Customer Reviews

Healing Plants

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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A great book for natural healing enthusiasts, focusing on the medicinal plants used by Native Americans, the science surrounding them, and tips, photos and maps for finding, identifying anp preparing them.

To me, this extremely informative book on plants almost reads like a novel. Not only do you learn about these plants, but she also writes about how the Cherokee Indians used these plants in their daily lives. I read it from cover to cover in two days. Taking just two examples; she explains how poisonous potatoes and onions can be. Green colored potatoes are poisonous as are potatoes with roots growing out of them in your potato bin. When one cuts into an onion, they should use the whole onion right then or throw what is left away. Onions attract whatever is around them and thus, can become poisonous. If you are suffering with a respiratory problem, cut an onion in half and set it on the nightstand by your bed. It will draw the poison from you and turn black overnight. Fascinating stuff! I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in healing themselves and/or learning more about everyday plants around us and how to use them.

Reviewed by Juanita Watson for Reader Views (8/06)

Ana Nez Heatherley comes from a long family line of herbalists. She is a registered nurse, speaks regularly on the topic of traditional herbal medicine, and has written for the highly credited magazine Mother Earth News.

Her book "Healing Plants: A Medicinal Guide to Native North American Plants and Herbs" is an excellent addition to any library, but especially for anyone interested in traditional and herbal medicine. Heatherley explores approximately one hundred plants and herbs common to North America. Though some information here may be redundant to a seasoned herbalist, there is a number of herbs that you don't see in the typical books of this genre - such as Buttonbush, Catalpa, and Prairie tea. I actually don't remember seeing Prairie tea mentioned anywhere else, let alone with a picture as included in Heatherley's book. Impressive!

Heatherley includes distribution maps, bullet-point side bars, and photo section containing a picture for every plant. This combined with practical applications, interesting folklore, tips, cautions, recipes, and more, round out this informative and interesting book.

I have a very large library of herbal books and it takes a lot to impress me these day - unfortunately, many simply repeat the same information. "Healing Plants" was an unsuspected surprise! Heatherley provides a slightly new perspective on the commonly known medicinal plants, and an impressive account of many not-so-well-known plants that deserve their day in the spotlight.

Received book free of charge.

I like a lot of things about this book. It has some color pictures which are nice for identification.