At Horizon Herbs Seed Farm here in Southern Oregon, cold-stored goldenseal seed from the recent harvest was sown in outdoor conditions on 2/15/01 and emerged on 4/5/02, a germination period of 414 days. Fresh seed which was harvested on 7/30/01 and stored at room temperature and washed daily until it was sown in outdoor conditions on 9/25/01 emerged synchronously with the previous lot, a germination period of only 192 days. Clearly, the time required for germination is dependent on the sequencing of warm and cold cycles.

Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) seed
Family: Asteraceae

Plant description: Goldenseal is a long-lived herbaceous perennial of the deep woods. The horizontal rhizome creeps beneath the rich forest detritus, resembling a small, crooked finger. In very robust individuals, this rhizome becomes clump-like, with a dense crown and multiple buds. Fibrous rootlets extend out from the rhizome, sparse on the upper surface and more frequent toward the base. Both rhizome and roots (the root) are golden-yellow when fresh, and this color is intensified internally. In fact, this vivid color clearly identifies goldenseal, differentiating it from all look-alikes. The root is the main part used, and the yellow color can be attributed to the prevalence of the main antimicrobial constituent present in the goldenseal plant—berberine.

Goldenseal seed. The goldenseal berry matures in the early summer, ripening from an emerald green to a deep red color. As the berry softens, it is likely to detach from the plant and fall to the forest floor, where it eventually rots, leaving behind its load of up to 30 roundish, hard, shiny black seeds. Alternatively, the fruit may be eaten by birds or mammals and the berry passed through the digestive tract, the goldenseal seeds subsequently deposited (in association with a little nitrogenous fertilizer) at a distance from the parent plant. In either case, if the goldenseal seed remains reasonably moist throughout the process, it will retain viability and with luck will lodge in the soil. After overwintering, the goldenseal seed will germinate in the spring, or may rest for another full year and germinate in the second spring following dissemination.

The advantages of cultivating goldenseal from seed: One gram of moist goldenseal seed contains about 50 seeds. Basically, the easiest method of growing goldenseal seed is to sow the moist, recently harvested seed shallowly in rich, moist soil in a shady place. Properly done, germination will occur the following spring. Propagating goldenseal from seed is somewhat challenging but has a few advantages over the other option, which is cultivation from cuttings of the rhizome. One advantage of using goldenseal seed is that more plants can be produced faster. A single goldenseal plant will produce 30 seeds, which under the right conditions will become 30 new plants. The same goldenseal plant could be cut up into root divisions, which would produce only 3 or 4 new plants. Another advantage of using goldenseal seed is a little difficult to explain but nonetheless significant. Root cuttings often produce a mature, flower-bearing plant by the second, or sometimes even the first year after planting. However, this does not necessarily mean that the root has increased in size. The plant thinks it is an adult, and often goes about doing its adult thing (making flowers and berries) without increasing the foundational weight of its root. This is a problem for growers who are trying to propagate the plant to produce root. It is not unusual to put in 10 pounds of root cuttings, and after 2 years harvest the entire patch and have it weigh in at 9 pounds, or 11 pounds, or something of this nature. Not much increase. Given perfect conditions, and after the period of shock has passed, goldenseal grown from root cuttings may increase hugely in root weight, but again this is not always the case. On the other hand, goldenseal plants grown from seed never have this problem—they know that they are still young plants and put much energy into sizing up their roots before even contemplating making a flower. Therefore, the yield from 4-year-old goldenseal plants grown from seed is usually higher than the yield goldenseal plants grown for 4 years from root cuttings. Also, startup costs are less when using seed. For more information on growing goldenseal, see “Growing At-Risk Medicinal Herbs” by Richo Cech.

Practical uses: Goldenseal root is antimicrobial and tonifies the mucous membranes. The herb is often inappropriately used at the first signs of upper respiratory infection, and is actually best employed during second phase upper respiratory infections where there is redness and swelling of the membranes and copious discharge of thick yellow or green mucous. Goldenseal fights the infection, dries and astringes the mucosa, and is often very helpful in speeding recovery and preventing deterioration into more serious conditions (such as pneumonia). In small doses, the herb acts as a bitter stimulant to the digestion and tonifies the digestive tract. For more information on the preparation and use of goldenseal root in home herbal medicine, see the book “Making Plant Medicine.”

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