Distribution Maps

294 distribution maps of medicinal plants found in the western United States.

Michael’s Commentary: These maps represent the areas within which a given plant may be found…in its ecologic niche. An alpine plant such as Sedum roseum will only be found in those high mountain areas within its indicated range…not necessarily throughout the breadth of the “distribution”. Most are native to the western states. Some, such as Phytolacca (Poke), have established stable “colonies”, even though native to eastern North America.

Face it: these are gross representations of subtle reality. 652×787-bit images of a million+ square miles can only crudely approximate. Still, it is interesting to see patterns and to understand the type of locality a plant prefers to grow within…perhaps to aid in cultivation, perhaps to aid in photographing, or even gathering.

As to gathering, tread carefully:

  • Cypripediums, Calypsos and such should NOT be gathered…ever.
  • Cimicifuga elata grows over a far greater area than Salvia leucophylla, but the first is rare, the second profuse.
  • Drosera (Sundew) may LOOK abundant on a pretty map, but actually consist of a few stands of several dozen plants still surviving the last ice age…and drainage canals.

These maps, therefore, represent the range of an individual plant, NOT the abundance of that plant. These maps are derived from a couple of dozen current and out of print botany and range manuals and my own 30 years of personal experience in the field. This is yet another example of my preparing a new book…and getting obsessive about some small part of it…I always figure if it interests ME, it might interest YOU. A few of these plants may seem obscure, but I feel they are important medicinal plants, nonetheless.

I have included some alternate latin names and common names, as well as some of the charming and unique “Weberisms” found in some current Colorado plant manuals.