Medicinal plants for sustainable forest farming in the Southeastern US

Background/Question/Methods Forest farming is a holistic forest management system that can lead to sustainable production of medicinal crops in the southeastern US.  Forest farming is the cultivation of forest medicinal plants with minimal inputs and disturbance to the forest ecosystem.  Forest farming enables landowners to diversify income opportunities, improve management of forest resources and generate sustainable income stream.  There is a renewed interest in cultivating native forest botanicals as an alternative agricultural enterprise in the short term while waiting for timber harvests over the long term. Forest medicinal plants are specialty crops and as understory herbs and shrubs in forests, these plants have specific shade requirements, light intensity, soil pH, and rhizosphere microorganism associations. 

Results/Conclusions The USDA listed nearly 40 forest medicinal plant species with potential commercial use for treating common colds to complex diseases such as cancers.  Out of these, ginseng (Panax ginseng), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), black (Actea racemosa L) and blue (Caulophyllum thalictroides) cohosh , skull cap (Scutellaria spp.), lobelia (Lobelia inflate), wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), spice bush (Lindera benzoin), Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa), coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara), trillium (Trillium spp.), heal-all (Prunella vulgaris), jewel weed (Impatiens capensis), snakeroot (Polygala senega), chestnut (Castanea vesca), white fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus), white colic root (Aletris farinose), and hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) have been identified as having high to very high market demand.  Forest farming with goldenseal will be presented as a case study to illustrate forest farming in southern forests., jewel weed (), snakeroot (), chestnut (), white fringe tree (), white colic root (), and hawthorn () have been identified as having high to very high market demand.  Forest farming with goldenseal will be presented as a case study to illustrate forest farming in southern forests.