Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest: A Practical Guide [Paperback]

Delena Tull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1999

All around us there are wild plants good for food, medicine, clothing, and shelter, but most of us don't know how to identify or use them. Delena Tull amply supplies that knowledge in this book, one of the first focused specifically on plants that grow in Texas and surrounding regions of the South and Southwest. Extensively illustrated with black-and-white drawings and color photos, this book includes the following special features: • Recipes for foods made from edible wild plants. • Wild teas and spices. • Wild plant dyes, with instructions for preparing the plants and dying wool, cotton, and other materials. • Instructions for preparing fibers for use in making baskets, textiles, and paper. • Information on wild plants used for making rubber, wax, oil, and soap. • Information on medicinal uses of plants. • An identification guide to hay fever plants and plants that cause rashes. • Instructions for distinguishing edible from poisonous berries. • Detailed information on poisonous plants, including poison ivy, oak, and sumac, as well as herbal treatments for their rashes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 542 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292781644
• ISBN-13: 978-0292781641
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I really wanted to love this book, December 26, 2006

By 

Eric W. Brown "Rennisance Geek" (Austin, tx United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest: A Practical Guide (Paperback)

The information is great, but the organization is lacking.. At least for my uses.

I bought this book becuase I wanted to learn the edible plants of texas,both as a reference to browse, and as a book to look up plants I've located in it....

It is organized for netiher. If you already know a plant by scientific name, or common name then you can easily look up the plant in the index, but if not it's something of a task.

The plants are alphabetical, no big suprise there... but the sketches are few, and the color plates are all in a center section of 16 pages and 4 plants each... I sincerley doubt (although I have not counted) that all the plants are represented. The color plates dont' have page references so to find the detail information, you need to go back to the index again.

So as i said, if you already know the plants by name, it's fine to look them up in. But if you want to browse through to find aplant you see, or
look it up by characteristics... it's not terribly useful. If you want to browse through to familiarise yourself with the flora... again.. not useful.

Again in summary, Information good, organization, poor for my uses.

I was very disapointed in the usefulness of the book itself.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive on edible and useful Texas plants, September 21, 2001

By 

P. Brown (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest: A Practical Guide (Paperback)

I have been interested in edible plants in Texas since attendng a class this March given by a member of Texas Agricutural Extension Service where we foraged for our lunch after class, in the woods. This book is so extensive, includng recipes (I'm a cook), I found a lot of nutritious. medicinal plants in my backyard's weeds this spring. I was prompted to want to forage more.I would recommend it to everyone who wants more information than just the books for use by campers. I also have Edible Wild Plants by Peterson, which I also like, that has photographs and drawings but is not as extensive as Ms. Tull's book. Texas loss is Alaska's gain!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for Texan plant enthusiasts, August 25, 2005

By 

Erin Spiker "Knitter and Dairy Goat Queen" (Seguin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest: A Practical Guide (Paperback)

I found this book in my local library, and knew I couldn't live without it. As a beginning spinner and yarn dyer, I found the information that the authoress provides invaluable. I especially enjoyed the step-by-step dyeing instructions, and the categories of the table of contents: toxicity is so NICE to know right away!