Goldenseal, ginseng, echinacea, ginkgo - visit your local drug store or supermarket and you'll find large quantities of these products on the shelves, intermingled with old favorites like aspirin. Medicinal plants are used commercially, thanks to contributions of traditional cultures worldwide, modern medicine, and pharmacognosy.

Without plants, most medicines you take would not exist. Over 40% of medicines now prescribed in the U.S. contain chemicals derived from plants. Historically, plant medicines were discovered by trial and error. Our ancestors noticed that aches and pains went away when they drank tea made from the bark of a willow tree. Later, scientists found that willow bark contains salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin.

This process continues today. Throughout the world, including the wild places in the U.S., botanists and chemists search the plant kingdom for new medicines. They sometimes find treasures in other people's trash. For years, the native Pacific yew was burned as trash generated by logging operations in the Pacific Northwest. In 1975, a substance in its bark, taxol, was found to reduce the production of cancerous tumors.

A comprehensive search of known plants for medicinal chemicals is an enormous task. Of the estimated 250,000 plant species on earth, only 2% have been thoroughly screened for chemicals with potential medicinal use. Because native plant habitats are destroyed almost daily, many medicinally valuable plants will be gone before scientists can even investigate them.

How many medicines have we already lost? How many more remain to be found?

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“Spotlight on Members” series
With more than 350 members from across the United States and beyond, the Medicinal Plant Working Group relies heavily on our listserv to keep our members connected. Just who are they and what brought them here? We’re putting our members in the spotlight and inviting you to meet them!

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CURRENT FIELD PROJECTS
2008 MPWG-Conservation Committee Projects
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

• Reddish Knob, near Harrisonburg, VA (Jun. 22-24)
  Mt. Rogers Recreation Area, Marion, VA (July 20-22)
  in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests
  Black cohosh (Actaea (Cimicifuga) racemosa)
  Information on Volunteering at:
  • Reddish Knob
  • Mt. Rogers
• Summary of previous field projects

MPWG has conducted inventory and monitoring projects on medicinal plants since 2000. These projects continue, thanks to the hard work of Dr. James Chamberlain of the U.S. Forest Service and numerous volunteers.

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E-Proceedings from the PCA-Medicinal Plant Working Group 2003 Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Industry Symposium - Sustainable Sourcing: Environmental, Social and Business Benefits