Conserving Ginseng and Culturally Significant Plants
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Many of the crops historically grown in Western North Carolina have deep cultural significance. The Cherokee Indians are known for “The Three Sisters,” a system of intercropping corn, beans, and squash, and this tradition is still revered and widely used today. The Cherokee and early European settlers also utilized existing native plants for food, dyes and medicines. The rich forests of the Southern Appalachian mountains provided a variety of useful plants, from American chestnuts and hickory nuts to American ginseng, bloodroot, and goldenseal. While some species were wiped out by invasive disease pathogens such as the Chestnut Blight, others suffered from excessive demand.
Many of the high-value plant species, such as ginseng and goldenseal, have been overharvested in the wild to such a degree that there are now laws governing their harvest and sale. Overharvesting has led to isolated populations that can threaten genetic diversity, a key component for any species to remain robust and adaptive. Organisms in the ecosystem that rely upon these plants, such as insects, birds, and a myriad of microscopic organisms, are also negatively impacted when plant communities are lost.
Farmers in the region can help sustain many of these native forest plants by incorporating them into their production systems. This can be done on a variety of scales, from the backyard grower that raises them in cultivated production beds to wild-simulated production that can encompass large areas of forestland. Beyond the financial motivation for growing and selling medicinal plants, many growers want to ensure that these plants remain at the center of beneficial human-plant relationships in the generations to come.
You can learn more about growing medicinal plants through NC State’s Alternative Crops and Organics Program and through groups like the WNC Medicinal Herb Growers, and the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmers Coalition.
For those interested in American Ginseng, be sure to attend the upcoming workshop happening on October 3, 2024 that will highlight production updates, and provide the opportunity for participants to access ginseng seed.