Euell Gibbons' Handbook of Edible Wild Plants

This book covers over 300 edible wild species and includes uses of parts of plants I have never found anywhere else. In some cases recommendations are based on personal discoveries based on experimentation (!) and he gives personal accounts of pretty much everything. You really get a sense of someone deeply immersed in and in love with nature, who knows it intimately first hand, I find this quite beautiful, especially since it's so rare these days. There are no photos (except a picture of him on the cover(removable, you may not get it) where he looks wildly intense and enthusiastic) so you will definitely need to go elsewhere for plant identifaction. There are probably safer and easier books for the beginner, but likely to be cherished by enthusiasts. I don't live in N.America but use it to learn about plants introduced from there, for the garden.

This is the last of Euell Gibbon's books and was finished by another author (Tucker) from Gibbon's notes. It is the most complete of all his books and covers just about every wild edible plant. It does not have photos, just some very excellent drawings. A field guide is necessary to go along with this book, as it is not meant to identify plants but rather to tell you the uses and how to prepare them for the table. It is humerous in many places and a good book to have in your edible plant library.