Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America: Nature's Green Feast

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

 

 

This book is big and almost too thorough. It really is like an encyclopedia. It includes lots of plants which are only marginally edible and hard to find. On the other hand, you will have a hard time finding an edible plant out there that is not listed. There are some illustrations, but they are not useful for identifying the plants -- you will definitely need a field guide if you are just getting started and don't know much about identification. The book is interspersed with historical information and anecdotes which add a lot to the whole picture of a plant, as well as making it a bit easier to remember. This book is best read in tandem with another book that takes the topic from a different perspective.

This book is what it says it is, an encyclopedia. It provides very detailed descriptions on a very large database of plants. It would be close to impossible to use alone as a means of identifying plants in the field, so it is best used as a cross reference to a field guide. Recommended field guides would be "A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America" by the Petersons, and "Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West", By Gregory L. Tilford for the western region. I have all three of these, and use the two field guides for identification purposes, and the Encyclopedia for verification and usage.

The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America, by Francois Couplan, Ph.D. is "a reference for all people interested in learning about the numerous opportunities nature offers us in the form of healthful, intriguing, often delicious vegetables and fruits that we do not have to grow to enjoy."

Couplan provides information for approximately 4000 varieties of wild plants, much of it based on his personal experience.

An ethnobotanist, Couplan began writing his Encyclopedia 25 years ago. During that time he traveled extensively, spending "a lot of time in the woods with very little in my backpack, finding my food in the plants I gathered." He took copious notes and presented "wild gastronomy" workshops, while also continuing his academic research and studies.

Plants are listed by their Latin names, however the index includes the common names.

Information for each plant includes a rating of how edible it is, how abundant it is, and where it grows. Etymology of most names are provided also; thus readers learn that dandelion comes from the French words for lion's tooth, because of the shape of the leaves.

Couplan describes how to prepare edible parts of the plant, and how they taste. He also discusses the nutritive values and medicinal properties of each plant. Where relevant, he provides information on other uses, such as dyes, soaps, and basketry. Endangered species are noted. The book does not include illustrations and is not intended for use as an identification manual.

Anyone who has ever wondered if a particular plant could be eaten, or how to harvest and prepare it, will find The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America informative and interesting. People wishing to add a little variety to their diet will find lots of suggestions, and those who use plants for healing will appreciate the medicinal details.

Although it lacks color pictures, it is by far the most complete listing of edible plants that I've ever seen (over 4000 plants covered) and tells you how to identify and use EVERY part of a plant from the Flower to the Leaf to the Bark to the Root (and any other part that may be usable) If your into long term survival or just want a snack on the trail, this book has it covered.

I found this book totaly usless for my purposes. The drawings were useless, and descriptions would help no one in the outdoors other than those persons already familiar with the plants. The entire book (for me at least) was totally self serving for the writer & the editors view. not recommened. Try "Living Off The Land" by McNabb.

This book is an excellent reference for food uses of thousands of common edible North American plant species. It is not a field guide -- i.e. it is not meant to help you identify plants -- it is a REFERENCE to help you determine the uses of plants you already know how to identify.

For the most part, the few pictures suck, but this doesn't matter -- just use this book along with a good field guide for your region (if you are in the Rockies, Pacific NW, the check out the Lone Pine field guides). If you are in the Eastern U.S., the Peterson guides can't be beat.

Anyhow, coupled with a good field guide, this book is extremely informative and useful.

As an encyclopedia I expected more detail and clearer order of classification. For one there is not one picture per plant description. How is one supposed to be able to identify the plant being described without a picture of the plant. It looked as though every 5th plant had a picture associated with it. Second, one would think the plants would be divided into regional classifications considering the title was "...of North America". I assumed the chapters of sections would be divided into west, southwest, northwest, etc. Instead the plants are classified by Family. This is a good book for someone to use as study guide for school, but not a field guide for medicinal of edible plants. If you looking for a survival guide or backpack wild food guide this is not it.

Only useful as a reference to existing field guides. Very few black and white pictures.

No photos, sparse black and white drawings (most plants don't even get a drawing). This book could be used as a cross-reference at best for a true field guide.

I find that this book is quite useless unless you already have a superior knowledge of plants. The information contained in the book is vast but with no real way of identifying the individual plants it doesn't do you much good. All I can say is that you would have to go through it line by line and use the internet to get a picture of whatever plant is in question because what few pictures there are in the book are just hand drawn renditions and inadequate in displaying a recognizable image. Don't think you can just take this book into the woods and start grubbing on the local fauna.