Customer Reviews

Nature's Weeds, Native Medicine: Native American Herbal Secrets

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I found this book to be quite interesting. The information in the context of Native American traditions was the reason that I purchased the book-and completely satisfied me.
I was very bothered by the haphazard botanical scholarship. Much of this was limited to incorrect spellings of genera and species-I counted at 15 instances. There were several instances where the genera or species was completely incorrect.
Finally, the most egregious error surrounds the authors' description of Acer rubrum as "sugar maple". One wonders what source was used for this factoid. Acer rubrum is "red maple" a generally smallish tree found often in moist or wet areas-not generally a tree you'd tap for syrup as the author suggests you would. Acer saccharum is the "sugar maple".
These mistakes are unfortunate as they take away from the credibility of the author and make me question her research.

"Since the twilight of unrecorded history, man's quest to gain control over the invisible forces dominating his life and well being has caused him to..."

This introductory line causes me to doubt this book has been written from a Native perspective.
To hear of Latin misnomers for the herbs is scarey in herbalism!

The fact the author is not only Native American herself and a Dr. really shows through the book. The illustrations are wonderful as well. My favorite recipes are the sweet grass blocks and the Little Crow's soothing salve.