Saturday, July 05, 2008

Ginseng, Goldenseal and Black Cohosh

Yesterday Gary and I went on a hike to check on the ginseng, goldenseal and black cohosh. The woods at this time of year in the Ozarks are very tick-infested and this year was no different. But I did get to take the pictures I wanted:
This is ginseng Gary planted 3 years ago. This is the first year it has produced seed. It's not old enough for harvest, so I hope potential poachers leave it alone, and continue to leave it alone in the coming years.
This is a black cohosh plant (above). Most of them had already finished blooming, so I felt lucky to find one that still had on some flowers:

And here's the most photogenic plant for me. A forest floor carpet of goldenseal with fruit is always interesting to see and I was pleased to see a lot this year. It takes a lot of them to make a pound of root, so selling them is not always worth the effort, but I always like to dig some for personal use. I make a mouthwash and wound wash from the whole plant if I need it out of season, but during fall and winter I just use the roots. That's where most of the active ingredients reside.

1 comment:

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