Status of medicinal and aromatic plants in - Inia

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PRESENTED PAPERS 93 In addition to these species, there is a special product collected by the Oulu District of the Finnish 4H Association. During the last 10 years, 500-2200 kg of fresh sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) was collected from peatlands and marketed mainly to Switzerland, and partly domestically. Cultivated herbs During the last 15 years, interest in and cultivation of herbs has increased significantly. The acreage of herbs in 1985 was 100 ha and in 2001 it reached 3600 ha. At present about 30 different herbs and medicinal plants are cultivated in Finland to various extents. The most important herb is biannual caraway (Carum carvi), since its cultivation can be easily mechanized. The area grown in l994 was 1560 ha. In 2001 it had reached 3600 ha, spread over about 350 farms. The second important spice seed is mustard (Sinapis alba). At its largest, in l991, the growing area was about 400 ha, but due to price and quality problems its cultivation has now nearly ceased. Presently the area of mustard is barely 50 ha. The third important herb is the popular leaf dill (Anethum graveolens). In 1999 it was cultivated on 162 ha (323 farms) outdoors and on 8.2 ha indoors. Nearly all dill is used in fresh form for direct sale or in the processed food industry. Only a few tonnes are dried in Finland. Parsley (Petroselinum hortense) is the fourth important herb. It is cultivated outdoors and indoors on a total of 20-28 ha, mainly for fresh consumption. During the last 4-5 years, the cultivation of garlic (Allium sativum) has increased to 24 ha. Production is widely distributed and is carried out on small-scale plots. Nearly 170 farms are engaged in garlic cultivation. About 10 different herbs, including some medicinal plants (e.g. Coriander, Angelica, Oreganum, Mentha sp., Echinacea purpurea, Urtica and Artemisia dracunculus), are cultivated on an area of between 1 and 5 ha/each. These plants are produced for further processing, for the health food industry or for the growers' own products. The harvested raw materials are dried, frozen or extracted. About 20 different herb and medicinal plant species (Hypericum, Hyssopus, Matricaria, Agastache, Calendula, etc.) are cultivated on less than 0.5 ha/species. Use of medicinal plants by processing industries Due to the small quantities and lack of information, only limited data are available about the industrial use of herbs and medicinal plants. The data presented here were obtained through personal contacts. Nearly the whole caraway yield is exported from the country. Only 100-120 t of seeds are used as a spice by the domestic food industry companies yearly. The domestic food industry uses dill mainly in fresh forms (leaf, flowering shoot) and only a few farms produce dried dill leaf packed for retail marketing (ca. 5 ha). Experimental distillation of caraway seed oil and dill plant oil has been carried out for industrial use. Some mint species (Mentha x piperita, M. x dalmatica) are cultivated, mainly for dry leaf production and some experiments have been started for distillation of mint oils, mainly for aromatization of local herb products. Fresh leaf production of stinging nettle has been started from both collecting in the wild and field cultivation for the production of special frozen food products. The wild-collected sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) is exported in fresh form for the use of medicinal industry, mainly to Switzerland, but it is also used to some extent in Finland. Bearberry leaves (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) are collected from the wild for further industrial processing and the extract is used in the perfume industry abroad and in Finland.
94 WORKING GROUP ON MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS: FIRST MEETING Cultivation of several medicinal plants has been started by the requirements of the domestic medical industry. Alcoholic extracts, tablets and other special products are produced from Echinacea purpurea, Solidago virgaurea, Rhodiola rosea, Plantago lanceolata, etc. The quantities of these plants together are variable (ca. 15-30 t/year). Experiences in sustainable use of MAPs • Organic production Organic production is expanding continuously in Finland. In 1998 the total organic area controlled by the local authorities was 126 000 ha. Organic herb production is increasing, but is still very small: the organic and converting area was 71 ha in 1995, 121 ha in 1997 and 228 ha in 2001. Since the health drug stores require organically grown raw materials, all medicinal plants are grown organically. Finnish consumers prefer herbicide-free products, therefore the local producers grow herbs using organic cultivation methods. Since weed control is not mechanized in organic cultivation, the production units and quantities produced remain small. The areas of organically grown mustard, caraway and coriander are between 3-12 ha, dill and mint about 5 ha, and those of nearly 20 other herbs about 0.5-3 ha. • Sustainable collecting of herbs In the guide for wild herb collecting (Mäkinen et al. 1994) general instructions are given for sustainable collecting methods. These instructions were given in more detail in some cases, e.g. Drosera rotundifolia, which is collected in quite large quantities regularly. During 1993-1999 the effect of regular collecting on the regeneration of natural populations of Drosera rotundifolia were studied (Galambosi et al. 2000). The results showed that after two years of collecting, the density of the plant populations and the available fresh yields had decreased by 50%. On the basis of these results, a new environmentally sustainable collecting method was developed and applied by the collectors. As shown by the results of the experiment, sundew populations seem to regenerate by seed. Therefore the Finnish 4H Association immediately elaborated a new, environmentally sustainable collecting programme for young collectors to minimize the harmful effects of collecting and ensure safe regeneration of natural populations. According to the new guidelines, the collector must leave 5-10 flowering plants per square metre on the peatland. In theory, this leaves about 400-900 seeds/m 2 . Additionally, sundew may be collected only once in the summer from each site. According to our results, 35% of the whole population flowered after the first collecting. Following the new guidelines, also later-flowering plants can produce seeds safely, disperse them and ensure the natural regeneration of sundew populations. These instructions are emphasized in collectors' training programmes. • Production-oriented dynamic preservation of threatened medicinal plants According to a recent study of the commercial importance and threatened status of medicinal plants in Europe, about 150 species were reported to be threatened in at least one European country as a result of over-collecting from the wild (Lange 1998). Some of the threatened medicinal plants are cold-tolerant or belong to the original Finnish flora. A series of 3-year cultivation experiments were carried out in Finland to study the suitability of several cold-tolerant medicinal plants for cultivation and possible raw material production (Bernáth 1988). Reasonable yields were obtained in southern Finland from the following species in organic conditions: Achillea ptarmica, Acorus calamus, Alchemilla alpina, A. xanthochlora, Arnica montana, Gentiana lutea, Herniaria glabra, Leontopodium alpinum, Primula veris and Rhodiola rosea. After 3-year growing observations, Antennaria dioica, Asarum
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ISBN 92-9043-633-6 Cover photos: co
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Status of medicinal and aromatic plants in - Inia

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