Product Description

The most complete work on the medicinal plants of western North America, this guide offers the best information in the world on the nearly 500 species covered, much of it available for the first time. More than 530 color photographs illustrate the plants. An index to medical topics helps locate information on specific ailments. Symbols next to the plant descriptions provide quick visual warnings for poisonous and allergenic plants. Organized by flower color for fast identification, this guide is an essential aid to appreciating native plants and the wild areas they inhabit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61131 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780395838068
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Steven Foster has written numerous books and magazine articles on the medicinal use of herbs. He is the coauthor of the Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Miscellaneous Showy Flowers

Customer Reviews

Best of Field
Peterson Field Guides has produced another winner. Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs by Steven Foster and Christopher Hobbs is a gorgeous guide book by, pardon the pun, the leaders in the field. This particular field guides sets the standard by which all medicinal plant guides should follow. Brilliant colour photographs of the over 500 identified species organized by colour for quick reference helps any novice quickly identify the plant and what'll happen if you try to make tea out of it. The detailed plant descriptions also include scientific name, family, location found, historical medicinal uses as well as highlighted warnings for poisons, allergies and other areas of caution. A very unique and special field guide Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs also offers harvesting and conservation tips. Pick this book up before you even considering picking flowers, herbs or plants for uses other than the filling your vase, it's a must have for anyone spending any extended time in the outdoors.

All Too Disappointing
I am a layman who is looking for a guide to herbs that would help me identify herbs in the wild. My expectation was that the photographs in
A Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs would be fantastic and would help me ID plants in the wild with confidence. I was not pleased at all.

The photographs in this book are thumbnail size and often show only the flowers of the plants in question. The book itself is of a tiny size and affords little space to have "real" close-up photographs of leaves and overall look of the plant in-situ.

I would contrast this "Reader's Digest" version of a book made to identify plants in the wild with Roger Phillips' Mushrooms And Other American Fungi Of North America. This book is a full 11 3/4" X 8 3/4" and has photographs that fill a whole page, in some cases. I think it is fair to say that every photograph in Roger's book is larger than ANY picture in A Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs, whose photographs are attributed Stephen Foster. A quick view of Foster's web site shows similar "thumbnail" sized photographs. I am greatly disappointed!

The text contained within A Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs pales in comparison with what can be found on line.

I am hoping RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses gives a better view and history of the plants.

In closing, I would say this book should be the last on your list - not the first!

Botany contribution.
Peterson's Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs is a contribution to botany and field identification. This guide includes medicinal species, potentially dangerous ones, and plants with true healing powers. There is a description of range, habitat, medicinal uses, and a toxicity warning beside the species listing. Hundreds of species are covered, making a classic guide, one that deserves to revolutionize the botanical field guide section.