Consultants from the Centre for Non-Timber Resources at Royal Roads University were
contracted to facilitate the development of the plant identification practice. Development
of the practice was largely based on two main activities:
a review of the literature, both published and unpublished, related to the topic
of plant identification for the medicinal herbs industry. This review included
examining any existing protocols for plant identification; and
expert consultations with representatives of the industry, government,
associations, and educational institutions, drawn from both Canada and the
United States.
The Plant Identification Working Group convened two
workshops and a number of conference calls where the plant identification
practice described in this document (and the references and other supporting
materials discussed) was developed and edited.
Literature Review
A number of documents were reviewed to survey existing approaches to plant
identification relevant to the herbal industry. The key documents identified are
summarized in a comparison table following this section. In summary, limited materials
were located with information specific to plant identification. Overwhelmingly, the
material located that was not included in this table stressed the importance of plant
identification in the production of safe and effective herbal medicines, but provided no
indication of how this proper identification might occur. A detailed discussion of the
literature review is provided below.
Expert consultations
Two face-to-face expert consultations were held with national and international (United
States) representatives from the industry, interested associations, the research and
educational sector, and government (see Appendix vi. for a listing of participants)
including the WHO from Geneva. The first meeting was held in Vancouver on January
31 – February 1, and due to the tight deadlines for the project, the second meeting was
held two weeks later in Guelph (February 16). The time between the meetings was used
to revise the draft identification process created during the Vancouver meeting. A
number of teleconferences were also held to seek input into drafts of the plant
identification verification process. In both meetings the draft identification practice was
‘workshopped’ to ensure clarity and accuracy of the results. The results of these efforts
will be described below and are contained in the Recommended Practices for Plant
Identification which appear later in the document.
