Global warming endangers medicinal plants

While the squeeze on resources has us all thinking in new ways about how our food and health products are sourced, sustainability is the buzzword in the herbs and supplements industry. We’ll tell you how to choose sustainable herbs in our April issue. But here’s something to think about: A new paper titled "The Effects of Climate Change on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants" published by the American Botanical Council examines the daunting threat global warming poses to medicinal plants. Researchers say that the species more in danger of dying out as a result of climate change are those in alpine regions (think Rhodiola rosea). But even supper common plants such as chamomile and fennel could eventually be in the red.