Sanguinaria canadensis

This species has a very broad range and is a frequent component of mesic hardwood forests in across the eastern US and southeastern Canada. It is likely declining locally through much of its range due to the combination of habitat conversion and collection from wild populations. At present, this species is demonstrably secure given its extremely broad distribution and the sheer number of populations.

Eastern North America, from southern Quebec (Labrecque pers. comm.), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia west to southeast Manitoba (Punter pers. comm.), northeast Nebraska (Steinauer pers. comm.); disjunct to the Black Hills, South Dakota (Ode pers. comm.); south to Texas, Louisiana, Florida (USDA-NRCS 1999).

There are probably tens or hundreds of thousands of populations rangewide. Iowa: hundreds; Indiana: thousands; Kansas: 30; Maryland: hundreds; North Carolina: thousands; Nebraska: 25-50+; Rhode Island: 10; South Carolina: hundreds; South Dakota: 40 to 50; Tennessee: several hundred; Vermont: thousands; Manitoba: >8; Quebec: >100 (Brumback and Mehrhoff 1996, APSU 1999).

Since this is such a common species throughout much of its range, these numbers can only be estimates. Additional information on species distribution and the number of populations can be gleaned from county occurrence dot maps (USDA-NRCS 1999).

There is reliable evidence that collecting from wild populations is occurring for the plant trade in Great Smoky Mountains N.P., southern Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee (Rock pers. comm., Kauffman pers. comm.); central Tennessee; Hoosier National Forest and elsewhere in Indiana (Jacquart pers. comm., Homoya pers. comm.). Collecting for the plant trade is suspected in New England (Brumback pers. comm.).

Collection of this species has been observed simultaneously with American ginseng (Rock pers. comm., Corbin pers. comm.). Collection of this species was first observed by Corbin about 4 years ago, and is now much more widespread. Apparently, this species is being actively sought on the Chinese and Korean black market, where it may get prices between $15-30 per pound (dry weight; Corbin pers. comm.). This was the third most-collected species (after ginseng and goldenseal) in Hoosier National Forest prior to the cessation of herb collection permitting there recently (Jacquart pers. comm.). There are consistently low prices for this species and a relatively small but stable market for this species, including toothpaste companies (Blakley pers. comm., Suggs pers. comm.). Wildcrafters and tradesmen are very quiet and proprietary about how much is collected and where (Suggs pers. comm., Penskar pers. comm., Corbin pers. comm.), so information on amounts is very difficult to come by. Most or all material on the market is from wildcrafted sources (Blakley pers. comm., Fletcher pers. comm.). There are reports that migrant workers are now being employed for wildcrafting, resulting in much more thorough collection from populations of other species (Corbin pers. comm.). Small and Catling (1999) claim that most plant material of this species comes from wild areas in the United States. In Tennessee, this plant is collected from the wild and sold as nursery stock in bundles of 50 (Warren Co. Nursery).

According to Kauffman (pers. comm.), collection permits for Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests in North Carolina were for the following amounts (dry weight): 1997 - 5400 lbs.; 1998 - 4500 lbs.; 1999 - 5000 lbs. These amounts may not have been met by actual collections.

Total trade of this species has consistently been estimated at a few thousand pounds (dry weight) per year for the past few years (Blakley pers. comm.). However, a large dealer in herbs based in the southern Appalachians, sold 40,000-55,000 lbs. (dry) in 1999 (Fletcher pers. comm.).

This species appears to have very stable wholesale prices compared to other wildcrafted medicinal herbs such as Cimicifuga and Podophyllum. As such, it probably will continue to experience steady or increased harvesting every year until the cost of cultivated sources drops compared with wild sources (Kauffman pers. comm.).

A person knowledgable about the herbal medicinal trade says that the plant is traded to a fairly significant degree and estimates that 5,000-10,000 pounds of dry root is in U.S. trade each year (M. McGuffin pers. comm.). The root is used so harvest is deadly to the plant.

The plant is apparently an ingredient in the toothpaste Viadent (McGuffin pers. comm.).

As with all native forest herbs, habitat conversion and urban/rural development are significant direct threats (Homoya pers. comm., Enser pers. comm., Kunsman pers. comm., Pearson pers. comm., Punter pers. comm., Steinauer pers. comm.). Equally significant threats include habitat fragmentation and displacement by exotic species (Schafale pers. comm., Homoya pers. comm., Penskar pers. comm., Frye pers. comm., Enser pers. comm., Steinauer pers. comm.). Cattle grazing and surface mining are threats in portions of its range (Ode pers. comm., Punter pers. comm., Steinauer pers. comm.). Introduction of non-native genotypes from other regions in attempt to cultivate this species may be of some concern (Brumback pers. comm.). Feral hogs tend to uproot this species, and therefore may be an additional non-native threat in portions of its range (Schotz pers. comm.).