[MPWG] Fw: Pink Lady's Slipper cultivation
Bob Beyfuss
rlb14 at cornell.edu
Fri Apr 27 08:50:56 CDT 2007
Hello Everyone,
I am pleased to see that some folks are interested in cultivation of plants
that are in demand. It seems to me that this is perhaps the most important
conservation tool but it is too often overlooked in lieu of making
regulations. The problems with regulations, as written or defined by
agencies such as CITES or US Fish and Wildlife or local Natural Resources
agencies is that they are
1.Not always appropriate in every situation. It is hard to design
regulations in Washington that address the needs of plant communities
across their range. One size does not fit all when dealing with plant
communities that range from Georgia to Maine and west to Minnesota for
example.
2. Regulations are virtually impossible to enforce in the real world. There
are not nearly enough "Plant police" ie. conservation officers, game
wardens, forest rangers etc to even begin to enforce all the regulations
and many of them do not consider these issues a priority compared to their
other responsibilities. The result is that conscientious people who obey
the rules will do so but less civic minded people will not.
3. Regulations ignore fundamental laws of supply and demand. In the case of
American ginseng, for example, restricting the legal harvest reduces supply
while demand remains constant or even increases as consumers become more
affluent. The inevitable result is that prices go up and this in turn
encourages much more illegal harvest from the poachers who ignore the
unenforceable regulations to begin with.
4. Regulations are often based on incomplete or erroneous data. No one
really knows exactly how much of any given plant resource actually exists
in the wild. Organizations such as Nature Serve have been proven to be
seriously incorrect in their assessment of the status of ginseng in states
such as Kentucky and NY. Nature Serve's classification of ginseng in KY
lists it as having a total of perhaps 13,000 wild plants statewide and this
data has been cited by US Fish and Wildlife as cause for concern. At the
same time US Fish and Wildlife has certified for export an average of more
than 5 million legally harvested wild ginseng roots annually in KY? Massive
errors such as this make most people question the overall credibility of
such agencies.
5. Regulations overlook the positive role that many harvesters have played
in preserving wild populations. Ginseng has been responsibly stewarded for
generations by rural people in Appalachia. It is likely that absent this
positive intervention many more populations would have
disappeared. Limiting or restricting harvest activities also reduces their
positive role in stewardship.
6. Regulations are rarely evaluated to see if they are indeed working as
intended. Have the regulations imposed on the harvest of ginseng and
goldenseal actually resulted in populations rebounding across the range of
the plant? Is there any data to support the assumption that they have in
the broad scale? Do most regulations contain evaluation provisions? If not,
they not be instated in the first place.
Personally I would much prefer that natural Resource agencies would focus
much more effort on cultivation of at risk plants. This seems to me the
most positive approach. If cultivated plants can replace wild plants in the
marketplace, wild populations will be at far less risk than current
policies dictate.
Bob Beyfuss
>Patricia has made a good point in reminding us that the initial post
>requested info specific to cultivation and not regulatory listing.
>
>While I am not aware of which Fungal mycelia is essential for the survival
>of C. acaule under cultivation, I understood from the grower I referenced
>that pollination was his biggest hurdle. To imitate a specific wasp he
>used cotton tip swabs to transfer pollen between individuals.
>
>Also levels of decaying matter on the forest floor increased at a higher
>than normal rate during the site manipulation and enhancement studies
>carried on in Quebec. Basically evergreen tree thinning and mulch mowing
>where the two main tools used on the test site with the largest population
>increase of C. acaule.
>
>My personal observations in the wild have shown me a common relationship
>with evergreen trees and their decaying barks. My guess is someone has
>already tested soil samples taken from within native populations for
>microbials, etc. and hopefully we can all get a chance to learn about it.
>
>Many of you may have noticed that I very rarely respond to these postings
>even though I review them regularly. I have been monitoring the MPWG list
>serve for a good while with many thanks to you all for your participation.
>I must admit this particular situation struck a nerve of mine.
>
>As to references for habitat destruction and effect on medicinal plants I
>will first refer to reports given last November during an American Ginseng
>workshop sponsored by the KY Dept. Ag. and concerning loss of habitat
>through development as the largest single reason for loss of test plots
>during the State sponsored multi year monitoring program. I assume these
>findings are reported periodically to FWS/OSA and are on file.
>Here is an article many of us read just last week on Mountain Top removal
><http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-18-mines_N.htm>www.usatoday<http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-18-mines_N.htm>.com/news/nation/2007-04-18-mines_N.htm
>I want to put in a plug for Appalachian Voices here in Boone, NC so please
>check out
><http://www.ilovemountains.org/multimedia>www.ilovemountains.org/multimedia
>for a better idea of what's going on in, or should I say coming off our
>mountains?
>
>Best regards,
>Tony
>
>Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov wrote:
>
>Hi Tony!
>
>Thanks for your message. I just want to clarify that Gary is asking about
>cultivation information. This e-mail was not an announcement of listing
>action.
>
>The "article" below is an excerpt from the "Plants" button on the MPWG
>website (which is called Green Medicine,
><www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>). The information is a bit dated as it was
>written a few years back and I hope that we can soon update it.
>
>According to the NatureServe website
>(http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/), which is an important source of
>information for the federal government, the global status of this species
>is secure.
>U.S. & Canada State/Province Status
>United States Alabama (S3), Connecticut (SNR), Delaware (S5), District of
>Columbia (SNR), Georgia (S4), Illinois (S1), Indiana (S3), Kentucky (S4),
>Maine (SNR), Maryland (SNR), Massachusetts (SNR), Michigan (SNR),
>Minnesota (SNR), New Hampshire (SNR), New Jersey (S4), New York (S4),
>North Carolina (S5), Ohio (SNR), Pennsylvania (SNR), Rhode Island (S4),
>South Carolina (SNR), Tennessee (S4), Vermont (SNR), Virginia (S5), West
>Virginia (S5), Wisconsin (SNR)
>Canada Alberta (S3), Labrador (SU), Manitoba (S4), New Brunswick (S4S5),
>Newfoundland Island (S4), Northwest Territories (SNR), Nova Scotia (S5),
>Ontario (S5), Prince Edward Island (S5), Quebec (S5), Saskatchewan (S4?)
>
>
>It's important to be cautious in using this information as it is not
>complete about this information as it is not complete (State-by-state
>status varies from no information to secure) and may not have been updated
>recently (the status hasn't changed since 1984; the status was reviewed in
>2002). But, it's important to note the listing in Appendix II of CITES
>makes it illegal to export without a permit - not illegal to export.
>
>I think you are absolutely right that issues such as fair trade, community
>forestry, sustainable livelihoods should not be thought of as something
>you do abroad. Our country needs to be more introspective, we need to
>stop sending our graduate students overseas to do their research, we need
>to have more US-based development/funding programs that facilitate
>opportunities for value-added medicinal plant products WITHIN the regions
>that they are harvested, we need to do a better job of tracking and
>accounting for the monetary value of medicinal plants to our economies and
>livelihoods, we need to value the harvesters and the products a lot more
>than we do.
>
>Unfortunately, I don't have the time to pull something together, but would
>I'd be interested in seeing more information on the effect of habitat
>destruction on medcinal plants - are you aware of any recent information
>or analysis that could serve as a starting point?
>
>Thank you,
>-Patricia
>
>
>Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
>Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
>Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
>US Fish & Wildlife Service
>4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 750
>Arlington, VA 22203
>703-358-1708 x1753
>FAX: 703-358-2276
>Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural
>resources.
><www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>
>
>
>
>Tony Hayes <herbalogic at yahoo.com>
>04/25/2007 11:28 PM
>To
>Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov, mpwg at lists.plantconservation.org
>cc
>Subject
>Re: [MPWG] Fw: Pink Lady's Slipper cultivation
>
>
>
>
>
>I am reminded of the fiasco we had back in the eighties when FWS and CITES
>decided to list this and other Orchid species under Appendix II.
>The federal register came out with the OSA finding and suddenly a few
>States including Georgia over reacted and immediately forbid any legal
>trade in these plants.
>Ironically there was a very successful cultivation of C. acaule going on
>in North Georgia until it became illegal to sell the plant material due to
>the plants CITES listing and the States reaction to same.
>The company I worked for at the time had old Lady Slipper stock that was
>grandfathered so we applied for and received an export permit but our
>customer in Germany had to apply for an import permit and it was not
>issued until after our original permit expired and we were not allowed to
>renew so we moved it out bit by bit domestically over a long period of time.
>We basically gave up on producing it in the US. Then I got involved with a
>group in Quebec that did some timber thinning and other minimal site
>manipulation that lead to increased populations of this and some other
>targeted understory species back in the nineties but it didn't pay off either.
>Now as stated below in the " Greeen Machine" article there is a very
>limited commercial market demand for "poor man's Valerian". It's hard
>enough to make a living growing V. officinalis in this country, anyway
>that's another story.
>I just returned from another road trip today to pick up a few roots. Got
>up at 5:30 AM and back home around 8:30 PM after driving through the
>Appalachians. It is obvious that clear cutting timber for strip mining,
>shopping centers, multi-lane highways and worst of all mountain top
>removal among other development is depleting our habitat and destroying
>more flora than we can imagine.
>I can supply seed or cuttings for many at risk species but they can't make
>it on asphalt and concrete.
>I would ask our Public officials and CITES representatives to consider
>looking more at the large natural resource corporations and developers
>instead of the lower income rural families to solve this dilemma.
>Listing species on CITES is not a silver bullet to saving them from a few
>diggers as a matter of fact if they were not recognized by a few for there
>potential they would probably not be as prolific as they are in many cases.
>Industry and consumers need to understand that "Fair Trade" needs to apply
>not only to "3rd world" and "developing economies" but to rural Appalachia
>and other rural parts of North America as well. Maybe if we consider this
>going forward a few poor folks in Southern Appalachia can cultivate these
>plants legally and profitably once again as they did before some well
>meaning person in a glass cage with a degree and a computer came along and
>fixed it for them.
>
>Best regards,
>Tony
>
>Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov wrote:
>
>Forwarding a question from someone about Pink Lady's Slipper cultivation.
>
>Please respond directly to Gary Crivellone: <gary1star at comcast.net>
>
>
>----- Forwarded by Patricia De Angelis/ARL/R9/FWS/DOI on 04/25/2007 01:38
>PM -----
>"Pacific Federal Resources /Gary Crivellone" <gary1star at comcast.net>
>04/23/2007 04:29 PM
>To
><Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov>
>cc
>Subject
>Pink Lady's Slipper
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Patricia
>
>Green Medicine published this incomplete info on pink lady’s
>Slipper. What I am looking for is what fungal mycelia is required for the
>cultivation.
>
>If you could be of assistance.
>
>THANKS
>
>GARY CRIVELLONE
>
>
>
>
>Pink Lady's Slipper
>
>Photo Copyright 2000
><http://www.nps.gov/cgi-bin/intercept3?http://www.stevenfoster.com>www.stevenfoster.com
>
>(Cypripedium acaule)
>
>Pink lady's slipper is a large, showy wildflower belonging to the orchid
>family. The root of lady's slipper has traditionally been used as a remedy
>for nervousness, tooth pain, and muscle spasms. In the 1800's and 1900's
>it (and other species of the genus) were widely used as a substitute for
>the European plant valerian (also a sedative).
>Because this plant has an extremely long life cycle, taking many years to
>go from seed to mature, seed-bearing plant, and because it will grow only
>in very specific circumstances, the harvest of wild lady's slipper root is
>often not sustainable. Cultivation is challenging, and the plant has not
>been widely grown for the medicinal herb market. Cypripedium, along with
>other orchid species, is listed in Appendix II of CITES, making it illegal
>to export any part of the plant without a permit. In 1988, the American
>Herbal Products Association issued a self-regulatory initiative for its
>members requiring them to refrain from trade in wild-harvested Cypripedium.
>Today, there are only a few companies selling lady's slipper or products
>containing lady's slipper. The plant is still occasionally gathered from
>the wild for private use by individuals, and is sometimes picked as an
>ornamental. Perhaps the greatest threat to this plant, however, is habitat
>loss, since it grows only in a very selective habitat
>Cultivation: Pink lady's slipper grows in calcium-containing soils, in
>forested areas. It has thus far proven nearly impossible to cultivate in a
>way that would make it feasible as a cash crop. It requires that certain
>fungal mycelia be present in the soil, so it is almost necessary to grow
>it in a forested area which either does contain wild lady's slipper, or is
>at least the type of environment where it is normally found. Usually this
>means a wet forest area, with dappled shade. Success has been reported in
>growing lady's slippers in a controlled laboratory environment, but the
>cost of this generally makes it unprofitable as a medicinal herb.
>
> _______________________________________________
>PCA's Medicinal Plant Working Group mailing list
>MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
>http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org
>
>To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org
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>
>Disclaimer
>Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc.
>reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The
>information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
>substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific
>medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare
>information that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by
>the individual reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts
>do not reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant
>Conservation Alliance.
>
>
>Anthony J. Hayes, President
>Ridge Runner Trading Company, Inc.
>P.O. Box 391
>Boone, NC 28607
>PH: 828.264.3615
>FX: 828.262.3605
><mailto:herbalogic at yahoo.com>herbalogic at yahoo.com
>_______________________________________________
>PCA's Medicinal Plant Working Group mailing list
>MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
>http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org
>
>To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org
>with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
>
>Disclaimer
>Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc.
>reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The
>information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
>substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific
>medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare
>information that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by
>the individual reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts
>do not reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant
>Conservation Alliance.
>
>
>
>
>
>Anthony J. Hayes, President Ridge Runner Trading Company, Inc. P.O. Box
>391 Boone, NC 28607 PH: 828.264.3615 FX: 828.262.3605
><mailto:herbalogic at yahoo.com>herbalogic at yahoo.com
>_______________________________________________
>PCA's Medicinal Plant Working Group mailing list
>MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
>http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org
>
>To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org
>with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
>
>Disclaimer
>Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc.
>reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The
>information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
>substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific
>medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare
>information that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by
>the individual reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts
>do not reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant
>Conservation Alliance.
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