeit supplemental, income for mountain families (Davis 1999).
Despite the declinethe Southern Appalachians remain an importance source for numerous commercial botanicals.The southern mountains continue tosatisfy a considerable portion of the worlddemand for goldenseal and ginseng. Numerous other species are still widely collected in the mountain region, including Black Cohosh, Mayapple, Boneset, Seneca snake-root, Indian Pinkroot, and Witch-hazel. Wilcox Natural Products, the regions largest botanical supplier, currently buys more than50 plantspecies from local collectors, processing them at their current headquarters in Boone, North Carolina. Two smaller, though no less important buyers are Morgan Herbs and Metals, of Roan Mountain, Tennessee, and White Brothers Fur and Ginseng, of North Georgia, which also buys considerable amounts of native plants for herbal products and pharmaceuticals (Davis 1999).
Of native mountain plants, goldenseal certainly remains one of Wilcoxs most important species, as indicated by the companys current website address: www.goldenseal.com. Although a federally protected plant, native goldenseal is still collected in Southern Appalachia in considerable quantities, especially in West Virginia and Kentucky where one finds ideal habitat for the plant. According to one source, more than 300,00 pounds of goldensealare annually collected in North America, with only 20,000 pounds coming from cultivated sources (
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