Heron Botanicals - High Quality Herbal Products

European Products

For a select few foreign plants not readily available in the US, we distribute products made by a European company with access to these plants. Every effort is made to secure sources of these plants domestically or using other direct sources so that we can maintain the high quality standards we require, particularly the ability to access fresh plants within 24 hours of harvest.

Chinese Herbs

We prepare the majority of our Chinese herbs by first decocting them, then adding ethanol and/or glycerin as preservatives. This approximates the traditional Chinese practice of decocting most herbs, often for long periods of time, prior to administration. Some hard parts of American and European herbs are also prepared in this manner, particularly seeds. All Chinese herbs are guarantedd sulfite-free except Panax ginseng, which may contain small amounts.

True Decoctions of Chinese Herbs

For years, we have used hot water to extract our Chinese herbs before tincturing. Now we are actually decocting them and using ethanol solely as a preservative. We believe this will more closely reflect the traditional extraction and use of Chinese herbs.

Environmental Concerns

Throughout the catalog, we indicate herbs that may be threatened in the wild. We recommend substitutes for those situations where the practitioner feels one is appropriate.

We have explicitly chosen not to carry the following herbs because they are potentially threatened in the wild, because of lack of sustainable high quality sources, and/or because of the availability of excellent substitutes.

Cypripedium parviflorum flos (small yellow lady's slipper flower)
substitute Scutellaria lateriflora herba (skullcap herb), Passiflora incarnata herba (passionflower leaf), Valeriana officinalis radix (valerian root), or Hylocereus undatus herba (night-blooming cereus herb). Humulus lupulus strobilum (hops strobile) may also be used but is considered contraindicated in depression by some European practitioners.
Prunus Africana cortex (pygeum bark)
substitute Serena repens fructus (saw palmetto fruit), Urtica dioica radix (nettle root), Epilobium spp herba (small-flowered willow herb), and/or Opuntia spp flos (prickly pear flower).

Wild Gardens

In the last three decades some archeologists and anthropologists have conjectured the populations of the Americas in the 1200-1300s to be ten to twenty times the previously theorized number. This same research has indicated "agriculture" far larger in scale and complexity than was previously imagined. In a certain way, these theorists present the possibility that much of the Americas were "wild gardens" before significant European contact. There is some evidence that Native American peoples were extensively managing and manipulating ecosystemic processes and populations.

A wild garden is a semi-managed area of plant growth in which numerous species are allowed to cooperate and compete with periodic low-intensity human intervention, as opposed to the highly managed row crops of single species in modern industrial agriculture.

No simple answers to the question of whether wildcrafted or cultivated plants make superior medicines exist. We monitor herb populations through our supplier network, offer substitutes when sustainable populations are not available, and wild garden as much as we can. Our constant goal remains to provide the most vital, potent medicines while treating the plant nations with as much respect and awareness as we can.

We believe that analysis of the available data supports traditional practices and further demonstrates why tinctures and similar whole-plant extracts are especially relevant for use in effective clinical practice. The trend in dominant medicine to refine and isolate may ultimately prove counterproductive in many instances.

According to some Native American traditions, plants need and even want to be harvested by humans. It is believed this will enhance their future growth and survival. This thinning or grooming of the Earth is as important to the plants as it is to the peoples using the plants. Take for example Aralia californica (California Spikenard) which only grows iin dense thickets within a small geographical range. Harvesting and thinning encourages healthy new growth and vigorous stands while untouched stands tend to decline after maximum density is reached. Many plants were and are intentionally spread by humans and have to some degree become less available as this practice has declined, such as Anemopsis californica (yerba mansa). Plants also use humans and other animals to move themselves around the glove, and we hope diligent observation by wildcrafters may reveal new populations of some endangered plants or reestablish previously destroyed ones.

Wild gardens are important to medicine making. Intensively managed cultivated plants differ from wild plants phytochemically. For example, mild water stress significantly increases cichoric acid levels in the root of Echinacea purpurea compared to well-watered controls. (Gray, D. Chemical quality in two medicinal plants: St. John's wort and purple coneflower. Dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia, May 2000.) Cichoric acid is one of several important therapeutic constituents in Echinacea purpurea. Unfertilized Hydrastis canadensis contains significantly higher levels of therapeutically valuable alkaloids than fertilized plants, though it takes as much as twice as long to grow. (Bannerman, JE. Goldenseal in world trade: Pressures and potentials. HerbalGram 1997;41:51-52.)

These and other examples clearly highlight that plants should be grown in environments similar to those they are most adapted to and under moderately stressful conditions. Unfortunately, this is not always the most cost-effective method, and even many organic growers are choosing to row crop and heavily compost to get large, unstressed plants with higher total mass but lower levels of medicinal constituents and that often require more intensive use of various natural pesticides in a somewhat questionable manner. While the economic basis of making such choices is clear, we feel that the way this compromises the quality of the medicine is unacceptable.

Extraction

In choosing menstruum and processing method, we have studied the old texts and the latest scientific literature, and added empirical evidence accumulated over Dr. Heron's more than 25 years' experience with botanical medicines and their clinical application. On the advice of the late Dr. John Bastyr, we include small amounts of vegetable glycerin in our tinctures to increase retention of various constituents in the final product.

Organic Alcohol

We do not use organic alcohol for two reasons. First, alcohol has been so thoroughly distilled and processed that essentially all contaminants are removed. This makes having an organic original product unnecessary from a health standpoint. Second, it is prohibitively expensive for a small-scale business, counterbalancing any small benefit it may have.