Yesterday morning, I climbed up the step stool and grasped a
mimosa branch, reaching for as many aromatic pink flowers as I could find. The
bees and other insects were hovering over the flora; a noteworthy sign that the
time is right to harvest. This indicates the essential oils and vitality of the
flowers are at their peak.
The mimosa
tree, Albizia julibrissin, is generally considered a pernicious weed throughout
the South; it is indeed a non-native plant that quickly spreads throughout the
eco-system. However, albizia is also an important herb for happiness in Chinese
medicine; both the flowers and bark can be made into a tincture. Joe Hollis, an
herbalist from Mountain Gardens in North Carolina, recently told me that
albizia is especially effective for those going through depression or
heartbreak. The herbal supplement company Planetary
Herbals concurs, noting that in Chinese medicine, “Albizia was traditionally
used to ‘calm the spirit’ and relieve emotional constraint when associated with
bad temper, bad mood, sadness, occasional sleeplessness, irritability and poor
memory. It was believed to be especially useful for anyone experiencing
profound heart-breaking loss” (see further http://www.planetaryherbals.com
/products/GP1867/). There are also scientific studies now that verify the
calming components of albizia bark.
In light of the ever-increasing interest in
herbal medicine in the U.S. along with the unstable economy, it seems wise to
me that we focus on cultivating both Eastern and Western herbs domestically. It
is also fascinating that some of the same invasive plants that are causing
serious problems in the ecosystem here (honeysuckle, kudzu, and albizia, e.g.)
could be harvested and used for medicine while simultaneously helping relieve
their footprint over other native plant life.
There
are certainly many people who are already doing this. The Chinese Medicinal
Herb Farm in Sonoma County, California organically grows over 35 Chinese herbs
for the marketplace. Joe Hollis, whom I mentioned above, orchestrates a forty
year-old project called Mountain Gardens, a botanical garden with the largest
number of Chinese herbs in the eastern U.S., grown alongside native Appalachian
herbs. I had the opportunity to visit the “paradise garden” while attending the
2012 Medicines of the Earth Symposium in Black Mountain, NC last weekend. In
one of the lectures I attended, American Herbalist Guild founder Michael Tierra
mentioned several times the imperative need for the U.S. to domestically
produce Chinese herbs. Importing them is already becoming difficult due to
factors such as rising fuel costs and the presence of heavy metals in herbs
sourced from China. In the past year here at the co-op, we have had difficulty
getting several of our Chinese herbal formulas.
There
is some concern that growing Chinese herbs outside of their native environment
will not yield the same herbs, suitable for medicinal use. There is contemporary
research that disproves this, though. Also, the climates found in China and
U.S. are very similar. After studying Dan Shen, or red sage, grown in China and
the U.S., Bill Schoenbart recently concluded that:
Dan Shen (Salvia
miltiorrhiza) can be successfully grown outside of China
with organic agricultural methods…This has positive
implications for the environment, both in
the reduction of pesticide and synthetic fertilizer
usage, and in reducing pressure on
Chinese agricultural land
due to increased demand for Chinese herbs worldwide.
So,
there are several (if not many) substantial benefits to the domestic
cultivation and wildcrafting of Chinese medicinal herbs both for individuals
and the market. I find this topic so invigorating and hopeful because it contributes
toward a full circle of sustainability: benefiting the native ecosystem in
reducing invasive plant species, using that same plant material medicinally;
while also reducing the heavy U.S. footprint on Chinese land and fossil fuel
use. That thought alone calms my spirit.
Above photos taken by Meade Aronson
Notes/further reading:
Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm: http://www.chinesemedicinalherbfarm.com/
Joe Hollis’ Mountain Gardens:
http://mountaingardensherbs.com/
Michael Tierra and philosophy of
Planetary Herbology. http://www.planetherbs.com/
Miller, James H. Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern
Forests, 2007.
Safe, sustainable ways to
harvest herbs from the wild as described by 7song, director of the Northeast
School of Botanical Medicine. “Wildcrafting for the Practicing Herbalist”
(http://7song.com/files/Wildcrafting%20for%20the%20Practicing %20Herbalist.pdf).
Schoenbart,
Bill, L.Ac. “High Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic (HPTLC) Analysis of
Dan Shen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) Roots Grown in Different Regions of
the World” p.1)
