Wild roots: a forager's guide to the edible and medicinal roots, tubers, corms amd rhizomers of North America

For more than two decades Doug Elliot has wandered the fields, forests, and marshlands of North America gathering roots and herbs, and plant lore. A labor of love, Wild Roots is filled with practical information, extraordinary drawings and lively commentary, and offers a wealth of information about the roots, rhizomes, and tubers of North America. Doug Elliott is the author of Woodslore and Wildwoods Wisdom and lives in Union Mills, North Carolina. Cincinnati Enquirer "With its wealth of information and delightfully humorous flavor, Wild Roots refreshes the spirit like a hot cup of sassafras tea." For more than two decades Doug Elliott has wandered North America gathering roots and herbs, botanical information, and a great deal of plant lore. He has also created the extraordinary drawings that illustrate each plant in this delightful book. Elliott profiles roots, rhizomes, corms, and tubers that grow in the fields, forests, and marshlands of North America. Some of the plants he presents are edible, while others can be brewed into robust teas; some are effective as medicines, and others can be used to make natural toothpaste, shampoo, and dyes. You'll learn both the botanical and regional common names for each plant (Jack-in-the-Pulpit, for instance, is also known as Wake Robin, Priest's Pintle, Indian Turnip, Devil's Ear, and Wild Pepper); find facts that conventional field guides fail to include (like John Smith's account of Native American women using Blood Root oil to "improve their invisible charms"); and be entertained by observations from the field ("It is not uncommon to find butterflies so drunk, from sipping too freely of the American Angelica nectar, that they are completely unable to fly"). Filled with practical information and lively commentary, Wild Roots offers all nature lovers a rare discovery: the chance to explore the "other half" of the plant world that lies just beneath our feet The author profiles roots, rhizomes, corms, and tubers that grow in fields, forests, and marshlands of North America