Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West [Paperback]

Michael Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1979

In the first update since the original printing in 1979, renowned herbalist Michael Moore adds another 20 years of research and expertise working with medicinal plants to his classic 'Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West'. In this greatly expanded (168 additional pages) revised and enlarged edition, the book covers the entire range of medicinal herbs found in New Mexico, Arizona, west Texas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and California.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Michael Moore's celebrated companion guides comprehensively cover the entire range of medicinal herbs found in New Mexico, Arizona, West Texas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and the California desert. Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West is the long-established classic work on medicinal herbs of the Western uplands. An authoritative presentation of more than 100 species, it is unsurpassed as a field guide and for its authoritative information on collection and medicinal preparation. Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West focuses on the plant life of rocky and arid lands of the West, and includes even more detailed information on the preparation and use of these vital herbs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Museum of New Mexico Press (November 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089013104X
• ISBN-13: 978-0890131046
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,518,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Usefull, Detailed, and Funny, September 6, 2003

By 

Adam Seller (Oakland, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West (Paperback)

An excellent book for beginners, experienced herbalists, and other medical professionals alike. This book, like Michael Moore's others are seldom available used because people keep them and use them-alot . They are usually the most worn from use on any herbalist's shelf- including mine.
Medicinal Plants of The Mountain West has lovely and useful illustrations to aid identification. More photos would help though.
The text is lucid, funny and very helpfull. Beginners will find step by step instuctions on harvesting with care and attention to protecting habitat, medicine making, clear and detailed information on judicious medicinal use, and plenty of food for thought on history, health and healing and how your own body works, as well as gentle and experienced guidance through the sometimes confusing state of herbal medicine in the market economy Western world. Unlike many other herbals, this book clearly and simply explains how and when to use herbs (and when not to use them) as herbs- not as "little"drug replacements.
Herbalists and other health care practioners will find an amazing amount of helpful clinical detail and creative approaches to therapeutics. Although this book that is often placed in the Field Guide section of the book store it is a concise yet articulate materia medica based in the authors extensive experience as a therapist, harvester, and medicine maker.

Doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and allied health professionals will find this book to be an oasis of sane , seasoned advice on how to use herbs and how to understand what your clients are taking. Amidst the onslaught off nearly useless books on botanical medicine written by journalists and pharmacists who couldn't tell a chickweed from an oak tree, and whose personal and professional experience practicing herbal medicine is usually less than Peter Rabbit's cup of chamomile tea, Michael Moore's books offer clinical experience grounded in Western science and traditional cultural use. His writing encourages cultural competence, treating Native and Latino plant medicine with care, and respect.
Many of us have been waiting along time for this second edition. Buy it, use it, share it

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rocky Mountain Herbal Medicine Bible...., January 2, 2009

By 

David C. Young "David C. Young, LCSW" (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West (Paperback)

I'm an amateur, but an experienced amateur. My father is a botanist, and my nextdoor neighbor grandma raised a family during the Great Depression using local wild plants for food. So I grew up a fair hand at recognizing plants in my native midwest, especially food plants. But medicinal plants....

Fifteen years ago, my wife & I moved to a cabin on Pikes Peak bordering a vast national forest, and I started to learn the local plants using not Grandma, but guidebooks. Gradually, I became knowledgeable, especially about wildflowers & food plants. Then someone introduced me to locally gathered mullein (or velvet dock), and I ended my struggles with antihistamines. That put me on the lookout: there's good meds in them thar hills!

If you buy only one book on medicinal plants of the Rockies, this is the book. (I know only the 2nd edition.) Moore has clearly collected, prepared & prescribed these herbs. It's readable (and I am NOT a botanist), even enjoyable -- I find myself skimming around just for the fun of it. I've checked out several books on Rocky Mountain medicinal plants, and this one beats the others for completeness and comprehensiveness. It gives solid descriptions of the plants' types of environment & geographic locations. In general and for each plant, it gives good descriptions of how & when to collect, how to prepare and how to use & not use. (These plants can be VERY potent, and they sometimes have dangerous look-alikes.) Moore discusses the various subspecies -- which are best, which are common, which are endangered, where they're found. I've used Moore and found him quite helpful in the central Rockies, on the western slopes and down into northern New Mexico. I suspect he's good in the northern Rockies, as he mentions these regularly and they're on his maps for each species.

So if you only buy one book, buy this one.

But #1: The pictures are clear, but black & white. For me, I can have trouble going from them to real-live plants in color. In the field, I usually carry a couple of guidebooks with pictures or drawings in color, for example, Plants of the Rocky Mountains and Guide to Colorado Wildflowers: Mountains (Guide to Colorado Wildflowers. Vol 2. Mountains). You probably want to check amazon, maybe local National Park, Monument, Forest professionals for the best local books.

But #2: Herbal medicine comes from many, many traditions collected by many, many investigators from many, many sources. With so many "local" plants coming from Europe & Asia, these traditions are truly world-wide. Additionally, there's a growing scientific literature on what's effective. All this information is widely scattered. For example, Moore doesn't include goldenrod. But I found it in Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies (see my review), dried some, and it stopped a couple of colds dead, when nothing else helped. While Moore mentions research data, a book like Prescription for Herbal Healing: An Easy-to-Use A-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies mentions more, and includes many plants found in the Rockies.

But #3: No book is entirely comprehensive in the sense of safety. For example, Moore has a great entry on chokecherry (wild cherry bark). Chokecherry bushes & trees have various cyanide compounds. Moore states that these are safe, even for children. I collected some local bark and tried it. Like Moore said, it smelled wounderful, tasted wonderful, felt wonderful in my throat -- WAY beyond anything I've ever had from my local herb stores. And it REALLY didn't do well in my tummy. As always with a first use, I tried only a little. So I checked around and found in, among other places, the Kerry book mentioned above, that only COMPLETE drying or VERY LENGTHY boiling (esp. at high altitudes) destroys the cyanide.

So various rules of thumb include: Don't buy one book, check out many. Find people who are knowledgeable. Go slow & be careful. Use common sense. If something doesn't seem right, don't do it. OF COURSE: check with a doctor for any medical condition that even MIGHT be serious. Take all cautions seriously. Stuff like that.

But I've also found good meds in my mountains.

An aside: Moore mentions food use, but this isn't the book for that. Locally, I prefer Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies and Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Simply outstanding for its time ..., July 3, 2001

By 

Henriette Kress (Helsinki Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West (Paperback)

... but let's face it, that's over 20 years ago now. Back then you had to look _really_ hard to find anything with even a glimmer of a hint of tips on picking, or (gasp!) practical uses.
Michael's later books in the "Medicinal Plants of the" -series got steadily better, with the "Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West" being the crown of the trio, beating _all_ the other practical guides out there with a very wide margin.
Sure, buy this one, if you live in the Mountain West - as likely as not you won't find anything else as good on the plants in _your_ region.
Buy it, too, if you're a die-hard Michael Moore -fan. His writing was entertaining back then, too.

But if you don't live out there, or don't yet know Michael Moore's writings, go get the Pacific West book instead. And wait for the revision of this, his oldest book. It _should_ be out one of these years.