Customer Reviews

Edible and Useful Plants of California (California Natural History Guides)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have quite a few "nature" books on my shelf, and at least 5 on plant identification. I was a tad bit leary when I ordered this book, thinking that it would just become another dust gatherer. Boy was I wrong. It is one of the easiest reads I have ever seen on this subject. You do not have to have a degree in botany to get into, and begin to use the info in this book. It has rekindled my desire to learn more about the plant-life around me. If you live, and play outdoors in California, then I would definately recomend this book, and some of the recipes listed in this book really are to die for ( and I am not talking about the chapter on poisonous plant identification ).

As a former graduate student in botany I have almost 100 books on botany and plant identification, and this is one of the most fun and easiest to use guides that I have. It's not a rigorous guide, but it's not meant to be, since it focuses on the edible and useful plants of California. About a hundred species are covered, if I remember right (cut me some slack here since it's been awhile since I picked it up), and the notes on their herbal or culinary use, which I don't know as much about, increased my knowledge there.

This would probably be one of the best books for an amateur to get their feet wet identifying plants because it limits itself to one topic and many of the easier species to identify. Plus you'll learn about how various plants they have been used in the past and continue to be useful today.

For example, to mention just one, ceanothus, of which there are about 40 species in California, was used both as a tea substitute and tobacco substitute by the early settlers. And it's easily identifiable by the three prominent veins on the underside of the leaf, as well as the small, pretty clusters of violet flowers. Most of the 40 odd species are low growing herbs or bushes, but the largest species can be a 40 foot tall tree.

Overall, a fine book and one that imparts a lot of fun, useful information.

i thought this would be a good book to reference when outdoors, but this book has a few problems. some of the descriptions dont explain the uses for the plants, just how to prepare it. i understand its not a medicinal plant book, but even so, useful plants should have a decent description of their uses. also, the index is virtually useless, the plants that i tried to search for using the index, just brought me to pages that mentioned the plant, not the page with the plant's info on it.

Wasn't very good. It is hard for a book like this to be helpful without color pictures.

Clearly written guide to edible plants with recipes and well told descriptions. I enjoyed every page.

This book is quite thorough. There are pictures, but not as many as there could be to make the book excellent. Books that try to describe the differences between two plants that look alike, but one is poisonous and the other is a useful herb, should provide large numbers of color pictures.

Edible and Useful Plants of California (California Natural History Guides)

If you are interested in wild plants, this is a good book for identification. The recipes provided are easy and delicious. I have already prepared Purslane (Verdolaga) in her recipe titled, "Verdolagas Con Queso" -- Excellent! There are many more I can't wait to try. Excellent book by Charlotte Bringle Clarke.

This book is very well written, fun to read, and informative. I purchased it for baclground information on an historical novel, but found myself reading it just for fun.