[MPWG] Findings: Polish Production of Hamamelis virginiana

[Goods From The Woods]

Robin
My best guess is that the demand far exceeds U.S. production. It is often cited as the most used botanical in the world. There are several news article citing American Distillers yearly tonnage. http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=5130  http://www.*yankee*magazine.com/issues/2008-11/.../*witch*-*hazel*/all 
But, they only harvest in the winter and then chip whole trees. I find the winter harvesting to be very odd, as there are so few phytos when a plant is dormant and the lumber, for lack of a better term, would have very little in term of active ingredients. 

I say this because we are getting calls on a regular basis for HUGE quantities of distillate. About a week ago, a chemical company sent an email for 125,000 gallons and we use 8 lbs of fresh material per gallon (leaves and small twigs -no tree trunks).

Other species, like  Hamamelis mollis in China might be replacing it.  I would love to see AHPA tracking Hamamelis virginiana tonnage. I am certain there better informed people on the list than myself, who might  shed some light on this.

Thank you for commenting,
Penny Frazier
A Wild Crops Farm
www.wildcrops.com 

> As a producer of raw botanicals I do find that interesting, and a bit disturbing.
>
> In your opinion do you believe this speaks to a "miss-identification of species" issue or to bogus USDA NOP certification issues?
>
> Thanks for the research and please keep me posted if you learn more as I believe this is probably not an isolated occurrence in the industry, probably not by a long-shot.
>
> All the best, 
> Robin
>
> -----Original Message-----
>   
>> From: Goods From The Woods <penny at pinenut.com>
>> Sent: Jul 29, 2009 4:49 PM
>> To: mpwg at lists.plantconservation.org
>> Subject: [MPWG] Findings: Polish Production of Hamamelis virginiana
>>
>> I thought the results of my research on certified organic witch hazel 
>> production of interest.
>>
>> Poland has no Hamamelis virginiana production.  Poland does have  1700 
>> hectares of hazel nut production.
>>
>> Draw your own conclusion about "certified organic witch hazel" from Poland.
>>
>>
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>>     
>
>
> Robin Alton Suggs
> MoonBranch Botanicals
> 5294 Yellow Creek Road
> Robbinsville, North Carolina 28771 
> USA
>
> Telephone: 828.479.2788
> moonbranch at earthlink.net
> www.moonbranch.com
>
> Member:
> American Herbalist Guild
> Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project; Farm Partner
> Co-op America 
> Green Products Alliance 
> National Network of Forest Practitioners
> North Carolina Consortium on Natural Medicines 
> North Carolina Goodness Grows/NCDA&CS 
> North Carolina Natural Products Association
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>
>
> "Western civilization is based on the philosophical error that manipulative science is the truth"
>  
> ~Fritjof Capra
>
>