Introduction to the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument

Red Trillium photo by Ken Thomas (CC0 1.0)

The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument celebrates the historical and present-day traditions and relationships that many different Appalachian peoples have long held with the bountiful medicinal herbs and forest foods that can be found growing wild throughout the Appalachian woodland understory. Black cohosh, trillium, mayapple, Solomon’s seal, American ginseng, goldenseal, bloodroot, and ramps are just a few of the vast number of botanicals that populate the forests of the central and southern Appalachian Mountains.

These forests are among the most biodiverse places on Earth. Approximately fifty percent of the medicinal plants in the North American herbal supply chain are native to the Appalachian Mountains, and a large share of the herbal products found on the shelves of natural food stores and pharmacies throughout the world are harvested from this region.

Long before there was a global trade in forest botanicals, Indigenous peoples tended stands of woodland herbs, using their Traditional Ecological Knowledge to establish food and medicine forest gardens throughout the Appalachian Mountains. Herbalism has long been a cultural tradition in the Appalachian region, as have ginseng digging, ramp suppers, and a wide variety of festivals celebrating forest foods. 

Through honoring the past and present of Appalachia’s relationship to forest botanicals, this monument aims to deepen place attachment and appreciation for the treasure of biodiversity growing on the forest floor.

American Ginseng photo by Shannon Bell (CC BY 4.0).

What is a forest botanical?

Botanicals are plants (including herbs, shrubs, trees, ferns, and mosses) that are used medicinally, therapeutically, or as a flavor or scent. Many different parts of plants are used for these purposes, including leaves, roots, bark, sap, resin, stems, flowers, fruits, and seeds.

Forest botanicals grow in woodland ecosystems and include plants that require a densely shaded canopy to thrive, as well as those that prefer to grow along the edges of forests.

Although mushrooms are not plants (they are the fruiting bodies of fungi), they are also an important part of the biodiversity of the Appalachian forest understory. Fungi play a crucial role in maintaining the health of forest ecosystems by forming symbiotic mycorrhizal relationships with many plant communities, providing important nutrients to these plants through their underground mycelial networks.

Solomon's Seal photo by Shannon E. Bell (CC BY 4.0)

Each interpretive sign along the trail focuses on a different theme to highlight the cultural, historical, medicinal, and economic importance that Appalachian forest botanicals have long held for a diversity of people and animals:

• The Forest Botanicals Region: A Treasure of Biodiversity

• The Multi-Billion Dollar Herbal Products Industry

• Animals’ use of Medicinal Plants

• Indigenous Wisdom and the Appalachian Forests

• Euro-American Settlers’ Use of Forest Medicines and Foods

• Black Herbal Traditions in Appalachia

• American Ginseng: Charismatic Flora of the Appalachian Understory

• The Appalachian Botanical Drug Boom

• Protecting At-Risk Forest Botanicals

• Forest Farming: A Conservation Strategy and Income-Generating Opportunity

The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument is a project of the Forest Botanicals Region Social Ecology Lab at Virginia Tech and Appalachian Sustainable Development, in partnership with the City of Norton, Virginia. This project was made possible by the generous support of Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia. 

To learn about the other components of the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument, please visit forestbotanicalsmonument.org