Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

We don't have any lists of specific native plants that can be used as herbs--culinary, medicinal, or otherwise--but I can suggest several approaches to finding out which plants native to Ohio might fit that description. First of all, the Herb Society of America is located in Ohio near Cleveland. They certainly would be a good source for information about herbs and, perhaps, they have information about which of the herbs have a native counterpart in Ohio and what their uses are. There is an excellent database, Native American Ethnobotany, from the University of Michigan that has information about uses of native plants by Native Americans. You can search the database by plant name (common or scientific) or by use of the plant (culinary, medicinal, ailment treated, etc.). Once you find the particular herb or herbal use you are looking for, you can then determine if it is native to Ohio by searching in our Native Plants Database and/or in the USDA Plants Database. You might also like to visit the web page of the National Herb Garden, a part of the United States National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Our Native Plant Bibliography can provide you with a list of books relating to medicinal and herbal plants.