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.

The introduction to this work reviews topics of general interest, including the history of plants in medicine, medicinal chemicals found in plants, the popularity of herbal medication, neutraceuticals, drugs from plants, and the economic importance of medicinal plants. The main section contains detailed species accounts of such plants as ginseng, yew, kelp, cohosh, witch hazel, and cranberry. Information provided includes scientific & common names, description & classification, agricultural & commercial aspects, medicinal & non-medicinal uses, toxicity, chemistry, and human interest information. Additional chapters address such topics as the medicinal plant business, the regulatory & legal framework for medicinal plant production & marketing, hazards associated with medicinal plants, and medicinal plant research in Canada. Includes glossary.

Learn how to identify, collect, and prepare a variety of local wild plants, most growing right in your own backyard. Covering 73 different plants, each with detailed, full-colour illustrations and accessible tips, facts, and recipes, this essential guide makes it easy to benefit from your neighbourhood's wild offerings.

Nature heals! This compact field guide introduces readers to 26 common Canadian wild plants with extraordinary healing properties. Use arnica blossoms to heal muscle inflammation, improve digestion with chickweed and soothe a toothache with yarrow root—learning to identify and use wild medicinal plants is both fascinating and useful. Each plant profile includes a color photograph, identification and habitat information, as well as medicinal, cosmetic and culinary uses. Skilled herbalist Beverley Gray also includes tips on how to sustainably gather and safely use beneficial wild plants.

Chronological historical citations document 500 years of usage of plants, trees, and shrubs native to eastern Canada and northeastern United States. Also complete identifying information, 343 illustrations. "You can't go wrong." — Botanic & Herb Reviews.

A new approach to growing local medicine, including information on geo-authenticity, wildcrafting, and developing a good business plan "[A] beautiful and informative book . . . A dirt-smudged copy should be within easy reach of every home gardener or farmer who grows—or wants to grow—medicinal plants."—Michael McGuffin, President, American Herbal Products Association Both a business guide and a farming manual, The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer will teach readers how to successfully grow and market organic medicinal Western herbs. Whether you’re trying to farm medicinal plants, culinary herbs, or at-risk native herbs exclusively or simply add herbal crops to what you’re already growing, successful small-scale herb farmers Jeff and Melanie Carpenter will guide you through the entire process―from cultivation to creating value-added products. Using their Zack Woods Herb Farm in Vermont as a backdrop, the Carpenters cover all the basic practical information farmers need to know to get an organic herb farm up and running, including: Size and scale considerations Layout and design of the farm and facilities Growing and cultivation information, including types of tools Field and bed prep Plant propagation Weed control, and pests and diseases Harvesting, as well as wild harvesting and the concept of geo-authentic botanicals Post-harvest processing Value-added products and marketing The authors also provide fifty detailed plant profiles, going deeper into the herbs every farmer should consider growing, including: Arnica Calendula Echinacea Ginko Ginseng Peppermint Saint John’s Wort Valerian In an easy-to-understand, practical, and comprehensive manner, readers will learn how to focus on quality over quantity, and keep costs down by innovating with existing equipment, rather than expensive technology. Market farmers who have never before considered growing medicinal herbs will learn why it’s more important to produce these herbs domestically. The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer makes a convincing case that producing organic medicinal herbs can be a viable, profitable, farming enterprise. The Carpenters also make the case for incorporating medicinal herbs into existing operations, as it can help increase revenue in the form of value-added products, not to mention improve the ecological health of farmland by encouraging biodiversity as a path toward greater soil health.

For millennia, plants and their habitats have been fundamental to the lives of Indigenous Peoples - as sources of food and nutrition, medicines, and technological materials - and central to ceremonial traditions, spiritual beliefs, narratives, and language. While the First Peoples of Canada and other parts of the world have developed deep cultural understandings of plants and their environments, this knowledge is often underrecognized in debates about land rights and title, reconciliation, treaty negotiations, and traditional territories. Plants, People, and Places argues that the time is long past due to recognize and accommodate Indigenous Peoples' relationships with plants and their ecosystems. Essays in this volume, by leading voices in philosophy, Indigenous law, and environmental sustainability, consider the critical importance of botanical and ecological knowledge to land rights and related legal and government policy, planning, and decision making in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and New Zealand. Analyzing specific cases in which Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights to the environment have been denied or restricted, this collection promotes future prosperity through more effective and just recognition of the historical use of and care for plants in Indigenous cultures. A timely book featuring Indigenous perspectives on reconciliation, environmental sustainability, and pathways toward ethnoecological restoration, Plants, People, and Places reveals how much there is to learn from the history of human relationships with nature.

The global popularity of herbal supplements and the promise they hold in treating various disease states has caused an unprecedented interest in understanding the molecular basis of the biological activity of traditional remedies. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects focuses on presenting current scientific evidence of biomolecular ef

First published in 1991, Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples details the nutritional properties, botanical characteristics and ethnic uses of a wide variety of traditional plant foods used by the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Comprehensive and detailed, this volume explores both the technical use of plants and their cultural connections. It will be of interest to scholars from a variety of backgrounds, including Indigenous Peoples with their specific cultural worldviews; nutritionists and other health professionals who work with Indigenous Peoples and other rural people; other biologists, ethnologists, and organizations that address understanding of the resources of the natural world; and academic audiences from a variety of disciplines.

The author of ‘the bible on herbalism’ returns with a portable guide on North American medicinal herbs—for the professional and amateur herbalist alike Based on the now-classic reference text Indian Herbalogy of North America, this illustrated pocket guide is the perfect companion for those eager to expand their knowledge of herbal healing. Through detailed descriptions and illustrations, Alma R. Hutchens walks readers through: • 125 of the most useful medicinal herbs found in North America, and their uses • How to create herbal remedies for common ailments • The herbal traditions of North America and other lands Entries include staples of folk medicine such as echinacea and slippery elm as well as common kitchen herbs—from parsley to thyme to pepper—whose tonic and healing properties are less widely known.