Edible Wild Plants and Herbs: A Pocket Guide [Paperback]

Alan M. Cvancara (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2001 | Series: Ragged Mountain Press Pocket Guides

Ragged Mountain Press Pocket Guides are jam-packed with the no-frills, real-life advice and reassurance anyone heading out needs for a successful, safe, and rewarding trip. Designed for quick reference, Ragged Mountain Press Pocket Guides fit easily into a backpack, pocket, or dry bag, and are attractively packaged in water-resistant and tear-resistant covers. Ragged Mountain Press Pocket Guides offer the seasoned advice of some of the country’s most respected experts—an unparalleled reservoir of information in a compact package. Edible Wild Plants and Herbs provides concise, easy-to-understand details on the identification and edibility of 50 of the most common plants in the U.S. and Canada. Readers get a tutorial on preparing plants to eat and finding fresh water for cooking, as well as lists of common poisonous plants to avoid. Featuring sharp, revealing photographs that make identification a snap, this handsome field guide will be a cherished tool in every outdoor explorer’s kit.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Like having a trusted guide at your side

If you can't take Alan Cvancara with you, take this book.

Ingenious, simple, and eminently practical, Edible Wild Plants and Herbs: A Ragged Mountain Press Pocket Guide is the quickest way to truly know and enjoy what's around you, whether you're in the backyard or the backcountry. Here are concise, easy-to-understand details to identify and use 50 common plants and herbs. Next to your water bottle, this book could be the most important item you pack.

Alan Cvancara, an ardent conservationist, has spent decades studying wild edible plants, and his sensible and responsible advice shows how to enjoy these useful plants while preserving their future. Here he has organized plants by season and by habitat--including forests, grasslands, deserts, tundras, freshwater shores, and seacoasts. Cvancara has carefully selected plants and herbs that are easy to identify, occur widely throughout the United States and Canada, and have more than one use. You'll learn four ways to eat yuccas and how to use them as a source of soap and needle and thread. You'll discover how rose petals work like bandages, and that cattails stuffed into boots provide wonderful insulation.

Here also are tips for finding water, vital nutrition information, and how to steer clear of common poisonous plants.

PACK IT and GO.

About the Author

Alan Cvancara, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of geology at the University of North Dakota and now resides in Wyoming. He has studied edible wild plants for more than 30 years and is the author of A Field Manual for the Amateur Geologist, Exploring Nature in Winter, At the Water's Edge, and Sleuthing Fossils.

Product Details

• Paperback: 109 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (February 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071368272
• ISBN-13: 978-0071368278
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 4.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,232,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Color photographs would be helpful, September 28, 2004

By 

Dyer (Norwich, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edible Wild Plants and Herbs: A Pocket Guide (Paperback)

This pocket guide is very informative; however, every photograph inside this book of edible wild plants and herbs is black and white. This makes identifying plants and herbs a challenge.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surviving Anywhere, March 25, 2003

By 

TotalEarthGirl "Kilroy" (Millville, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edible Wild Plants and Herbs: A Pocket Guide (Paperback)

This book will fit nice and neatly in any backpack. It's a must if your traveling through these areas listed in the book.

It goes through what plants or parts of trees you can eat, how to cook them, in different nature settings (woods, tundra, seashore).

It also teaches about poisonous plants and a chapter on how
to find water then purify it.

Very intesting and informational book.