Did you know that the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy used to have a medicinal plant garden? Work officially began on the garden in March 1941, with planting starting on April 19, 1941, but according to the May 1941 issue of The Bulletin, ideas for such a garden had actually been in the works for two years prior, the difficulty was securing a location. Through the generous cooperation of Dr. E.D. Merrill, the Administrator of the Harvard University Botanical Collections, and his associate Dr. Donald Wyman, a plot of land became available for the garden on the grounds of the Bussey Institution adjoining the Arnold Arboretum. This medicinal garden was financed and operated by the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy but was open to any visitors at the Arnold Arboretum. The garden occupied about two acres of land, and was laid out in rectangular, circular, and crescentic beds under the direction of Dr. Heber W. Youngken Sr. and Dr. Maynard W. Quimby.
Pictured: Dr. Heber W Youngken Sr. (left) | Dr. Maynard W. Quimby (right)
By early summer 1941, 382 different species and varieties of medicinal and other plants of economic importance had been planted. A full list of the species planted in 1941 can be found in Youngken's article The Medicinal Plant Garden of the Massachusetts College Pharmacy in the June 19, 1942 issue of the Arnoldia.
Pictured: In the Medicinal Plant Garden, 1942
The garden received considerable attention, getting coverage shortly after planting began in both The Boston Sunday Post and The Daily Boston Globe.
Pictured: "New England Seeks to Become Nation's Source of Medicinal Herbs," The Boston Sunday Post, October 26, 1941
According to Youngken in The Medicinal Plant Garden of the Massachusetts College Pharmacy from the June 19, 1942 issue of the Arnoldia, the purpose of the garden was the following:
The purposes of the garden are (1) to provide added facilities for the teaching of Botany and Pharmacognosy by enabling students to see and study the growing medicinal, oil-yielding and aromatic plants which yield many of our drugs and condiments, (2) to provide authentic plant materials needed for class work and investigation, (3) to ascertain which medicinal plants of exotic origin can be grown successfully in this part of New England, (4) to endeavor to ascertain what nutrient and other factors are essential to the yield of drugs of superior quality.
The garden also served as an important resource for the community, especially given the time period. According to the announcement in the May 1941 issue of The Bulletin,
Always a valuable supplement to courses in botany and pharmacognosy, a medicinal plant garden has become the object of considerable popular attention because of the increasing interest in the cultivation of culinary herbs. Garden clubs everywhere are recognizing this trend. Then, too, the war blockades which have cut off the importation of many medicinal plants, such as belladonna and hyoscyamus, have stimulated thought as to the desirability of producing as many as possible of these vegetable drugs within our own country. Thereby medicinal plants have become linked with national defense and a great popular interest has been aroused in a field previously left pretty much to scientists.
Pictured: Views in the Medicinal Plant Garden, collage used in issues of The Bulletin throughout the 1940’s
Additionally, by 1944, the garden was used to conduct experiments on the culture of medicinal plants in connection with the work for the Committee on Botany and Pharmacognosy of the United States Pharmacopoeia. By the 1950's, more graduate students started to use the garden more for their research in pharmacognosy, and in connection with some of this research, we developed a service to supply seeds of select plants for use in gardens similar to the Medicinal Plant Garden in other parts of the world.
In 1959-1960, we began referring to the garden as the Economic Plant Garden, and it remained an important part of our curriculum as well as research for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy until the 1960's.
Pictured: The Herb Society of America visiting the Medicinal Plant Garden in 1952
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