Other plant medicinals that require CITES certificates for trade include Shi Hu, Xi Yang Shen, and Rou Cong Rong. All are widely cultivated and the cultivated products are the main items in common clinical use. Wild Shi Hu and wild Xi Yang Shen can still be found, but they are strictly controlled for trade.
Most plant products that are CITES listed are ethically fine to use because the cultivated products are the only thing that one will encounter (unless one is specifically seeking out rare, expensive forms). However, there are some quirks- for example, only one species of Rou Cong Rong is listed, so most companies declare that the product used is the unlisted species. Another quirk: it is not uncommon for companies based in Taiwan to have problems with importing CITES-listed products into the USA simply because the certificates can be hard to acquire. When the herbs are sent from China to Taiwan, China considers it a domestic transaction and suppliers often refuse to supply CITES certificates because it isn’t considered international trade. This makes it hard for these herbs to be sent from Taiwan to the USA. Such political issues abound, and some herbs like wild Asian ginseng and cordyceps probably qualify as threatened but remain unlisted because of their importance in trade.