As a longtime reader of everything Kiva Rose (and Wolf and Loba) writes, I have fully absorbed the importance of bioregionalism and of sourcing as many of one’s herbal medicines as close to home as possible. I am also a firm believer in the idea that what you need is very close by, and thanks to Susun Weed’s work on the wonders of weeds (say that ten times fast), I now see just about every voluntarily-growing plant as a potential ally. While I have been studying various herbs through Kiva’s writings, and through herb books I am beginning to acquire, what had become glaringly obvious to me is that I don’t have an abundance of wild medicines anywhere near me, at least not the ones she talks about. Of course, this makes sense, in that the very nature of bioregionalism is that you use what’s native to your region. Her region, the Gila mountains of New Mexico, is not my region, the west central coast of Florida. So I need to get to know my region and its plants.
I’ve been trying to find basic information on native medicinal plants in Florida, and so far had come up with zilch. Seems it isn’t a subject likely to inspire anyone to write about it, at least not anywhere readily available, and I was prepared for a very long and drawn-out search for where to start. Until today, when I found a gem.
Back in 1965, a gentleman by the name of Dr. Carl H Johnson, a professor of pharmacognosy and pharmacology at the University of Florida, wrote a little book called Important Medicinal Plants of Florida, which was put out by the Florida Department of Agriculture. I saw reference to this book in one of my Google searches; excited, I went hunting for it. Alas, it isn’t available in any bookstore nor is it at any library within 50 miles of me (I searched). Frustrated, I kept looking, and finally—FINALLY!—found a scanned copy hosted at the University of Florida (click the little icon “mets” at the top of the entry to view it). I’ve downloaded it and will print it out to read in detail, and take notes in, later.
From the introduction:
“Important Medicinal Plants of Florida was written in response to the continued interest of Floridians in growing or collecting medicinal plants for possible profit, an interest that is due in part to an awareness of the advantages of Florida’s climate. The scope is limited to those plants that are used in medicine in commercial quantities or have potentialities as such, not those used in restricted areas or as home remedies. Two important drugs, Digitalis and Belladonna, are not considered since they do not grow well under Florida conditions. The intent is to furnish sufficient information to enable one to recognize, collect, and prepare plant parts as crude drugs or botanicals.”
(Perhaps it is not too difficult to figure out why this book isn’t widely available anymore.)
What the intro means to me is that the book focuses on which plants grow here in sufficient quantity to make medicine with and how they’ve been used for medicine, both things I’ve been wanting to learn as a base from which to start further study. I might have grown up in Florida, but I never paid attention to all the wild-growing plants, so figuring out what is what and where best to start learning about them as medicines has been interesting (lots and lots of gardeners and gardening resources in Florida, much less wild-medicinal-plant resources).
This book is exactly what I was looking for: I now have a list of local plants to start exploring. And if I can’t find them growing wild, I’ve got a better chance of finding them in nurseries than, say, Monarda fistulosa. Most of the plants I’ve come to love so far grow best much further north of me; fields of skullcap or bee balm aren’t typical Florida scenes, sadly. I’m trying to grow both skullcap and bee balm, but they aren’t native plants. However, one plant that is a native and has an entry in the book is saw palmetto (Serenoa serrulata). The funny thing is that despite my love of weeds and of considering underfoot plants as possible allies, I had never even thought about saw palmetto as a possible medicine, despite having seen bottles of it in vitamin stores in the past. Funny how I can learn about other peoples’ common/weedy plants, such as stinging nettle, and wish I had it growing near me (which I don’t), yet one plant that does grow in abundance near me never struck me as a possible medicinal ally. “If it was a snake it would have bit me,” as the saying goes.
Now I am intrigued, and am eager to find out more, both about saw palmetto and everything else in this book. Not only will I be able to get a good foundation in Florida native medicines but I’ll have a starting point from which to work on my regional knowledge base. So far I’ve learned that quite a few plants I’ve been reading up on so far are actually indigenous to Florida, such as calendula, alder, catnip, ginger, mullein, peppermint, poke root, wild cherry, yarrow, lemon balm, and red clover. Others are completely new to me, such as vetiver, rauwolfia, prickly ash, deertongue, butterfly root, and American Wormseed. To say this book is a treasure trove is putting it mildly.
I’ll write more about the book as I work my way through it. I’m also planning trips to some local wild(ish) areas to hunt for plants. I just know that somewhere not too far from me, hidden in plain sight, perhaps, or just out of sight and requiring a bit of poking around, are plenty of medicines just waiting to be found, quietly doing their thing while waiting for a human with the right mindset to find them. Here’s hoping I’m such a human.
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