Because of the practice of ingesting goldenseal to affect the outcome of drug testing, some drug testing labs are now testing for presence of goldenseal in urinalysis. If this use of goldenseal subsided, it would return to a more rational place in herbal medicine as an antiinflammatory and antibiotic. Since herbs began to become popular again, from the 1970s onward, goldenseal has been among the most popular Native American herbs. It has been estimated that upwards of 250,000 pounds of goldenseal root is sold each year. Since herbs have made the jump from the health and natural food market to the mass market in the 1990s, goldenseal demand has increased dramatically.
Most goldenseal is wild-harvested.
Botanists know the plant as Hydrastis canadensis . It is a member of the buttercup family that occurs in rich woods in the eastern deciduous forest. Goldenseal occurs from Vermont to Minnesota, south to Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas. As early as 1884, John Uri Lloyd and Curtis Gates Lloyd noted dramatic declines in wild populations, to an extent as a result of root harvest, but more so as the result of habitat loss through deforestation. While over-harvesting has been blamed for supply shortages, the Lloyd brothers paint a complex picture of economic and social reasons for periodic shortages providing arguments indicating that decrease in areas or populations is not necessarily accompanied by a decreased supply.