A guide to be referenced. [Northeast Medicinal Plants by Liz Neves]

In Northeast Medicinal Plants, Liz Neves is your trusted guide to finding, identifying, harvesting, and using 111 of the region’s most powerful wild plants. You’ll learn how to safely and ethically forage, and how to use wild plants in herbal medicines including teas, tinctures, and salves. Plant profiles include clear, color photographs, identification tips, medicinal uses and herbal preparations, and harvesting suggestions. Lists of what to forage for each season makes the guide useful year-round.

Thorough, comprehensive, and safe, this is a must-have for foragers, naturalists, and herbalists in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Previously from Timber Press I'd read John Slattery's Southwest Medicinal Plants, an earlier available entry in the "medicinal plant" book series. Regionally less appropriate (I live in the Northeast), Southwest Medicinal Plants read, for lack of a better phrasing, very preachy about its particular brand of herbalism. Liz Neves' Northeast Medicinal Plants however is broader, referencing multiple herbalism systems across various entries.

And that was a key point that differentiated my reading experiences. While a Western herbalism system was the base framework for the book, other histories of practice were referenced respectfully with an openness that wasn't put forth with an authoritative approach. At least that's my impression based on my recollection, I didn't read the two books simultaneously. More important for my subjective preference was the regional difference. For whatever reason I'm very proud of my locality. Maybe it's because the regional identity is so stark in contrast with the Southwest or Midwest of the United States, maybe it's for the history, who knows. But reading about the Northeast in any field guide always makes the topic a bit more tangible, so that was another key factor.

I still work to wrap my head around Western herbalism, but the framework of approaching plants for medicinal uses, as put forth in this book, made it seem less foreign to me. As someone with a health science background I'm aware of the negative and condescending views of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) prevalent in Western medicine. I'm also aware that there's a dearth of resources or references to refer to when considering CAM usage. Literature searches often produce only anecdotal reports with little technical terminology so I'm of the opinion that well-researched references on the topic are important tools of great help, at the minimum serving as a starting point for further research.  For me this is one such reference. Individual plant monographs were concisely formatted, referencing a spectrum of medicinal uses while providing clear instruction on plant identification, with the book at large referencing other plant, medicinal, and scientific resources. Having thoroughly enjoyed this book and appreciate it's CAM and potential technical values I'm giving it 5 stars.

Northeast Medicinal Plants was published June 02, 2020.