Native American Ethnobotany [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

" Native American Ethnobotany is an essential reference for all those interested in the uses of plants."
—Wild Food Forum, March 2005 (Wild Food Forum )

Native American Ethnobotany is an essential reference for all those interested in the uses of plants. Wild Food Forum, March 2005 (Wild Food Forum )

Product Description

An extraordinary compilation of the plants used by North American native peoples for medicine, food, fiber, dye, and a host of other things. Anthropologist Daniel E. Moerman has devoted 25 years to the task of gathering together the accumulated ethnobotanical knowledge on more than 4000 plants. More than 44,000 uses for these plants by various tribes are documented here. This is undoubtedly the most massive ethnobotanical survey ever undertaken, preserving an enormous store of information for the future.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 927 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated; 1 edition (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881924539
• ISBN-13: 978-0881924534
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.1 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,284 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Ethnobotany
  #67 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Botany
  #78 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Native American Studies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from the Medical Herbalism journal, September 2, 2000

By	Paul Bergner "Editor, Medical Herbalism journal" (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dr. Daniel Moerman has spent several decades building a database based on the scholarly literature on Native American Ethnobotany. The steadily growing information has has several print and online incarnations, and this book, the latest, is by far the most extensive. A summary review of the body of literature on the subject, cross referenced by plant, by tribe, and by therapeutic catagory. Indispensable for the student of native ethnobotany. The book may be a disappointment for the reader wanting great detail on dosages and specifics on usages -- much detail has been lost while adapting the information to database style. It remains the one book a student should own if he or she can afford only one.

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book worth every penny!, November 13, 2001

By	Melodye Murphy (Maitland, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Ever since I was a little girl I have been fascinated with how our ancestors used plants for food as well as medicine. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started seeking out and purchasing books on edible and medicinal plants. I subscribed to different publications whose main focus was this subject. Any article in magazines on this subject immediately grabbed my attention. Then with the wonderful internet becoming available to anyone with a computer, my search for information took an exciting turn. One website for information linked to another site, and then to another and so on. But through time and my amateur research I discovered my interest started centering more and more on how Native Americans used plants for different purposes not only edible and medicinal but for dyes for ornamentation, for baskets and cooking vessels, for seasoning, etc. But I was so overwhelmed with information that didn't focus on this specific area until I came across the website of Dan Moerman's Native American Ethnobotany database; I found nirvana. I blundered around and through the website for months but with his kind help and patience with my questions I began to use his database in a more productive way. But then I discovered he had recently published a book called Native American Ethnobotany!! (...) When I received the book I thought I had died and gone to heaven! I can't speak for professionals but for amateurs like me he has saved me many hours of research in one way but has in turn stimulated my desire to continue researching this fascinating subject but now with a more educated direction. This is one of the items I would run back to save if my house ever burned down! It is worth every penny and is priceless in its information.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is THE Reference, June 3, 2000

By	Benkei - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is an amazing encyclopedia. Too many plant books are just scattered information which never satisfy me completely. This book is the most comprehensive book on Native American ethnobotany I have come across. There are various indexes for easy lookup of particular plants. E.g., you can look up the common name of a plant, get the proper Latin name for it and go to the proper section. There the plant is presented from various viewpoints, the plant as used for food, as a drug (medicinal), utilitarean (e.g basket weaving), which tribes used it, etc.. Various indexes in the back let you look up, for instance, all the plants the Blackfeet used, or all the plants used for food, which tribe used the inner bark of Cottonwood and for what purpose. Just an amazing compilation. Definitely worth it.