Goldenseal Berry

Day 303: The Goldenseal plant (Hydrastis canadensis) puts all its energies into producing two leaves and one clustered, berry-like fruit. It takes four to five years for it to reach this stage, so its increasing rarity is easy to understand when you think of greedy collectors and gatherers trampling through northern forests in search of its golden roots. Thirty years ago, Goldenseal was more common, and in fact, there were a few small-scale growers who made starts available to the general public. I was fortunate to be able to score two which I gave a loving home in a shady cool location where previously, buttercups had grown in profusion. The two have the same habitat preferences. With years of care and continued buttercup removal, I now have a narrow bed of Goldenseal measuring roughly 15 square feet from which I judiciously harvest only the tips of the leaves to brew for three or four pots of healthful tea each year. The berries, with their promise of future seedlings and Goldenseal generations to come, are too precious to pick.