Horticultural Characteristics of 69 Herbaceous Medicinal Plants as Plant Resources for Agro-Healing Applications

Background and objective: Agro-healing (also known as care farming or social farming), which utilizes agricultural resources, has gained attention since the enactment of the Agro-Healing Act in 2021. Medicinal plants, traditionally used for the prevention and treatment of diseases, have strong potential as resources for agro-healing programs. However, systematic data on suitable plant resources remain limited. This study aimed to identify herbaceous medicinal plants and analyze their horticultural characteristics to assess their suitability for agro-healing applications.Methods: Among the 761 medicinal plants authorized by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (as of May 2024), 69 herbaceous species were selected after excluding those with low applicability. The selection was based on criteria including availability, plant type, and growth characteristics. The selected plants were analyzed in terms of life form, family, flowering season, flower color, harvesting season, sowing season, and edible parts.Results: The majority of the selected species were perennial herbs (74%), predominantly from the Asteraceae and Lamiaceae families. Flowering and harvesting seasons were mainly in summer and autumn. The most common flower colors were white (29%) and yellow (27%). Leaves were the most frequently consumed edible parts, accounting for 28%.Conclusion: These findings provide practical criteria for selecting medicinal plants for use in agro-healing programs and suggest directions for future research, including expanded applications and interdisciplinary integration.