Customer Reviews

Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guide Series)

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

 

 

This is one of the better field guides available for identifying and determining the usefulness of many medicinal plants found commonly in the Eastern and Central US. This guide is recommended for beginners and experienced medicinal plant enthusiasts alike. A must have book for the novice in this field.

This book was so fabulous, in fact, I give it more than five stars, I give it twenty! It is because of this book that I now want to be an ethnobotanical chemisist. This book has such pep and drive, just the Introduction and Preface make you want to go outside start a weed garden, picket the FDA, and go to college for seven years to get your degree in botanical chemistry. You don't believe me, but I'm serious. READ THIS BOOK! If not the whole book, at least the Introduction and Preface. It'll give you SO much energy.

Depending upon how seriously you are studying plants - this book is a bit too generic. The pictures are pretty but not enough detail. Mostly hand drawn and one plant looks just like another with no real info for determining differences. Bottom line, if you're not sure about a plant, leave it alone.

That said, this is an excellent book for the very beginner in herbal studies. Establish a solid library before delving into this world. You will be amazed at what cures are living in your own backyard!

This is excellent reading at home and on the go. You'll want to buy two of these just so you have one at home, and one you can really rough handle on the road. :) If you're into medicinal herbs or you just love knowing what's what out in the wild, this guide is number one! A MUST! You need it now.

For those who are interested in the historical as well as the current possible medicinal uses of plants, and, especially for those who want to be alerted to toxic qualities of plants, this is an excellent reference. It covers flowers by color and then goes on to deal with shrubs, trees, vines, ferns, and grasses. What more could you ask for? It is a great field guide, but it is so much more than that. Compact and authoritative, authored by leading figures in the field, and well organized for easy use (the index is divided into 2 sections: one for plants; the second for medical topics), this gives simple explanations to the lay and professional alike. Even further potential uses are noted, as with chicory, where they point out that the root extract affects heart rate and it is suggested to "... be researched for use in heart irregularities."