Did you know that a variety of the best loved healing herbs are native to North America? Many of the herbs you may enjoy in your favorite herbal tea blend or medicinal tincture may just grow wild here, while others are imported from faraway lands. The First Peoples of America worked with healing herbs, and much of what we know about these herbs comes to us because of their hard work and ability to connect deeply to plant medicine. Today, I’d like to introduce you to a small variety of herbs that grow naturally on American soil, and a few you may be able to find in the wild with the help of a field guide!
Native Herbs
Plants that grow wild in a specific area are known as native herbs. They naturally inhabit a location and thrive in the weather, soil, altitude, and geography of that area. Here in the United States we have such a vast array of terrains and climates that almost any herb can be grown here with a little TLC, but some have been growing here for thousands of years and those are the plants we’ll be looking at today.
A Short List
Here are just a few native herbs you can investigate. See if any of them grow where you live!
American Licorice
Black Cherry
Blue Cohosh
Boneset
Catnip
Dandelion
Goldenseal
Hops
Mullein
Pennyroyal
Sarsaparilla
Slippery Elm
Willow
Wintergreen
Know Where It Grows
Now that you have an idea of just some of the medicinal herbs that grow in the U.S.A., you can consider where your herbs come from in the future. Do you have favorites that you use often in herbal tea or other preparations? Take some time to learn where those plants thrive naturally. Knowing more about the nature of the healing plants you work with can help connect you to them more closely while helping you learn more about the history of their use and how you can benefit from their healing properties.
Enjoy!
