Edible and Medicinal Plants of Canada
- Downloads：4713
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-06-29 10:51:05
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Andy MacKinnon
- ISBN：1772130028
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Canada is home to a vast diversity of plants that have helped nourish and heal our people for thousands of years。 Find out about: * First Nations uses of plant species * Gathering and preparing wild plants for a variety of uses * Historic European uses of plant species * Plants for everything from clothing to shelter * The fundamentals of survival - food and medicines * Clear descriptions of the plants and where to find them * Warnings about plant allergies， poisons and digestive upsets * A special section identifying poisonous plants and species that are similar * More than 530 colour photographs and 125 illustrations。
Reviews
Micah Genest
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I have used this resource so many times。 It is clear， detailed， interesting， and most plants have images to make it easier to know what you are looking at when foraging （the others have illustrations， which makes identification a little difficult at times）。
Meghan
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This book is fantastic。 I really got into wildcrafting a couple of years ago and this was one of the first books I purchased on the subject。 Worth every penny！ Very informative and excellent categorization of plants based on their plant families。 It has a laminate water resilient type of texture to the pages which is excellent when you are out and about in the wilderness。 Bought a copy for a friend as well！ After accumilating quite the collection of books on plants and wildcrafting this is still This book is fantastic。 I really got into wildcrafting a couple of years ago and this was one of the first books I purchased on the subject。 Worth every penny！ Very informative and excellent categorization of plants based on their plant families。 It has a laminate water resilient type of texture to the pages which is excellent when you are out and about in the wilderness。 Bought a copy for a friend as well！ After accumilating quite the collection of books on plants and wildcrafting this is still the number one book I refer to。 It's detailed descriptions and colorful photos make it easy to identify plants you encounter along the way。 Small and easy to take with you on all your wildcrafting adventures！ 。。。more
Carla
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This book was very informative， educational and much much more。 As boring as one might think this book might be it truly isn't。 There's history way to use plants and warning about them。 I learn new things about plants I thought I knew well。 It teaches you about poisonous plants and vegetation。 Love love loved this book I am going to bring it hiking with me from now on。 If you're into the outdoors you should pick this up for sure。 I promise it's not boring or dry。 This book was very informative， educational and much much more。 As boring as one might think this book might be it truly isn't。 There's history way to use plants and warning about them。 I learn new things about plants I thought I knew well。 It teaches you about poisonous plants and vegetation。 Love love loved this book I am going to bring it hiking with me from now on。 If you're into the outdoors you should pick this up for sure。 I promise it's not boring or dry。 。。。more
Jennifer Weiland
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I really enjoy learning about botany， so I have a few books on the subject including this one which was a lot of fun to take with us [husband and I] when we went on our camping trip！ We identified several of the plants in our camp site which was very entertaining and informative。
Cliff
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I don't like writing bad reviews， but I feel compelled to after having read a significant portion of this book because a novice forager could seriously hurt him/herself going by its information。 By way of qualification， I want to preface that I teach foraging in Maritime Canada， and have written extensively on it， and have been foraging since I was a small child where it was a way of life for my exceedingly poor rural family。 At our homestead/wilderness skills school， my family and I augment abo I don't like writing bad reviews， but I feel compelled to after having read a significant portion of this book because a novice forager could seriously hurt him/herself going by its information。 By way of qualification， I want to preface that I teach foraging in Maritime Canada， and have written extensively on it， and have been foraging since I was a small child where it was a way of life for my exceedingly poor rural family。 At our homestead/wilderness skills school， my family and I augment about 25% of our groceries with wild food foraging to this very day。The book has actually been sitting in my library for a couple years， but I recently took it out on an all day hiking trip with the hope of identifying some plants that are new to me。 I paused at a brook at noon to have lunch and pulled out the book to read while I relaxed， and ended up staying there for a good couple hours going further and further into the text， increasingly dismayed and alarmed by the level of ineptitude portrayed in the pages。Approach this book with great caution。 It is inadequately illustrated to positively confirm many of the species it covers， and the information is at times doubtful， sometimes potentially harmful。Most foraging books leave the reader wanting when it comes to illustrations， but this book is especially bad for it。 Oh， it has any number of beautiful photos that could deceive a reader into thinking it's very thorough， but the photos are often inadequate to confirm plant ID。 This makes it very hard for a user to safely and positively identify various plants。 In particular， it neglects silhouettes of plant structure， as well as sufficient illustration of root and leaf structure。 The book relies heavily， with a few exceptions， on imagery of blossoms and fruit for identification purposes。 This makes it almost useless for the many plants that are best harvested long before blooming and fruiting。 Further， it often describes varieties of plants without illustrating them at all。Most foraging books also have a few errors–generally minor mistakes that are forgivable given how much there is to know–but this book has so many errors in so many areas that I am greatly dubious of it。 As an example， it expounds that the entire burdock plant is an edible vegetable。 This is true， so long as you do not mind the almost unbearable bitterness of every part but the tuber。 Of the viper’s bugloss， it says the leaves are edible if cut finely。 Take a look at the fine， sharp， numerous spines under a bugloss leaf and ask yourself if you would want to eat it， finely cut or not。 It states that cattails can be eaten raw， which is true only if you don’t mind eating the toxin， oxalic acid， which is easily destroyed by heat （hence， why one must cook cattail greens）。The errors and suspect information are so profuse that this book has the feel of the slough of poor copycat books that followed Gibbons’ highly knowledgeable Stalking the Wild Asparagus back in the 60s， 70s and 80s。 It has the feel of a text that was pushed out by writers who didn’t really understand foraging and were instead simply collating data from various sources with the aim of producing a book that the publisher planned to sell on the basis of it’s attractive photography。 This is shown time and time again in the book as the authors describe plants as edible then provide warnings below the descriptions that some persons have suffered poisoning from those very plants。 Having been through a great deal of this book， it provides no indication that I can find that the authors actually eat or use the plants they write about。This book can be regarded as a basic field guide with some potentially useful information and images， but the reader should substantiate every element in the book with validated sources before consuming anything it recommends。 Better， only learn from foragers who actually use what they recommend。 You may profoundly regret not doing so if you are new to foraging。 。。。more
Karine
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Great source of information， but I'm not a fan of the photographs。 Great source of information， but I'm not a fan of the photographs。 。。。more
Dana Wood
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Excellent resource book。
Leila
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Great book， easy to read and full of interesting ethnobotanical notes， as I expect from Lone Pine and this series。 The main drawback to this is that it tries to sum up an enormous amount of useful plants into a few highlights and in doing so has to pass on a lot of them。 Nice starting point for someone new to foraging， but not enough information for anyone who is more than amateur level。
Jamie
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So， this book was a little infuriating。 When I picked it up and looked it over， the information was good and I thought it'd be a pretty useful thing to read。 See， I'm thinking "If I ever get stuck in the wilderness here， I will have some really good knowledge to go on。" Well， that isn't the case。 This book says "Do not use as a field guide。" and I really don't understand what the point of it is。 It has neat facts and tells you things about the plants， but it pretty much states that the informati So， this book was a little infuriating。 When I picked it up and looked it over， the information was good and I thought it'd be a pretty useful thing to read。 See， I'm thinking "If I ever get stuck in the wilderness here， I will have some really good knowledge to go on。" Well， that isn't the case。 This book says "Do not use as a field guide。" and I really don't understand what the point of it is。 It has neat facts and tells you things about the plants， but it pretty much states that the information is useless。 Again， WHAT IS THE POINT THEN？ Also， it would state things like "The native peoples used to eat this， it was a major part of their diet。" with all the parts edible listed and it would say yes， you can eat this， then at the bottom it would say; Warning: Do not consume， it is known to cause kidney failure。 Or， Warning: This is known to kill babies and harm your digestive system。 But， you just told me it was edible。。。 Now I understand why I can't use this as a field guide。 It goes in circles！ But， it did have some interesting facts， especially on the native cultures way back in the day。All in all， a waste of time， but decent time wasted。You know， if you're into that type of thing。 。。。more
Larry
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After a 2-hour nature walk with a Mi'kmaq elder and healer， I wanted a good refernce companion。 This looks excellent and look forward to using in my own walks around Trout Lake and other parts of the province。After reading it， you really must have an experienced elder as a mentor After a 2-hour nature walk with a Mi'kmaq elder and healer， I wanted a good refernce companion。 This looks excellent and look forward to using in my own walks around Trout Lake and other parts of the province。After reading it， you really must have an experienced elder as a mentor 。。。more
Wizardeyes
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