Thoughts on Medicinal Plants in Maine

I am working on various collections from within the plant catalog. One of them is medicinal plants. I am not an herbalist, but I do use plants to support my physical, mental, and spiritual health. I am so grateful for plants and all of their qualities and I want to help preserve information and human experience with plants that may otherwise be lost. 

So, in the collection on the website are all the plants that I grow that have been used medicinally and I will continue to update it. But as I am looking into the topic, there is a whole group of plants that are not native but very present in Maine, firmly established, useful as medicine, and also quite common. Many of them are considered weeds and all of them travelled here either by accident or on purpose from other places. Some of them are native to other parts of North America and some from much farther away. Some of them are so prevalent that you might even have assumed they have always been here. Of further note is that many on this list are edible as well as medicinal. Food is medicine.

The following list comprises plants that have been used medicinally that are introduced - and are either well established or establishing - in Maine (according to Go Botany). Many of them are in your backyard right now. There are numerous other "visitors from away" that we grow for their herbal properties, but are not considered garden escapees at present. A few of the plants on this list are designated as invasive to Maine. For more information on this topic, go to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

Actaea racemosa: Black Cohosh, establishing in southern Maine (North American plant)

Anethum graveolens: Dill, establishing in southern Maine

Arctium lappa: Burdock

Artemisia absinthium: Oldman Wormwood

Artemisia vulgaris: Mugwort, this plant is on the Maine state watchlist for the potential to be invasive

Avena sativa: Oats

Berberis vulgaris: Common or European Barberry, this plant is designated as invasive in Maine

Calendula officinalis: Pot Marigold

Capsella bursa-pastoris: Shepherd's Purse

Carum carvi: Caraway

Daucus carota: Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot

Echinacea species: both E. pallida, Pale Purple Coneflower, and E. purpurea, Purple Coneflower (both North American plants)

Elymus repens: Creeping Wild Rye, Couch Grass

Euonymous atropurpureus: Eastern Spindle-tree, Wahoo, establishing in southern Maine, (North American plant)

Filipendula ulmaria: Meadow Dropwort

Fumaria officinalis: Common Fumitory

Galega officinalis: Professor-weed, Goat's Rue

Grindelia squarrosa: Curlytop Gumweed (North American plant)

Hypericum perforatum: St. John's Wort (non-native St. John's Wort, we have many native ones)

Hyssopus officinalis: Hyssop

Inula helenium: Elecampane, Horse Yellowhead

Leonurus cardiaca: Motherwort

Nepeta cataria: Catnip

Plantago major: Common Plantain

Rumex crispus: Curly Dock, Yellow Dock

Salix alba: White Willow (non-native Willow, we have many native ones)

Stellaria media: Common Starwort or Stitchwort, Chickweed

Symphytum officinale: Comfrey

Tanacetum parthenium: Feverfew, Feverfew-tansy

Taraxacum officinale: Dandelion

Trifolium pratense: Red Clover

Tussilago farfara: Coltsfoot, this plant is designated as invasive in Maine

Valeriana officinalis: Valerian, this plant is designated as invasive in Maine

Verbascum thapsis: Common Mullein

Viola tricolor: Heartsease (non-native violet, we also have native ones)

Xanthoxylum americanum: Common Prickly Ash, establishing in southern Maine (native to rest of New England)

Image credit: from Wikimedia Commons, botanical illustration by Walther Otto Muller, published in Kohler's Medizinal-Pflanzen