Jim Meuninck - Medicinal Plants of North America: A Field Guide

Help Us Keep This Guide Up to Date

Every effort has been made by the author and editors to make this guide as accurate and useful as possible. However, many things can change after a guide is published.

We would appreciate hearing from you concerning your experiences with this guide and how you feel it could be improved and kept up to date. While we may not be able to respond to all comments and suggestions, well take them to heart, and well also make certain to share them with the author. Please send your comments and suggestions to the following address:

FalconGuides

Reader Response/Editorial Department

246 Goose Lane

Guilford, CT 06437

Or you may e-mail us at:

editorial@falcon.com

Thanks for your input, and happy hunting!

An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield

Falcon, FalconGuides, and Make Adventure Your Story are registered trademarks of Rowman & Littlefield.

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2008, 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

All interior photographs by Jim Meuninck.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information available.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4930-1961-8

ISBN 978-1-4930-1962-5 (e-book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The identification, selection, and processing of any wild plant for use as food requires reasonable care and attention to details since, as indicated in the text, certain parts are wholly unsuitable for use and, in some instances, are even toxic. Because attempts to use any wild plants for food depend on various factors controllable only by the reader, the author and Globe Pequot assume no liability for personal accident, illness, or death related to these activities.

The health information expressed in this book is based solely on the personal experience of the author and is not intended as a medical manual. The information should not be used for diagnosis or treatment, or as a substitute for professional medical care. The author and publisher urge you to consult with your health-care provider prior to using any wild plant as food or medicine.

This book is a work of reference. Readers should always consult an expert before using any foraged item. The author, editors, and publisher of this work have checked with sources believed to be reliable in their efforts to confirm the accuracy and completeness of the information presented herein and that the information is in accordance with the standard practices accepted at the time of publication. However, neither the author, editors, and publisher, nor any other party involved in the creation and publication of this work warrant that the information is in every respect accurate and complete, and they are not responsible for errors or omissions or for any consequences from the application of the information in this book. In light of ongoing research and changes in clinical experience and in governmental regulations, readers are encouraged to confirm the information contained herein with additional sources. This book does not purport to be a complete presentation of all plants, and the genera, species, and cultivars discussed or pictured herein are but a small fraction of the plants found in the wild, in an urban or suburban landscape, or in a home. Given the global movement of plants, we would expect continual introduction of species having toxic properties to the regions discussed in this book. We have made every attempt to be botanically accurate, but regional variations in plant names, growing conditions, and availability may affect the accuracy of the information provided. A positive identification of an individual plant is most likely when a freshly collected part of the plant containing leaves and flowers or fruits is presented to a knowledgeable botanist or horticulturist. Poison Control Centers generally have relationships with the botanical community should the need for plant identification arise. We have attempted to provide accurate descriptions of plants, but there is no substitute for direct interaction with a trained botanist or horticulturist for plant identification. In cases of exposure or ingestion, contact a Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222), a medical toxicologist, another appropriate heath-care provider, or an appropriate reference resource.

The earth is the Mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.

CHIEF JOSEPH, NEZ PERCE

I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you, and I am [in] that place within me, we shall be one.

CRAZY HORSE, OGLALA LAKOTA SIOUX

Here it is, eight years since the first edition of this book, and as always, or as often as my family and friends allow, I am afield roaming, escaping the brick and glass pillars of man, getting lost among the trees, striding along whitewater streams and marking footfalls in the mountainous home of peregrines, putting the finishing touches on a yearlong search for medicinal plantsthose quiet and emotionless creations that hold the secrets to life. Like a good farmer who mends the earth to bear fruit, I have enriched this herbal bible in your hands with more resources to make your privileged life long and useful. And yet, you may not find in these pages perhaps the greatest secret to a long happy life: Be grateful my friend! Be grateful for the moments you spend walking in the footsteps of your ancestorsthose first humans who discovered medicine from the personal experiences of touch and taste.

Does everything have a beginning? For me, this field of research I so love certainly did. In 1985, after making science and educational films for ten years, my government grants evaporated and I found myself in an unemployment line fidgeting with my keys. A $99 check was the reward for surviving another weeklong job search. I took the money, rented a broadcast video camera, left home for ten weeks, and began an odyssey: filming edible and medicinal wild plants. I plodded through forests, forded streams, climbed mountains, and mucked through swamps, grabbing short clips of useful wildflowers (and they are all useful). When it was over, I had a film, still had my family, and had accrued a great deal of debt. Debt to my wife, Jill, and daughter, Rebecca; debt to Dr. Jim Duke, who coauthored my first video; and debt to Steven Foster, whose kind reviews encouraged the Boy Scouts of America and Outdoor Life Book Club to distribute the program. With the proceeds from sales, I built a production studio, and nowfourteen videos and seven books laterI continue to discover the surprising benefits of our native flora.

Although the dampness has dried behind my ears, the echoes of experts still reverberate. These echoes remind me that all medicinal plant compendiums are collaborations with those who went before. So I thank them all: Native Americans, American pioneers, and the thousands of herbalists prior and the thousands after. Discovering and sharing their knowledge is what this book is about, so I wisely submit their wisdom with a few fresh ideas of my own.