Status of medicinal and aromatic plants in - Inia

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WORKING GROUP ON MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS: FIRST MEETING
The status of medicinal and aromatic plants in Poland
Zenon Węglarz and Anna Geszprych
Department of Vegetable and Medicinal Plants, Warsaw Agricultural University (SGGW), Poland
Introduction
Poland is an important producer of medicinal and aromatic plant (MAP) raw materials.
About 200 MAP species are collected in larger or smaller amounts from natural sites,
including 80 for commercial purposes. About 60 species are cultivated. The average annual
harvest of raw materials from natural sites is estimated at 8000-10 000 t and more than half is
exported. About 20 000 t of MAP raw materials originate from cultivation (Jambor 1999).
Over 10 000 people in Poland are directly or indirectly involved in herb collecting,
cultivation, processing and trading.
The distribution of medicinal plants grown wild in Poland is irregular. Most of them,
taking into consideration both the number of species and the area of natural sites, occur in
the east of Poland. It is a special region representing the transitional area between
continental and Atlantic climates. It is one of the ecologically cleanest parts of Poland,
without heavy industry, large urban agglomerations or large agricultural farms.
Wild-growing MAP species are endangered by two main factors: the first, not specific to
MAPs, is connected with irreversible abiotic changes of the environment (e.g. lowering of
ground water level, pollution of the environment and eutrophication of natural water
reservoirs); the second is specific to MAPs, i.e. uncontrolled and excessive harvesting.
Legal protection of MAPs
The legal protection of MAPs in Poland is based both on:
- international conventions ratified by Poland in 1995: Convention on the Conservation of
European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, Bern Convention 1982; Convention on Biological
Diversity, Rio de Janeiro 1992; and
- national regulations: Preservation of Nature Act (16.10.1991); Decree of the Minister of
Environment Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry on the protection of plant
species (06.04.1995); Decree of The Minister of Environment Protection, Natural Resources
and Forestry in consultation with the Minister of Health and Social Welfare and the
Minister of Agriculture and Food Management, concerning the rules of harvesting of
wild-growing medicinal plants or those important for pharmaceutical industry, as well as
the management of the plantations of those plants (in preparation); and the Polish Red
Book of Plants.
The official control organizations involved in the preservation of MAPs in Poland are the
National Conservatory of Nature (attached to the Ministry of Environment), Provincial
Conservatories of Nature, and Nature Preservation League (inspectors). Other institutions
are also interested in this issue such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
the Scientific Council for the Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources affiliated to the above
Ministry, universities and research institutes.
According to the law, 111 species of Polish flora are strictly protected, including 20 species
of herbaceous medicinal plants (Lycopodium sp., Gypsophila paniculata, Cimicifuga europaea,
Aconitum sp., Adonis vernalis, Nymphaea alba, Nuphar luteum, Drosera sp., Archangelica
officinalis, Polemonium coeruleum, Echium rubrum, Atropa belladonna, Digitalis purpurea,
Gentiana sp., Arnica montana, Veratrum sp., Colchicum autumnale, Leucoium vernum, Galanthus
nivalis and Hierochloe odorata).