50 Years of the Herbalist Almanac: A Fifty Year Anthology

If you want the best book on Herbs,try Culpepper's book instead.This book is charming to a point.It has the complete list of all well-known herbs and uses.Yet,there too brief and not very weighty in content.The references come from out-dated herbal source books that can not be so easy to verify.So,i withheld one star here.Yet,the knowledge presented is credible and useful. There are many interesting old pictures and illustrations throughout the book.There are many biblical names and meanings given also,such as the Balm of Giliad,Dragon's Blood,St.John's bread,devil's bite,shepards purse,etc.The bible phrases and biblical names are used so the average layreader can understand them.The bible being the number one source-book in the lives of the masses of yesterday's colonial frontier people. Also presented are various Indian herbal stories,native herbs and recipes for use.The settlers that adapted some of the Indians growing customs prospered and the others faired not as well.I guess you could say it is very similar to an 'Herbal Guidebook from the Old Farmer's Almanac'.This is another way of looking at the folk-history of global herbal use.In this day and age of quick man-made chemical otc drugs,this does give the reader a bonding healthier alternative through Earth's natural herbs.