If you want a quick way to lose money in botanicals, buy dried herbs from a supplier who cannot tell you the Latin name of what is in the bag. Herbs are where our list is longest, and also where we ask buyers to slow down.
The ones that are simple
Dandelion leaf and dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale) are familiar to any herbal-tea or wellness buyer. The root can be sold dried or roasted. Horsetail (Equisetum arvense, also called shavegrass), mullein leaf (Verbascum thapsus) and raspberry leaf are the same kind of thing: well-known in European herbal markets, and easy to compare against what you already buy.
Rosemary and lavender come dried. Wild marigold (jangli genda) is sold as dried flowers. Ashwagandha root (Withania somnifera) is available as root or powder; buyers sometimes know it as Indian ginseng or winter cherry.
The ones that are not simple
Kutki (Picrorhiza kurroa), kuth or kut (costus, in seed and powder form) and ratpatiya are the hill herbs our customers usually read about first and understand last. Some of them are rare wild plants, and several species of this kind are protected or regulated: they can fall under CITES listings, Indian forest and export rules, or both.
We are not going to pretend to settle that in a blog post. What we say instead is this: before you commit, ask for the species name, whether the material is wild-collected or cultivated, the permits and transit papers that cover it, and the export documents for your destination. If a supplier is vague, walk away. If you cannot import it in your country, we would much rather tell you now than watch a container sit at a port.
Wild or farmed?
Wild gathering is a living for many hill households, and done well it is seasonal and measured. Done badly it strips a hillside. We work with community groups that follow local custom on how much is taken, and we would like to hear from any buyer who has a view on cultivation. Planting material (black ginger seeds, black turmeric rhizome, oak seeds) is on our list for people who want to grow rather than buy.
Do check what you are actually being sold. If it is wild-collected, ask which valley or district. If it is farmed, ask by whom.
Reading the names
The same plant has three or four names in the trade. A few we see all the time:
- Kapur kachri is also written kapoor kachri; the botanical name is Hedychium spicatum.
- Kali haldi is black turmeric, Curcuma caesia.
- Bichu buti is the Hindi name for stinging nettle, and it turns up in our nettle leaf, seed and oil guide.
- Buransh is the rhododendron flower, sold as dried petals.
How to buy
Start with a small sample of each herb. Send it to your own lab if the money at stake justifies it. Keep the sample paperwork. Then scale up, one species at a time. We say this to every herb buyer because it protects them, and it protects us too.
The whole herb and botanical section is on the catalogue. For the paperwork side, our documents page lists what we can supply.