Volume 70 , Number 11 • November 1991 News Edition ures From the Earth o the uninformed, using served as a powerful argument for plants as medicine may those who want to protect tropical rain conjure up images of snake forests. This fall, the world's largest oil salesmen, overpriced pharmaceutical company announced a healthT food nostrums, or the dying and $1 million agreement with a Costa desperate slipping south of the border Rican conservation group for the right for a potion. to screen plants-as well as insects and Nothing could be further from the microbes-from that country's forests truth. A quarter of U.S. prescription for their potential use in medicines. medicines contain plant-based Plants can help us prevent as well as ingredients. The Natural Products cure serious illnesses. A five-year, $20.5 Branch ofthe National Cancer Institute million "designer foods" project at the has a $2 million annual budget to ex­ National Cancer Institute is investigat­ plore for and test plants that may have ing plants for anticancer properties, potential for treating cancer and AIDS. with the idea that these substances We've come a long way since the could be added to recipes as part of an doctrine of signatures-when it was anticancer diet. assumed that a plant shaped vaguely In this issue, Steven Foster, author of like a human organ would cure whatever numerous works on medicinal plants, ailed that body part. Although we don't describes some plants in current use as understand how premodern healers medicines, and offers a glimpse at why selected their plant cures, we are learn­ their use in the United States lags be­ ing that in many cases, their choices hind that of other countries. We also pass were right on target. Native Americans along recent research on the curative chewed on willow bark to ease pain; the properties of common edibles such as bark contains salicylic acid, a compound onions and strawberries, and neglected chemically related to the active comestibles like the prickly pear. ingredient in aspirin. In other cases, a A word of caution: Many medicinal favored plant has a new use. Derivatives plants are toxic and many foods can be of mayapple, used historically for a liver harmful when consumed in excessive cleanser, laxative, and cure for syphilis, amounts. Most of this research is are now used to treat venereal warts and preliminary, particularly in regard to for testicular and small-celllung cancers. what quantities or concentrations are The potential of plants for curing beneficial without unpleasant or some of our most serious diseases has harmful side effects. In This Issue Herbs for Health 2 AHS Bulletin Board . 16 Regional Notes . .10 Gardeners' Bookshelf 18 Making a Difference .12 Gardeners'Dateline 20 gz All-America Selections .13 Classifieds 22 o CD W Gardeners' Q&A .14 Try This! 24 a: ~ Ul 5 '" American Herbs for Health Horticultural Society The American Horticultural Society The United States lags far behind other nations seeks to promote and recognize excellence in horticulture across in tapping the medicinal qualities of plants. America. By Steven Foster OFFICERS 1990-1991 Mr. George C. Ball Jr., West Chicago, IL f most gardeners think of herbs, President most likely parsley, sage, Mrs. Helen Fulcher Walutes, Mount Vernon, VA First Vice President rosemary, and thyme will come Mr. Richard C. Angino, Harrisburg, PA to mind. But would they think of Second Vice President Iwoody ornamentals such as ginkgoes Mr. Elvin McDonald, Brooklyn, NY and yews as herbs? How about Secretary wildflowers such as purple coneflowers Mr. Gerald T. Halpin, Alexandria, VA or passionflowers, or weeds such as Treasurer sweet wormwood and St.-John's-wort? BOARD OF DIRECTORS Broadly defined, an herb is any plant Mrs. Suzanne Bales, Brenxville, NY used for culinary, fragrant, or Dr. William E.Barrick, Pine Mountain, GA medicinal qualities. About one-third of Dr. Sherran Blair, Columbus, OH the more than a quarter million known Mrs. Mary Katherine Blcilunt, Montgomery, AL species of flowering plants have been Mrs. Sarah Boasberg, Washington, DC used for medicinal purposes at some Dr. Henry Marc Cathey, Washington, DC Mrs. Beverley White Dunn, Birmingham, AL point in history. At least 80,000 species Dr. John Alex Floyd Jr., Birmingham, AL can be documented as folk medicines Mrs. Julia Hobart, Troy, OH worldwide. In temperate regions, 20 Mr. David M. Lilly, St. Paul, MN percent ofthe species can be con­ Mr. Lawrence V. Power, New York, NY sidered medici~al plants. Hundreds Passi provides Europeans with a Dr. Julia Rappaport, Santa Ana, CA Mrs. Flavia Redelmeier, serve as important sources of medicine mild sedative. Richmond Hill, ON, Canada in both modern and traditional health Mrs. Jane N. Scarff, New Carlisle, OH care systems. percent of China's rural population-not Mrs. Josephine Shanks, Houston, TX According to Dr. O. Akerele, director as folk medicine, but as primary health Mrs. Donald B. Straus, New York, NY of the World Health Organization's care. Over 500 different plants are "offi­ Mrs. Billie Trump, Alexandria, VA (WHO) Traditional Medicine cial drugs" of the 1985 Pharmacopeia of Mr. Andre Viette, Fishersville, VA Ms. Katy Moss Warner, Lake Buena Vista, FL Programme, up to 80 percent of the the People's Republic of China. world's population relies on various Since East Asia has been a major EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR forms of traditional medicine rather source of ornamental plants for the Mr. Frank L. Robinson than modern Western-style medicine. West, many of our garden favorites and Herbal treatments are as important as noxious weeds are also Chinese medicinal plants. Forsythia (Forsythia AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST acupuncture in traditional Chinese EDITOR: medicine, which serves as much as 60 suspensa) seed capsules, Japanese Kathleen Fisher honeysuckle flowers and stems, balloon ASSISTANT mITORS: flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) roots, Thomas M. Barrett and the flowers of chrysanthemums Mary Beth Wiesner (Dendranthema spp.) are all official EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: source plants of Chinese medicines. Martha Palermo ADVERTISING: While most of us will not use mums American Horticultural Society Advertising to "dispel wind-heat" of an upper Department, 2700 Prosperity Avenue, Fairfax, respiratory tract infection, a trip to an VA 22031. Phone (703) 20446363. American physician or pharmacist may Address all editorial correspondence to: The Editor, American Horticulturist, American Horticultural also result in a plant-derived treat­ Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA ment. It is estimated that as many as 22308. AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, ISSN 0096·4'117, 25 percent of prescription drugs is published by the American Horticultural Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308, (703) 768· contain at least one plant-derived 5700, and is issued six times a year as a magazine and six ingredient. A classic example is the times a year as a News Edition. The American Horticultural Society is a nonprofit organization deveted to excellence in heart-affecting glycosides of the highly horticulture. Botanical nomenclature in AMERICAN toxic common foxglove. Vincristine and HORTICULTURIST is based on HORTUS THIRD. National membership dues are $35; two years are $60. Foreign vinblastine, alkaloids from the dues are $45. $12 of dues are designated for AMERICAN Madagascar periwinkle, are used in HORTICULTURIST. Copyright © 1991 by the American Hor· chemotherapy for the treatment of ticultural Society. Second-class postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Hodgkin's disease and childhood Please send Form 3579 to AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, American ginseng is one of the few native leukemia. Approximately 40 plant 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308. medicinal plants cultivated in any quantity. species are used to produce prescription It is also collected in the wild. drugs sold on the American market, 2 .. American Horticulturist· November 1991 with a retail value in 1980 of $8 billion. This figure does not include over-the­ counter (OTC) drugs, drugs used Purple Coneflower exclusively in hospitals, and sales of traditional herbal products or products Echinacea products, especially sold as "dietary supplements" in health those derived from the common and natural food markets in the United garden perennial purple coneflower States. The value of OTC plant-derived (E. purpurea), are widely used in drugs is substantial; about one-half of Germany as a nonspecific stimulant OTC laxative products, for example, to the immune system to increase contain plant-derived ingredients. the body's own defenses, such as at Plant-derived drugs would probably the beginning stages of a cold or flu. be even more prevalent if the costs of Externally, products are used to help introducing new drugs were not so stimulate regenerative processes, high. To bring a new prescription drug restore damaged tissue, and for an to the American market costs upwards indirect anti-infective influence. of $200 million (the estimated cost of a According to Dr. Rudolf Bauer and new drug application). To recoup that Dr. Hildebert Wagner of the Institute investment, pharmaceutical companies of Pharmaceutical Biology, are given exclusive rights to market University of Munich, in Germany the product for up to 22 years. There­ there are over 280 Echinacea fore, plant drug research in the United products registered as medicinal States is largely limited to complex herb products or phytomedicines. isolated chemicals or synthesized Currently, the above-ground parts of chemicals based on naturally E. purpurea and E. angustifolia roots the aerial part of the fresh flowering occurring molecules. Pharmaceutical are subjects of official German plant. com panies are interested only in monographs for phytomedicines. While the world's supply of E. plant-derived chemicals or "natural Products include ointments, liquid purpurea is from cultivated material, products" that can be patented. oral extracts, and injectable drugs. most of the E. angustifolia on world Over 600 botanical products are sold E.