A guide to 32 of the best and most common edible wild plants in North America, with detailed information on how to identify them, where they are found, how and when they are harvested, which parts are used, how they are prepared, as well as their culinary use, ecology, conservation, and cultural history.

    This book presents principles and methods of assessment using a combination of the helpful Ayurvedic and modern techniques.

    Judy Burris and Wayne Richards include more than 400 full-color, up-close images that present the life cycles of 23 common North American butterflies in amazing detail. Watch caterpillars hatch from eggs, eat and grow, form into chrysalides, emerge as colorful butterflies, and fly through the air. You’ll also learn which plants butterflies avoid and which native species they’re attracted to, so you can create your own backyard butterfly haven.

    As a subsistence farmer, he builds his own house and barn, puts in a garden and an orchard, acquires a milk cow, and takes up beekeeping. In these pages, we hear his thoughts on such subjects as the weather, seasonal changes, machinery repair, the flora and fauna of the region, and vegetarian cooking. His philosophy, like his lifestyle, is simple, yet profoundly wise.

    Growing Carnivorous Plants is a comprehensive guide to identifying and cultivating these remarkable plants. From the well-known Venus flytrap to obscure African sundews, from the giant pitcher plant vines of Borneo the microscopic bladderworts of Florida, more than 200 species, hybrids and cultivars from all genera of carnivorous plants are described. Included are explanations of the fascinating and diverse mechanisms the plants use to trap their victims. Imitating a plant's natural environment is the key to success in growing carnivorous plants, and this book will help readers select the best plants to grow on a windowsill, in a terrarium or greenhouse. Information on how to feed carnivorous plants will enable even the most squeamish grower to ensure that plants receive the nutrients they require. The book's 400 photographs include both spectacular images from the wild and lovely plants in cultivation.

    The best way to weed out the invaders is with this fiendishly clever guide to native plants that can seek and destroy the top 100 most unwelcome perennials, grasses, vines, shrubs, and trees. While replacing the invaders, the beautiful, hardy native plants described here also attract native birds and butterflies, while turning away their own enemy invaders. Word-and-picture guides provide tips on care and maintenance, while helpful at a glance boxes depict shapes, sizes, best locations, and most attractive features of each native alternative.

    Charing explore the use of one of the major allies of shamans for healing, seeing, dreaming, and empowerment--plant spirits. After observing great similarities in the use of plants among shamans throughout the world, they discovered the reason behind these similarities: Rather than dealing with the “medical properties” of the plants or specific healing techniques, shamans commune with the spirits of the plants themselves. From their years of in-depth shamanic work in the Amazon, Haiti, and Europe, including extensive field interviews with master shamans, Heaven and Charing present the core methods of plant shamanism used in healing rituals the world over: soul retrieval, spirit extraction, sin eating, and the Amazonian tradition of pusanga (love medicine). They explain the techniques shamans use to establish connections to plant spirits and provide practical exercises as well as a directory of traditional Amazonian and Caribbean healing plants and their common North American equivalents so readers can ex-plore the world of plant spirits and make allies of their own.

    Always appreciated but not always recognized, now these beauties can easily be identified with Wildflowers in the Field and Forest, the most inclusive field guide available to the wildflowers of the northeastern United States. Designed for easy use, the book features two-page spreads with descriptive text and range maps on one side facing pages of color photos on the other. The descriptions are concise, but thorough, and the range maps show both where the plant grows and what time of year it is likely to be in bloom. Plants are grouped by flower color, usually the feature first noticed by the observer. The species are subsequently grouped by petal arrangement, type of leaves, and number of flower parts as indicated in the quick characters box at the top of each page. There is also a simple key in the beginning of the book that allows one to quickly narrow the search to a few pages. In addition to the more common and conspicuous wildflowers, many of the lesser known, and often overlooked, species are also depicted. Full-color photos generally show the flowers of the plant, and while insets of leaves (and occasionally fruits) are often included to help in identification. A bar on each photo allows users to accurately judge the actual size of each flower. Both serious botanists and casual nature observers will welcome this beautifully illustrated and expertly detailed guide.- The most comprehensive field guide for the northeastern United States, including New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with additional coverage of adjacent areas in eastern Canada- Over 1,400 species are described; nearly all are illustrated by beautiful color photographs- Photographs accurately depict the flowers; insets show details of leaves and other features- Photos, descriptions, and maps on facing pages make the book simple to use- Color-coded maps indicate both the range of the species and the time when it is in bloom

    Long before formal science enabled us to take a systematic approach to medicine, healers used plants to alleviate pain, ease the symptoms of dozens of diseases, and treat complaints of every kind. And today, countless people still use medicinal plants, whether in traditional roles or as building blocks for new research and innovative drugs. Featuring 350 full-color photographs, botanical drawings, and maps, this accessible, fact-filled book is based on the work of renowned botanical experts and presents alphabetically arranged, beautifully illustrated entries for hundreds of plants touted for millennia to soothe, even heal. Each is clearly described, with full details of its physical appearance and medicinal uses; its origins and geographic distribution, how it's harvested and used in conventional and alternative medicine, a range map; and more. It's also a fascinating medical chronicle filled with informative sidebars on everything from ancient folklore to the latest research. Readers learn how aspirin evolved from a concoction of willow bark to the familiar white pill of today, how the foxglove's flowery beauty contributes to the potent heart drug digitalis, and how many other now common treatments have deep historical and cultural roots. It's a journey that starts many centuries ago in remote places like the Amazon rain forest, where shamans practiced their powerful curative magic of plants, and leads to the high-tech pharmaceutical labs of today's scientists working to discover new plant-based drugs that can be used effectively to treat diseases major and minor alike, from cancer to the common cold.

    The book invites the reader to explore native plants in their wild habitats and offers step-by-step ethical harvesting guidelines while emphasizing conservation issues. The author is a well-respected medical herbalist and teacher who lives in the mountains of north Georgia. Praise for Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians. "This is one volume that I want to own as we enter the post-corporate age: a priceless guide to Southern plant alchemy. This practical yet enchanting botanical brings an ancient art to modernity. These pages are as rich as the cove forests they honor. Even to peruse Howell's manual is healing, and exhilarating, not only because of the book's inherent beauty, but because it contains vital knowledge all of us will need as fossil fuels dwindle and we return to the local. One day this book may save your life." Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Wild Card Quilt and Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land "An elegant introduction presented in a clear-as-a-bell style that educates as well as entertains." Peter Loewer, author of The Wild Gardener and Jefferson's Garden "There are many comprehensive volumes about medicinal plants in other regions of North America but none for the botanically rich southeast. Now, a widely experienced and knowledgeable herbalist has written a thorough guide to the virtues of Yellow Root, Rabbit Tobacco, Dogwood Bark, Sweet Fern and other better known herbs of the region. From Howell's book, readers can learn to use local plants safely and consciously to improve the health of their families or patients." David Winston, RH (AHG), Dean, Herbal Therapeutics School of Herbal Medicine "An excellent, much needed resource on Southeastern herbs. Well thought out and easy to follow." Tim Blakely, co-author of The Bootstrap Guide to Medicinal Herbs in the Garden, Field and Marketplace "I often remind veterinarians that the foundation of botanical medicine lies in the experience of learning all aspects of medicinal plants thoroughly. This book guides the reader out of the classroom and into the fields and forest where plants become, to the student, more tangible sources of healing. Recommended for any practitioner who wants to deepen their understanding of our native apothecary." Susan Wynn, DVM, RH (AHG), Executive Director, Veterinary Botanical Medical Assoc.

    Here are seven of his stories collected in one handsome volume: "The Tiny Seed," "Pancakes, Pancakes!," "The Mountain That Loved A Bird," "Walter The Baker," "A House for Hermit Crab," "The Greedy Python," and "Rooster's Off to See the World." Dazzling collages of hand-painted tissue paper will entice young readers to become acquainted with numbers, the seasons, and the days of the week as they read. A tiny seed travels through fall, winter, spring, and summer looking for a place to grow into a flower. Jack gathers ingredients for pancakes and learns how to cook, flip, and finish them. A little bird brings a renewal of life and happiness to a lonely, barren mountain. Walter the baker must invent a tasty roll through which the rising sun can shine three times. Hermit Crab learns that in order to grow, one must be willing to move on. A python is so excessively greedy that is finally eats itself. And Rooster sets off to see the wide world in a day-long adventure. These seven stories, each representing the best of picture-book master Eric Carle, will excite the imaginations of children and encourage their curiousity about the world around them.

    They can be as tiny as a blade of grass or as huge as a redwood tree. No matter how big they are, all plants need food to grow. Some plants make their own food. But others catch their meals!In Plants!, TIME For Kids(r) explores the world's varied vegetation.

    But apart from having an important role in the web of life, nettles are an incredibly useful plant to mankind. They have been put to myriad uses by our ancestors, and many of these are still valid today. Already stinging nettle products are growing in popularity in the field of alternative medicine, as their wide range of health benefits becomes better known. This unique book explores the diverse uses of this fascinating plant - in the garden and the kitchen, for their medical and fibrous properties and so on. It is packed with practical suggestions, as well as a guide to the botany of stinging nettles, and how to collect and store them. For example, you will discover how to use nettles to: make a liquid plant fertiliser brew an unusual beer make a dandruff treatment protect beehives flavour an omelette make friendship bracelets repel flies naturally make green or yellow fabric dyes keep yourself warm in the winter and much more ... The many health benefits of taking nettles in various forms include relief from: hay fever and other allergies; acne and other skin conditions; arthritis and rheumatism; asthma; stress; high blood pressure; depression; enlarged prostate gland. The book also features Digital Nettle Art!

    This conservation story, The Search for Lost Habitats, illustrated with over 450 colored slides taken by the author and friends, follows him as he explores the flora of the Lake Erie dunes, the fens and bogs of northeast Ohio, and the prairies and rocky outcrops near the Ohio River, among many other habitat types. Soon he branches out to include the other states around the upper Great Lakes, as well as the province of Ontario in Canada, with chapters on the limestone barrens of Manitoulin Island, southeast Minnesota's "Driftless Area," river bottoms in northern Illinois, and many other locations. Occasionally the author studies a single plant family, such as orchids, gentians, and mallows, and describes his adventures in finding the rare habitats that these colorful species require. Although written in a journalistic, easy-to-read, and often humorous style that avoids much of the technical botanical terminology of textbooks and scholarly articles, these first-person narratives are factual and accurate. They will appeal to home gardeners, professional botanists and naturalists, and anyone in between who enjoys a good yarn about adventures in the natural world. Perry Peskin has enjoyed the natural world ever since elementary-school days, when he tramped through the woods covering the hills behind his native Cumberland, in western Maryland. Later he explored the trails through the park system of his second home, the metropolitan area of Cleveland, Ohio. Choosing biology as a minor at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University, Peskin went on many three-hour field trips in his botany classes through habitats he never knew existed--a practice continued throughout a lifetime. As a high-school English teacher, in several schools in and around Cleveland, he encouraged his students to write descriptive essays by going on three-hour walks on their own and then writing about their experiences and feelings. Even before retirement, he started writing about the natural world in first-person essays that reflected the viewpoint of an inquiring reporter rather than a scholar. Seventeen articles on Ohio and neighboring states, including Ontario, Canada, make up the contents of the present book, starting with a 1975 visit to a Pennsylvania bog and ending with a 2004 field trip to Kentucky's Natural Bridge State Park, sponsored by the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District. Another 15 articles are ready to be combined into Book 2, which will cover various parts of North America from Alaska to Costa Rica. Retired from teaching for 23 years, Peskin still makes his home in the Cleveland area. He and his wife Carolyn have gone on many eco-tours throughout North and parts of South America as well as England and France, observing habitats as varied as the Arctic tundra, the deserts of the Southwest, and the tropical rain forests.

    Perhaps less than one tenth of one percent of this vast prairie remains—small patches tucked away here and there, once serving as hay meadows or sprouting from rock too stony to plow. Matt White’s connections with both prairie plants and prairie people are evident in the stories of discovery and inspiration he tells as he tracks the ever dwindling parcels of tallgrass prairie in northeast Texas. In his search, he stumbles upon some unexpected fragments of virgin land, as well as some remarkable tales of both destruction and stewardship. Helping us understand what a prairie is and how to appreciate its beauty and importance, White also increases our awareness of prairies, past and present, so that we might champion their survival in whatever small plots remain.

    Early twentieth-century ethnologist Frances Densmore recorded traditions and techniques relayed by dozens of Ojibwe women to create this invaluable handbook perfect for readers interested in Native American art and culture, organic gardening, natural remedies, and living off the land. Brenda J. Child offers a fresh introduction focusing on the power of female healers in Native communities.

    Today, coffee, cacao, and rubber are threatened by fungi throughout the tropics. Indeed, fungi have carved their way through the ages, attacking every plant that we cultivate, constantly exploiting new hosts. In The Triumph of the Fungi, Nicholas Money offers an intimate picture of these pernicious microbes, the scientists who have sought to control them, and the people directly impacted by the loss of forest trees and cash crops. Even with the development of fungicides and other scientific breakthroughs, fungi continue to be unstoppable - this is the story of their triumph.

    Its species range from Canada south through southern Mexico and from coast to coast, and there are forms from ground-hugging mats through shrubs to trees. A complete horticultural and botanical treatment of the genus aimed at both gardeners and botanists, this book finally gives Ceanothus — with so many plants that tolerate sun and shade, thrive in arid conditions, and bear a profusion of beautiful, fragrant flowers — the recognition it deserves.

    A highly respected horticulturalist and practitioner who is also a gifted writer, Smith shares his years of experience growing native California plants in this lively, informative book. Rather than being a systematic “how-to” manual, Native Treasures combines Smith’s personal thoughts, sometimes maverick opinions, and matchless expertise with practical advice on selected groups of native plants and their culture. The author explains how California’s diverse terrain, climate, and geology support a wealth of plant species—more than 6000—and offers suggestions for designing with most of the major natives in cultivation, as well as with some more obscure but garden-worthy groups. With an engaging narrative and a wealth of illustrations, this ode to beauty and diversity celebrates California’s rich store of native plants and encourages readers to visit them in their native haunts and invite them into their gardens.* Describes the use of plants in varying landscapes and gardens* State of the art propagation techniques* Beautifully illustrated with color photos and line drawings

    The Kawasumis provide detailed, easy-to-follow information about growing bonsai from seedlings or beginner plants; expert advice on shaping, pruning, training, grafting and repotting trees; and new techniques for using tools. And, although the Kawasumi family is worldrenowned for their bonsai tool design, their instructions allow gardeners to improvise with other readily-accessible bonsai, gardening or even simple workshop tools. Step-by-step photographs accompany the text, many in full-color. Masakuni Kawasumi III, the first qualified tree doctor for bonsai in Japan, contributes his unique insights to make this an invaluable resource for beginners and experienced enthusiasts alike.