goldenseal, brazi nuts, frankincense, licorice root and gum arabic laid across dark leather.

Everyday foods and cosmetics that use wild plants may be harming the environment

Shea, argan, licorice, and more: Behind products like lotion, shampoos, and tea, complex supply chains hide environmental and social risks.

Wild plants—such as Brazil nuts and licorice root (above) and frankincense, goldenseal, and gum arabic (below)—are used in food, cosmetics, and medicine. But little thought is given to where they’re found or how they’re harvested.

The chocolate you eat, the moisturizer you use, the tea you drink—these everyday products contain ingredients from wild plants. The way those plants—many of them threatened—are harvested may be damaging the environment and exploiting workers, a recent report found.

The UN-affiliated report by wildlife trade experts highlights 12 plants: frankincense, shea, Brazil nut, juniper, licorice, baobab, argan, candelilla, pygeum, jatamansi, gum arabic, and goldenseal.

Plant derivatives in household products often have “flown under the radar,” says Caitlin Schindler, lead author of the report and a project manager at Traffic, a nonprofit that monitors the sustainability of the wildlife trade. They “sit there somewhere in the middle of the ingredients list” on product labels. Even if consumers notice ingredient names, there’s

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