MEDICINAL Medicinal Plant PLANT SPECIALIST GROUP Conservation Silphion Volume 13 Newsletter of the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Chaired by Danna J. Leaman Chair’s Note . 2 Silphion revisited – Monika Kiehn . 4 Taxon File On the history, botany, distribution, uses and conservation aspects of Nardostachys jatamansi in India – Niranjan Chandra Shah. 8 A dogmatic tradition posing threat to Bombax ceiba - the Indian Red Kapok Tree – Vartika Jain, S.K. Verma & S.S. Katewa. 12 Estudio de mercado y sustentabilidad de la recolección silvestre de bailahuén, una planta medicinal chilena – Hermine Vogel, Benita González, José San Martín, Iván Razmilic, Pablo Villalobos & Ernst Schneider . 15 Conferences and Meetings Coming up – Natalie Hofbauer. 21 CITES News – Uwe Schippmann . 22 CITES medicinal plant species in Asia – treasured past, threatened future? – Teresa Mulliken & Uwe Schippmann . 23 Reviews and Notices of Publication. 31 List of MPSG Members . 33 ISSN 1430-95X 1 December 2007 our future membership-building efforts in Africa, Aus- Chair’s Note tralia-New Zealand, the Pacific, and the Middle East. Table 1. Changes in MPSG membership by region, 1995- Danna J. Leaman 2007 Looking back Region 1995 % 2007 % % change As this 13th volume of Medicinal Plant Conservation is Africa 9 28 7 8 -20 prepared, I am looking back to the first volume, a slen- Asia 5 15 25 29 +14 der eight pages, published in April 1995, one year after Australia-NZ 1 3 2 2 -1 the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group was established within the IUCN Species Survival Commission. In that Europe 10 30 19 23 -7 first volume, MPSG Co-chairs Uwe Schippmann and North America 3 9 16 18 +9 Tony Cunningham stated that: “in the wide range of Southern America 3 9 16 18 +9 journals dealing with medicinal plants, we believe that Pacific 1 3 1 1 -2 our newsletter is filling a gap by dealing with issues focused on the conservation of these valuable taxa – a Middle-East 1 3 1 1 -2 field that has been widely neglected so far.” Over the last Total 33 87 +263 12 years, this newsletter has made a significant contri- bution to filling this gap, growing not only in size The Present – Project Updates (volume 12 weighed in at 56 pages!) and distribution International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection (the mailing list has grown from ca. 200 in 1995 to about of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP): The 500 in 2007), but also in its capacity to include both first public version (1) of the Standard was released in short news on current topics relevant to medicinal plant February 2007 in Nuremburg, Germany, during Biofach, conservation as well as longer reports on the results of a global organic trade fare sponsored by the Interna- research and action supporting medicinal plant conser- tional Federation of Organic Agricultural Moverments vation. Medicinal Plant Conservation has grown from a (IFOAM). The Standard is now available for application modest newsletter to a substantial journal thanks to the to MAP collection operations, and the ISSC-MAP Deci- contributions of many contributing authors, the dedica- sion Board is working to develop an appropriate busi- tion and disciplined focus of its editor, Uwe Schipp- ness model. Specific projects are being developed to test mann, the patience and diligence of production manager the Standard’s applicability in a variety of geographic, Natalie Hofbauer, and the ongoing generosity of its pub- ecologic and socioeconomic conditions of MAP collec- lisher, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conser- tion and use. The outcomes of these projects and other vation (BfN). experiences with using ISSC-MAP will contribute to the Volume 1 of MPC introduced the MPSG logo, which de- development of guidance, case studies, and models for picts the ancient Silphion plant, and included a summary good collection practice. This experience will also be by Uwe Schippmann of what was known at the time used to further refine the Standard, with Version 2 plan- about this now-extinct medicinal plant. In the present ned for release in 2009. An ISSC-MAP Secretariat has volume, author Monika Kiehn provides new information been established (WWF Germany and TRAFFIC, Reb- based on her thesis research, which, in the words of Uwe stöcker Str. 55, 60326 Frankfurt a. Main. Tel.: +49/ Schippmann, “builds a very nice bridge into the first 69/79144-122, -212; Email: MAP-Standards-Criteria@ issue” (see page 4). wwf.de). All documents related to the ISSC-MAP, in- In 1995, the MPSG had a membership of 33, with the cluding Version 1, are available from the ISSC-MAP majority of members located in Europe, and Africa. The project website: http://www.floraweb.de/map-pro. current official membership (some recent changes are Revised “Guidelines on the Conservation of Medicinal not yet reflected in the 2007 membership list) has more Plants”: a final draft of the revised “Guidelines” is pro- than doubled in number, with substantial growth in ceeding through internal review and endorsement pro- South Asia and Latin America, where there are active cesses in the four author agencies – WHO, IUCN, WWF, MPSG regional sub-groups, as well as in North Ameri- and TRAFFIC. Within IUCN, this process involves ca, where we have been collaborating with the much-lar- review and endorsement by the Plant Conservation Sub- ger Medicinal Plant Working Group of the USA-based Committee of the Species Survival Commission (SSC), Plant Conservation Alliance. It is clear from Table 1, the SSC Steering Committee, various IUCN pro- which summarized these changes, that if we are striving grammes, and finally the IUCN Council. We continue for a balanced regional membership, we need to focus our efforts to raise the funds required for print/web 2 Medicinal Plant Conservation 13 publication and distribution of the final guidelines, and “healthy environments – healthy people” theme of the remain committed to making the “Guidelines” accessi- Forum. With the working title “Wild and Well: Sus- ble in French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and other lang- tainable Use in the Herbal Products Industry”, we will uages in addition to English, to facilitate their imple- be developing a workshop event that will bring together mentation world wide. Please contact me directly community, industry, conservation, and government sta- ([email protected]) if you wish to review this final keholders in the sustainable use of medicinal and aro- draft. matic plants to discuss key obstacles and opportunities for collaboration. Implementation of the ISSC-MAP Revision of CITES #-annotations for medicinal and aro- (see project update above) will be one focus of this matic plants: Revised annotations as recommended by discussion. Information about the Congress programme the MPSG to the CITES Plants Committee were adopted and registration is available at the IUCN Congress web- by the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to site (http://www.iucn.org/congress/2008/index.htm). CITES in The Hague, The Netherlands, in June 2007. These new annotations entered into force on 13 Sep- MPSG’s role in IUCN’s 2009-2012 programme: Stra- tember 2007, and are available on the CITES website tegic planning for the next IUCN programme period has (http://www.cites.org/eng/app/E-sep13.pdf). been underway within the IUCN Secretariat, regional programmes, and commissions for some time. The cen- New on the MPSG website: many updates and improve- tral challenge for IUCN’s commissions, including the ments can now be found on the MPSG website SSC, is to develop a commission strategic plan that both (http://mpsg.org), especially under the heading “MPSG influences and implements the broader IUCN pro- Programme & Activities”. This web page and associated gramme. The challenge for specialist groups with the pages now include up-to-date information about our pro- SSC, including the MPSG, is to define a realistic work- jects and other activities, including status assessment plan (and find funds and other resources for its imple- and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, policy mentation) that enables members to contribute to the and tools for conservation and sustainable use of medi- SSC strategic plan and the broader IUCN programme, cinal plants, contributions to CITES, and work towards while also supporting the priorities and needs of the spe- a “Top 50” strategy for medicinal plants. Our member cialist group and its membership. These challenges were information still requires updating, however, and we are discussed as they concern the IUCN plant network working to complete the posting of all back issues of during the 14th meeting of the Plant Conservation Sub- Medicinal Plant Conservation on our newsletter web Committee of the SSC, in September 2007, near Ottawa, page. Future plans for our website include additional Canada. The proposed frameworks for the IUCN pro- links to fact sheets on threatened species of medicinal gramme and the SSC strategic plan for 2009-2012 iden- plants, and links to MPSG regional sub-group websites tify several “priority” or “strategic” areas to which the as these are developed. MPSG is expected to contribute. These include: assess- Looking forward ing conservation status of economically important spe- 4th IUCN World Conservation Congress: Barcelona, cies, including medicinal plants; creating and imple- Spain, is the venue selected for the upcoming Congress, menting standards and other tools for sustainable use of 5-14 October 2008. As in previous years, MPSG mem- globally important plant resources; enabling industry to bers will be invited to participate in the Congress as incorporate conservation values; and managing biodi- members of the Species Survival Commission. The most versity and ecosystem resources, including medicinal important part of the Congress programme for SSC and plants and their habitats, to improve human health and other IUCN commission members will be the World livelihoods.