Species At Risk

Cultivation Demonstration Videos

Cultivation Demonstration Videos

These videos will walk you through the lifecycle, site selection, planting techniques and maintenance of ramps, ginseng and goldenseal as outlined in The Forest Farmers Handbook. The book is available for sale in the shop or for free as a pdf download. Ramps UpS Plant Propagation Manager Tanner Filyaw discusses cultivating ramps and demonstrates how to plant ramp seeds using the wild-simulated method. American Ginseng UpS Plant Propagation Manager Tanner Filyaw discusses cultivating American Ginseng ...
Smithsonian-Ginseng-Exhibit

American Ginseng – Local Knowledge, Global Roots

Part of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage, this gorgeous new website (https://folklife.si.edu/american-ginseng) features stories and perspectives of people who have intimate knowledge of the harvest, cultivation, trade, medicinal use, and conservation of wild American ginseng. Check out this video to learn more about the virtual exhibit (spoiler alert: it features our executive director, Susan Leopold). Or simply visit the new website to dig deep into Ginseng's storied past and troubled future. VISIT ...
Wild American Ginseng

Introducing the NEW WildAmericanGinseng.org Website

We are pleased to announce the new website: WildAmericanGinseng.org! Created in collaboration with United Plant Savers and the Wild American Ginseng Conservation Collaborative, WildAmericanGinseng.org is improved and updated from the original McGraw Labs website. For many years, the previous website was the main source of conservation science, research and data regarding wild American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) through the work of Dr. Jim McGraw and students. Now, this important foundational website has been greatly expanded to ...
Robert Eidus at Eagle Feather Farm in Marshall, NC

Robert Eidus: Ginseng Farmer

Profile for The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage by Kate Farley Robert Eidus is an avid American ginseng grower and educator who owns and operates Eagle Feather Organic Farm. To cultivate the next generation of responsible forest farmers, he also hosts classes, workshops, a radio show, and serves as president of the North Carolina Ginseng Association. “It seems like with the environment, everyone’s up on trees and animals and insects and butterflies. But ...
Jennifer Gerrity and Blake at the Herb Pharm Goldenseal forest plots. Photo by Susan Leopold, 2021.

Goldenseal Cultivation

By Jennifer Gerrity Herb Pharm expanded a planting of goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) roots from nursery stock this fall on private land in SW Virginia. The land is owned by Blake, a multigeneration ginseng producer who embarked on goldenseal cultivation after noticing wild stands naturalized around his 60 acres of forested land. “Once I saw the goldenseal stands around the ginseng and how they grow together, I thought that it might make sense to grow more ...
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A Snapshot of the Shakers as Herb Traders by Steven Foster

In tribute to Steven Foster, we would like to share a piece that he wrote on the Shaker medicinal plant trade for the Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation in 2011. Steven Foster was an early board member of United Plant Savers, he contributed his photography to our At-Risk and To-Watch plants, he authored the chapter on echinacea in the Planting the Future book, and most recently presented the keynote talk at our 25th celebration and ...
Rettung für Heilkräuter article cover photo

Salvation for Medicinal Herbs

Salvation for Medicinal Herbs Ute Eberle und Susi Lotz Text | Katharina Poblotzki Fotos  They reappear shortly after the last snow has thawed in spring in southern Ohio, USA, and the meltwater gurgles in small streams from the hills. Sanguinaria, a plant that owes its name to its blood-red roots and is valued for its antibacterial properties, often makes the start. The next ones are usually the forest lilies, which are used for bleeding and ...