Herbal Medicine Books - Peanut recommends

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Peanut

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I thought I should post these books while I still can. 2 years ago it was easy to find accurate herbal medicine information on the internet, a search would result in a 50/50 split of good information and garbage. A year ago 75% of the sites listed after a search were garbage but it was the same misleading garbage that would pop up 2 years ago and easy to spot.

This week I searched 10 common medicinal plants that I know well. Not one single site giving accurate information came up in the results, not one… Even worse there is now a whole new class of deceptively misleading sites peddling garbage. For the average person who doesn’t own a good herb book as a starting place the net is now lost to them. Me smells a rat.

Here are 11 wonderful herbal medicine books. I’ve had a few of these books several years and still learn something every time I pick one up. Of the 8 authors I'm privileged to know 5 personally. They are all connected… All of them learned some medicine one way or another from the late, great Tommie Bass. They are also connected personally, have studied and taught together.

Mrs. Phyllis is a 4th generation healer. Her roots are Cherokee and Creek. She and Darryl were both students of Tommie’s for many years. I have been lucky enough to have learned from both of them since they live in my home state. I had dinner one night at Mrs. Phyllis’s house and met David Winston.

David is Cherokee and was taught their medicine from childhood. Later he studied western herbal medicine and Chinese medicine. He told me he once spent time with Juliette de Levy who is revered in many herbal circles.

Through Darryl I met Thomas Easley, a great young herbalist who now has a school in NC. I met Sam Coffman at Thomas’s school in NC. Sam was a special forces medic. He was also trained to, and has set up field hospitals in many 3rd world nations. After the military he studied western herbalism.

Sam’s medicine is unique because of his military background. Any one who is ex-military would recognize the way he presents information. He has a school near San Antonio TX.

Matthew Wood is the most prolific writer of this generation. His understanding of western herbal medicine goes back to ancient Rome and Greece. His understanding of native medicine goes back untold millennia. His ability to write it all down is unparalleled.

Stephen Buhner, a Kentucky boy. His father and grandfather both served as Surgeon General for the state of Kentucky. All of his work is invaluable as reference. Especially the work he has done with Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever. He has helped thousands.

Patricia Kyritsi Howell, another Tommie Bass protégé who knows the medicine plants of the southern Appalachia like the back of her hand. The last time I spoke with her she was working on a revised edition of her book.

Juliette de Bairacli Levy, a renowned herbalist who wrote extensively… At a time after ww2 when medicine was is short supply for people veterinarian medicine was almost nonexistent. She took a couple years to pen an amazing book for treating livestock and farm animals in general. Many of the plants she uses only grow in europe but are easily cross referenced to plants in north america. It’s the most complete farm handbook I’ve ever seen.

All of these folks are great herbalists, all have unique styles and understanding. All are great teachers. Their books… more information than I could digest in a life time. Sort of funny… As years pass and I read these books over and over again I’ve discovered there are volumes of information written between the lines.

These 11 books contain everything from making simple medicines to complex ones, how to set up a field hospital and secure it, how to make all the equipment needed for herbal medicine. They list 100’s of illnesses and what to use to treat them as well as how to treat them.

The “The Herbal Repertory, The Definitive Practitioner’s Guide” and Thomas’s “The Modern Herbal Dispensatory” are invaluable desk references covering 1000’s of plants and illnesses.


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“Tommie Bass” by Darryl Patton

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The Earthwise Herbal “Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants” by M. Wood

The Earthwise Herbal “Complete Guide to New World Medicinal Plants” by M. Wood

Why both? Many old-world plants are now naturalized here in North America. It was Matt’s way of splitting a huge book into two manageable ones.

“The Book of Herbal Wisdom, How to use Plants as Medicine” by M. Wood a true masterpiece…

Herb masters (3).jpg


“Southern Folk Medicine” by Phyllis Light, an understanding of true southern folk medicine like no other.

Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians by P. Howell, one of the first such books I bought. I still use it almost weekly.

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“Herbal Antibiotics, Natural Alternatives to treating drug resistant Bacteria” by Stephen Buhner

“Herbal Antivirals, Natural Remedies for Emerging & Resistant Viral Infections” by Stephen Buhner

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“Treating Lyme” second edition by Stephen Buhner, if you spend time in tick country it’s a must own.
“Adaptogens” by David Winston, it’s little understood even by many herbalists how important this class of plants are to maintaining strength and health or regaining it after major injury or illness.

Herb masters (6).jpg


“The Herbal Medic” by Sam Coffman, Practical, Clinical Herbalism & for home, remote and post-disaster environments. Sam uses a lot of Texas, plains and rocky mountain plants.

“The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm & Stable” by Juliette Levy as useful now as the day it was published in 1954, still in print.

Herb masters (7).jpg


“The Modern Herbal Dispensatory & medicine making guide” by Thomas Easley

“The Herbal Repertory, A Definitive Practitioners Guide” by M. Wood

I wouldn’t be caught without the last two! Actually, I wouldn’t be caught without any of them…

I hope someone finds this knowledge useful.
 
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@Peanut A huge thank you!!! I don't have a ton of herbal knowledge, but sometimes I read something and question its validity (based on my meager knowledge.). Having a library list from someone who is far more knowledgeable is extremely helpful. I will have to copy them into a list in my phone so as I'm out and about, I can watch for them.
:Thankyou:
 
Thanks for a peek into your bookshelf, Peanut. I have all of them but four. Next on my list to buy is Mountain Medicine and Medicinal Plants.

Tommie Bass fans might like this book that I ordered yesterday:

51J7OoLVFiL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


My favorite brand of medicine is time-honored folkloric knowledge that is solidly backed by science, and that is what this particular book is about.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0822310198/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a 560-page reference book that has been "reissued as a companion edition to Trying to Give Ease: Tommie Bass and the Story of Herbal Medicine, this illustrated reference guide covers over 700 medicinal plants, of which more than 150 are readily obtainable in health food stores and other outlets. Based on the Appalachian herbal practice of the late A. L. "Tommie" Bass, each account of a plant includes the herbalist’s comment, an assessment of the plant’s efficacy, and current information on its chemical constituents and pharmacological effects. Unlike most herbal guides, this is a comprehensive, fully documented reference work that interweaves scientific evaluation with folkloric use."

My dream is to have a huge "Tommie Bass" garden with all of his favorite healing plants! It would have to be huge because every plant has its own growing preferences and I would like to recreate for my seedlings and transplants, the same conditions they flourished in the wild.
 
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@Grizzleyette___Adams Tommie touched so many lives. Being here in Alabama I run into them at the strangest places. When I used to sell at the farmers market I'd met 2 or 3 each year. I've met them at feed stores etc.

I've been looking at both books you reference. One is on my wish list (can never remember which one).

I have wished for as long as I've studied plants that I could have walked the grounds around Tommie's cabin but no one can. The cabin is gone. A strip mine company bought the land to mine slag. (slag, the course grey stone used to pave highways/roads). Darryl pointed out the mine once, it can be seen from the highway, a big scar on the side of the mountain. We were out hunting milkweeds in a drizzling rain. Maybe it was the rain but it made me feel sad. :(

To other forum members... All of the authors I posted above are spiritual/religious, some very much so. Yet you could never guess what their beliefs might be from their books, their books are all about the medicine. Witchcraft people can't separate the two. Just be aware of what you'll be getting with their books.
 
Thanks for a peek into your bookshelf, Peanut. I have all of them but four. Next on my list to buy is Mountain Medicine and Medicinal Plants.

Tommie Bass fans might like this book that I ordered yesterday:

51J7OoLVFiL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


My favorite brand of medicine is time-honored folkloric knowledge that is solidly backed by science, and that is what this particular book is about.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0822310198/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a 560-page reference book that has been "reissued as a companion edition to Trying to Give Ease: Tommie Bass and the Story of Herbal Medicine, this illustrated reference guide covers over 700 medicinal plants, of which more than 150 are readily obtainable in health food stores and other outlets. Based on the Appalachian herbal practice of the late A. L. "Tommie" Bass, each account of a plant includes the herbalist’s comment, an assessment of the plant’s efficacy, and current information on its chemical constituents and pharmacological effects. Unlike most herbal guides, this is a comprehensive, fully documented reference work that interweaves scientific evaluation with folkloric use."

My dream is to have a huge "Tommie Bass" garden with all of his favorite healing plants! It would have to be huge because every plant has its own growing preferences and I would like to recreate for my seedlings and transplants, the same conditions they flourished in the wild.


This book. WOW...I just got it a few weeks ago and it's, hands down, the most fascinating herb book I own and that is saying a lot. This huge piece of work discusses over 700 medicinal plants in detail. Tommie Bass was given the floor to comment on all of them. Even if he had no personal experience with some of them because they don't grow in his area, he offered knowledge that he learned from others about the plant being discussed. It's like having him in the room with you as you read. Then other herbal experts join in, then many notes and cited sources are given for each herb in the book.

@Peanut, if you only buy one more book in life, you must get this one. Although the print is a tad bit small (it has to be otherwise, you'd need a wheelbarrow to haul it around), it is well worth the trouble of magnifying it if you needed to. (I just sit near a bright light or window.)
 
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A clarification I meant to add the day I started this thread but got distracted by an occult book someone posted. Sorry for the delay.

Stephen Harrod Buhner actually wrote two books entitled "Herbal Antibiotics".

The first book was published in 1999 and is pictured below. It was just a warm up for the 2nd book published in 2012. The second publication covers everything written in the first printing and is FAR more in depth. If you intend to purchase one I recommend the second printing in 2012. That book is pictured above in the first post of this thread.

@Grizzleyette___Adams My copy of "A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants" by Crellin & Philpott is on the way... Ordered today.

H antibiotics 640 1 (1)_v1.jpg
 
The book @Grizzleyette___Adams recommended came today. Out of the 700 or so plants in the book I picked 3 that I already knew a great deal about.

Color me impressed! The amount of detail was amazing... I got a feeling I'm going to reading this book for years to come.

Thank You Griz!

"A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants" "Herbal Medicine Past and Present"
By... John K. Crellin and Jane Philpott

Copyright 1989 Duke University Press
Second printing 1997

Med Reference ( 2).jpg
 
I told ya so!!!! Ain't it grand!!!! I don't think I've ever seen so much herbal information packed between two covers of any book like this, ever.

Geesh. One day, I'll be 98 years old, rocking on a porch somewhere and saying, "I've been reading this danged thing every day since 2019, and I'm still not finished reading this book."
 
Porcher 01.jpg
Porcher 02.jpg


Edit to add... useful plants in the southeastern US grow in other areas of the US and north america. This book could benefit many folks outside the south.

This is a very interesting book. I've had a copy of for more than a decade. I forgot I had it until yesterday when I found it tucked away in a reference material folder. The key phrase in the title is "medical, economical and agricultural". It contains much more than medicinal plant information.

Early in the civil war the southern states were effectively blockaded. This book was commissioned to be a reference guide to all useful plants, whether used as medicine, for industrial uses or as crops.

I think this would be a handy book for any prepper. It was written by the doctor and surgeon, Francis Porcher, a rising star in the prewar medical community of the United States. He was also a Botanist.

Bio - Francis Porcher, valedictorian of his 1847 graduating class at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina and well-respected writer of several works on the medicinal properties of plants, was the ideal person for Confederate Surgeon General Samuel Moore to assign the important project of preparing a treatise on the indigenous plants of the South for the Army.

His 1863 work was titled:

Resources of the southern fields and forests, medical, economical, and agricultural : being also a medical botany of the Confederate States; with practical information on the useful properties of the trees, plants and shrubs by Porcher, Francis Peyre

This file is a 41MB pdf (640 pages)... available at the links below... also in text format.

His 1869 revised work was titled:

Resources of the southern fields and forests, medical, economical, and agricultural : being also a medical botany of the Southern States; with practical information on the useful properties of the trees, plants and shrubs by Porcher, Francis Peyre

This files is a 46MB pdf (880 pages)

Text and pdf versions are available for download here…

https://archive.org/details/resourcesofsouthporc/page/n6/mode/2up

https://ia600304.us.archive.org/12/items/resourcesofsouthporc/resourcesofsouthporc.pdf

The 1863 versions has "Confederate States" in the title. The 1869 revised edition has "Southern States" in the title since the confederate states no longer existed in 1869. It is much more thorough. Both are far too large to put here in the forum for download. :( (unless admin can make it available)

I now have both pdf versions, downloaded the 1863 version this morning...

Kindle, paperback and hardback versions are available on Amazon. I just ordered myself a paperback version.

https://www.amazon.com/Resources-So...swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1581869979&sr=1-3

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Resource...e+Southern+States&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

Hey @Grizzleyette___Adams @Bacpacker @LadyLocust this might be of special interest to you.
 
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With plant medicine... I guess I was a slow learner but it took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that just because a book said plant X from Sweden does Y doesn't mean there aren't suitable replacements where I live... plants that accomplish the same purpose.

I usually look for this now... This book can be looked at the same way.:)
 
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Wow! That is an awesome find! I love the oldies. It is interesting to note how many of our clinically proven remedies have stood the test of time.
 
Speaking of old references...

Something that I have noticed about Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) mentioned in old books: none of the species native to America were attributed to having anti-cold and flu properties. Not in any of the Native American accounts either! Same thing with the above mentioned book, as well.

As far as I know, in any of the old publications that I have seen so far, only the European Sambucas nigra has been famous for its antiviral properties.

Thoughts??

Has anyone here made Elderberry syrup with our native variety, and found good results for warding off colds and flu?

I have some in my freezer and will use myself as a guinea pig, pretty soon!
 
Matthew Wood writes in The Book of Herbal Wisdom - There seem to be no particular properties which distinguish the medicinal use of American Elder from the Black.

“Our species is not sufficiently distinct from the European” – Charles Millspaugh (1893).

American Elder - Sambucus canadensis
American Red Elder – Sambucus racemose, the most toxic of the Elders.
European Elder – Sambucus nigra aka Black Elder
 
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View attachment 35024 View attachment 35025

Edit to add... useful plants in the southeastern US grow in other areas of the US and north america. This book could benefit many folks outside the south.

This is a very interesting book. I've had a copy of for more than a decade. I forgot I had it until yesterday when I found it tucked away in a reference material folder. The key phrase in the title is "medical, economical and agricultural". It contains much more than medicinal plant information.

Early in the civil war the southern states were effectively blockaded. This book was commissioned to be a reference guide to all useful plants, whether used as medicine, for industrial uses or as crops.

I think this would be a handy book for any prepper. It was written by the doctor and surgeon, Francis Porcher, a rising star in the prewar medical community of the United States. He was also a Botanist.

Bio - Francis Porcher, valedictorian of his 1847 graduating class at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina and well-respected writer of several works on the medicinal properties of plants, was the ideal person for Confederate Surgeon General Samuel Moore to assign the important project of preparing a treatise on the indigenous plants of the South for the Army.

His 1863 work was titled:

Resources of the southern fields and forests, medical, economical, and agricultural : being also a medical botany of the Confederate States; with practical information on the useful properties of the trees, plants and shrubs by Porcher, Francis Peyre

This file is a 41MB pdf (640 pages)... available at the links below... also in text format.

His 1869 revised work was titled:

Resources of the southern fields and forests, medical, economical, and agricultural : being also a medical botany of the Southern States; with practical information on the useful properties of the trees, plants and shrubs by Porcher, Francis Peyre

This files is a 46MB pdf (880 pages)

Text and pdf versions are available for download here…

Resources of the southern fields and forests, medical, economical, and agricultural : being also a medical botany of the Confederate States; with practical information on the useful properties of the trees, plants and shrubs : Porcher, Francis Peyre, 1825-1895 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

https://ia600304.us.archive.org/12/items/resourcesofsouthporc/resourcesofsouthporc.pdf

The 1863 versions has "Confederate States" in the title. The 1869 revised edition has "Southern States" in the title since the confederate states no longer existed in 1869. It is much more thorough. Both are far too large to put here in the forum for download. :( (unless admin can make it available)

I now have both pdf versions, downloaded the 1863 version this morning...

Kindle, paperback and hardback versions are available on Amazon. I just ordered myself a paperback version.

https://www.amazon.com/Resources-So...swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1581869979&sr=1-3

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Resources+of+the+Southern+Fields+and+Forests,+Medical+Botany+of+the+Southern+States&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

Hey @Grizzleyette___Adams @Bacpacker @LadyLocust this might be of special interest to you.

Thanks Peanut. Just now getting around to looking at this. Already downloaded the PDF. Gonna order a book as well. Looks like a very good reference book.
 
Yesterday in another thread the subject of tincture making came up as a possible thread topic. The subject is quite large with many variations. Using herbs can also be done many other ways than tinctures.

“The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook” a Home Manuel… by James Green

There are macerations, percolations, infusions with oils or vinegar or wine, ointments & salves, lotions & creams, syrups, baths, poultices… and on and on…

This book is a required purchase and classroom guide for many herbal medicine schools. It covers all the basic application methods & advanced topics plus all the basic equipment you need. If you use herbs at home this book is a must own for reference.

Med makers (4) sm.JPG


@Weedygarden
 
Yesterday in another thread the subject of tincture making came up as a possible thread topic. The subject is quite large with many variations. Using herbs can also be done many other ways than tinctures.

“The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook” a Home Manuel… by James Green

There are macerations, percolations, infusions with oils or vinegar or wine, ointments & salves, lotions & creams, syrups, baths, poultices… and on and on…

This book is a required purchase and classroom guide for many herbal medicine schools. It covers all the basic application methods & advanced topics plus all the basic equipment you need. If you use herbs at home this book is a must own for reference.

View attachment 43993

@Weedygarden
Thank you. This is what I need. I ordered a copy for myself.
 
It covers all the basics! I'm glad I have a copy for reference. In fact I'm due for a re-read, it's been a few years.

@Weedygarden I just checked... my copy is a first edition. I got it about 12 years ago. Is yours a newer edition? just curious.
Yes, it is a first edition, and it is like new. I bought it on Amazon and thought it had light wear. I am very pleased with it.
 
I've got a decent amount of Plantain around the place. Gonna harvest and make some tinqure this summer.

I've got a plantain infused oil in the works (and another with calendula) to use to make a salve. :thumbs:
 
I received my copy of "The Book of Herbal Wisdom, Using Plants as Medicines," by Matthew Wood today. It is a great book. Thank you for recommending it, Peanut!

I have been working on adding herbs in my garden beds this year as I redo them. I have a ways to go. It may take me all summer to go through them all. I know I can order some plants online and maybe also find a place to go and harvest some. I am going to keep hunting for herbs at local nurseries that I can plant as well as looking online.
 
@Weedygarden Glad you got it. It's a great book for starting out... It seems advanced, in many ways it is... but it lays out the foundations behind western herbalism. It's always good to start with a firm base under you. Don't worry if you feel overwhelmed by it either. I've felt that way many times. I've had the book for years yet even today I still learn from it's pages. Its a good book to grow with, there are hidden gems of knowledge only time reveals.
 

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