Herbs and Fungi to Watch - Natural Product Testing

June 2024

Here are the herbs & fungi we’re watching for the first half of 2024. These are all from TLC Identity failures. For questions on methodologies, contact your Alkemist rep.

Echinacea purpurea/Echinacea purpurea
Eleutherococcus senticosus/Eleuthero
Ganoderma lucidum/Reishi
Gynostemma pentaphyllum/Gynostemma
Hericium erinaceus/Lion’s mane
Malus pumila/Apple
Melissa officinalis/Lemon balm
Nasturtium officinale/watercress
Olea europaea/olive
Rhodiola rosea/Rhodiola
Sambucus nigra/Elderberry, European elder
Serenoa repens/Saw palmetto
Siraitia grosvenorii/Luo han guo, monk fruit
Stevia rebaudiana/Stevia
Taraxacum officinale/dandelion
Trifolium pratense/Red clover
Urtica dioica/Nettle, stinging nettle
Vangueria agrestis/Bakin gagai (Hausa)
Vitis vinifera/grape
Withania somnifera/Ashwagandha

January 2024

Our most failed herb of 2023 was: sambucus nigra! It was on the failure list for the whole year. We had thought this problem was created by the early Covid-related spike in demand and would have worked its way through the supply chain by now, but nope – we’re still seeing a lot of failures. Here’s the entire list:

Althaea officinalis
Cinnamomum verum Also on the March list
Citrus x aurantium
Dioscorea villosa
Eleutherococcus senticosus
Foeniculum vulgare
Hericium erinaceus Also on the September list
Huperzia serrata Also on the March list
Malus pumila
Matricaria recutita Also on the September list
Panax ginseng Also on the September list
Paullinia cupana
Salix sp.
Sambucus nigra Also on the March & September list – Year long winner/looser
Siraitia grosvenorii
Sophora japonica Also on the March list
Urtica dioica Also on the September list
Vaccinium macrocarpon
Vitis vinifera Also on the September list
Withania somnifera Also on the September list

Our clients tend to be the best of the best so we don’t see as many failures as other labs might. And keep in mind that this is a representative list of the products our manufacturer clients are testing before they put them into their products and not necessarily a reflection of finished products in the marketplace.

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