Stalking The Wild Goldenseal

[Music] everyone I'm Adam Harrison explore in the woods today in search of one very very special plant this plant is known as Golden Seal its latin name is hydra Asta's canadensis there are a few other common names to describe this plant including yellow root orange root and yellow cocoon but most people know this plant as Golden Seal and this is a medicinal plant that maybe you've actually taken before in supplement form some immune boosting formulas campaign goldenseal in the history of Golden Seal goes back centuries here in North America but the Native Americans and also with some of the early settlers however where I live in Pennsylvania this plant isn't that calm and it's really not that easy to find I don't come across it too often it's not a very rare plant it's just not that common and it's actually listed in Pennsylvania as a vulnerable plant meaning this is a plant in danger of population decline however I have seen Golden Seal here in the past and with any luck we're going to find it today and I'd like to introduce you to this plant and teach you some things that maybe you didn't know on this very very special plant - come on let's go see what we can find [Music] okay so here it is this is Golden Seal you can see it's kind of abundant right in this particular spot a lot of other plants in this area I see some red Trillium I see some wild ginger I see Christmas fern there are some geraniums here as well so there's a lot of different plants but in this particular spot I'm seeing a lot of this Golden Seal plant now in the latter half of the 1800s Golden Seal suffered dramatic decreases in abundance due to over harvesting for the commercial trade and as I mentioned here in Pennsylvania this is state listed as vulnerable and as of 2013 Golden Seal is actually listed as endangered threatened or vulnerable in at least ten states if not more now Golden Seal doesn't have an eastern North America and have its many states and it's actually most stable in the core of its range which is the Ohio River Valley now Golden Seal inhabits rich shaded hardwood forest in association with various trees including sugar maple trees tulip poplar trees American beech trees and white ash trees so Hydra s canadensis Golden Seal is a member of the Buttercup family which is the ranunculaceae family and if you're looking for this plan here's what you want to look for so Golden Seal is a perennial herb with a single hairy stem that stands erect about seven to 18 inches tall now these leaves are lobed and wrinkled they've become smoother as the year progresses the flower bold and seal blooms late April into late May now it takes four to five years for a golden seal plan to reach sexual maturity this is the point at which it produces flowers you look closely at each flower it looks like it has a bunch of petals but these are actually stamens so there are numerous stamens which is the male reproductive structures in the flower it's about forty of them then there's about ten pistols which are the female reproductive structures of the flower now the flowers to be cross pollinated and they could be cross pollinated by insects but cross pollination isn't necessary because Golden Seal flowers can self pollinate the fruits mature in the summer months and they resemble a raspberry another rhizome of goldenseal has a dull brown exterior in a bright yellow core and that's what that named Golden Seal comes from or yellow root or orange root or yellow paw they all refer to this bright yellow core in the rise in with Golden Seal now as far as reproduction golden seals so reproduces mainly vegetatively though to a lesser extent it can reproduce via sea propagation as well now why would golden seal which doesn't really stand out amongst all these other understory plants it kind of just blends right in why would this plant be considered endangered vulnerable or threatened in at least ten states here in North America well there are multiple reasons number one would be habitat destruction and especially Canadian populations go and see when we look at that we see that only five percent of the forested habitat that supports golden seal populations remains in Canada only five percent we're also looking at decline in habitat quality we're looking at deer browsing we're looking at invasive species especially where I live in Pennsylvania deer browsing and invasive species go hand in hand wherever there's a lot of white-tailed deer in a given area there are also a lot of invasive species gas industry development that's another big one here in Pennsylvania and last but certainly not least wild collection of goldenseal now as I mentioned a few minutes ago goldenseal is a medicinal plant whose history goes back centuries here in North America and whenever we look at the Native American ethnic botanical records we see for example that the Cherokee mixed goldenseal with bear fat to repel insects other cultures use goldenseal as an eye rinse to treat eye infections throughout the 1700s the colonists and some of the early settlers that the 1800s used goldenseal as a digestive aid and treatment for skin inflammation and this is why in the latter half of the 1800s goldenseal suffered dramatic decreases in abundance due to over harvesting for the commercial trade so what is it about goldenseal particularly that makes it so special what are the medicinal compounds what are the medicinal actions that are attributed to goldenseal well whenever we look at the goldenseal plant we see that it contains a pretty impressive phytochemistry there are numerous alkaloid compounds found within this plant and alkaloids are nitrogen bearing compounds that contain pharmacological activity whenever we look at goldenseal there are three that are being heavily studied right now berberine hydrastine and canada so we're gonna look at the research in a second but before we get into that I just want to throw it out there that I do not condone the wild collection or wild harvesting or foraging of goldenseal in any of these endangered threatened or vulnerable populations especially here in Pennsylvania there are some good alternatives to go see oh there's a really good one which I'm going to mention in just a couple seconds to stay tuned for that also if you look at gold and steel supplements online or golden steel containing supplements either pink cherries or capsules or other formulas you get a health food store and you find gold and seal a lot of these companies are actually utilizing cultivated golden seal so that's something to look into as well so let's get into the research on golden seal and the Journal planta medica in 2001 researchers found that extracts of golden seal showed antibacterial activity against two gram positive bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus Angus also against two gram-negative bacteria strains equal I and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the same journal planta medica in 2003 researchers discovered that extracts of golden seal showed antimicrobial activity when evaluated against the oral pathogen streptococcus mutants and Fuso bacterium nucleon oh so streptococcus mutans is a gram positive bacteria which can lead to tooth decay in few so bacterium nucleon um is a gram-negative bacteria which can lead to periodontitis and gingivitis so moving away from the antimicrobial activities of golden seal into the cardiovascular health section of bold and seal we see that golden seal can shine in this area as well so in the journal lipid research in 2006 researchers discovered and I quote them in conclusion we have discovered that golden seal a Native American medicinal plant has strong cholesterol and lipid lowering effects golden seal reduces cholesterol and lipid accumulations in plasma as well as in liver through the actions of multiple bioactive compounds that work synergistically this work opens the way for a potential alternative therapeutic intervention for hyperlipidemia now those concentrations of those alkaloids hydrastine can adeana berberine are highest in the rhizomes of golden seals that's why a lot of people are after the rise of golden seal not necessarily the aerial forces however those compounds can be found to a lesser extent in the aerial portions but most of the research being conducted on golden seal is being conducted on the rhizomes or extracts from the rhizomes so now that we look at some of the medicinal research we know that golden seal has been utilized for centuries this plant seems pretty promising what are we supposed to do if we want some of this medicinal inside of our bodies well there's a good alternative and it's an alternative that probably should be dug up if you can find it and I'm sure you'll have no problem finding it if it grows in an area where you live this is a plant a shrub known as Japanese Barbary barbarous Sundberg II I this is an incredibly invasive plant a very aggressive plant of brought over in the 1800s and it's been spreading ever since then Japanese Barbera is a dense woody shrub with numerous arching spine bearing branches and this shrub produces red fruits in the fall now Japanese Barbera contains Burberry it contains a lot of Burberry we just look at the root system we see that it's bright yellow kind of like the root system of Golden Seal and that's reflective of its Berber ink on just looking at the genus name barbarous that alludes to its berberine content so what's so special about Burberry well berberine in numerous studies has been shown to have antioxidant properties anti-inflammatory properties neuro protective and cardiovascular protective effects and in humans its lipid lowering and insulin resistance improving actions have been demonstrated in numerous randomized clinical trials if you don't believe me maybe you'll listen to the words of these researchers who published a study in pharmaceutical biology in 2008 and they concluded these results suggest that bare bears Sundberg II I which is Japanese Barbary is a potential substitute for golden seal with respect to its berberine content now it's actually really easy to make a medicine out of Japanese barbarian that's what I have with me right here this is a tincture that I made not too long ago you can see that it's kind of yellowish or amber colored and that yellow color is symbolic of the berberine that's found in here and also it kind of tastes a bit bitter it also tastes slightly like carrots in a way like it's almost like a member of the a PACA family or the carrot family but it's not a member of that family but it kind of has that taste whenever you do taste it so as I mentioned is kind of easy to make a tincture out of Japanese Barberi you want to harvest the roots during the root season which would be late fall tour about early spring and you could dry those roots you can make an alcohol extraction out of it now if you want the berberine on Japanese barbary which I imagine you would if you're interested in these medicinal benefits berberine is not a water soluble compound so you need an alcohol in order to pull out that bourbon and the proof the better to pull out that Burberry you could take sure for about six weeks you could strain it out then you can have your very own Japanese Barbary tincture so just to reiterate you're looking for a good alternative for goldenseal consider looking into one of the most incredibly invasive plants here in North America which is Japanese Barbary bear bear is Sundberg II I and if the medicine might suit you if you think that might be for you consider making a medicine out of it because you will be doing our woods a massive service and incredible service in more ways than one okay we've talked about a lot of different things today including goldenseal hydra asters canadensis we talked about Japanese Barbary bear bear Sundberg II I we talked about berberine can Adeem hydrastine a lot of other different things so I encourage you to explore your wood see if you do have goldenseal where you live and I bet you do have Japanese Barbary and maybe some other Berber in containing plants because it's a pretty common compound in the plant kingdom and if you do an online search you'll see which other plants contain Burberry thanks so much for watching this video as always I truly appreciate it feel free to subscribe to the learn your land YouTube channel you can head on over to learn your land com sign up for the email newsletter so we can stay in touch also we can stay in touch via social media at learn your land thanks again for watching I'll see you in the next video [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 83,685

Keywords: Adam Haritan, Learn Your Land, Foraging, Wild, Food, Nature, Outdoors, Hydrastis canadensis, Goldenseal, Ginseng, Mushroom, Hunting, Gardening, Wild Food, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Medicinal Plant, Natural, Herbalism, Herb, Primitive Skills, Permaculture, Plants, Fungi, Fungal, Botany, Mycology, Ecology, Natural History, Fishing, Woods, Forest, Hiking, Backpacking, Scouts

Id: gG_bSB5mgBk

Length: 11min 36sec (696 seconds)

Published: Thu May 17 2018