Maria’s Favorite Herbals
Which author or book do I recommend most? Well, that depends on what your needs are, if you want more on a specific topic (gardening, women’s health…) and your taste (readable, quick reference, scientific, folk…)…
Quick Links ~
Favorite Overall & Beginner-Intermediate Herbals (followed by additional great general herb books)
Advanced & Evidence-Based Herbals
Herb-Drug Interactions Books & Websites
Localvore/Bioregional Herbalism (Northeast & Elsewhere)
Field Guides, Botany & Identification
BIPOC- & Trans/GNC-Written Herbals & Resources
Pregnancy, Parent, Baby & Child Herbals
Bodycare & Aromatherapy
* Note that Maria’s Home Herbalist, Beyond and Advanced series students have access to a deep discount on Chelsea Green Publishing books – see the intro section of your course materials for details.
Some of Maria’s faves ~
Of course, my book, Body into Balance – it’s an excellent introduction to herbs and thinking about the body systems and common health concerns holistically. It’s now used in several herb schools across the country as a core textbook, yet it’s easy and fun to read. It covers the course material in my introductory herbal courses very closely.
Rosalee de la Foret & Emily Han’s Wild Remedies is FANTASTIC not only for profiles of favorite wild medicinal herbs but also for harvesting, ethics, relationship with the plants, botany, creative recipes, etc. Also of note is Rosalee de la Foret’s Alchemy of Herbs for common herbs of commerce and gardens, excellent, detailed write ups of select popular herbs. Rosalee’s website also has some great plant profiles for free and offers lots of great info, recipes, and plant profile e-books via her newsletter list.
Christa Sinadinos’ The Essential Guide to Western Botanical Medicine is an incredibly comprehensive tome of 750+ full-color pages including 129 in-depth plant profiles that will be invaluable when working on your monograph homework assignments, particularly geared towards academic-minds and intermediate-advanced herbalists/students but useful for all levels
Andrew Chevallier’s Herbal Medicine
Sharol Tiglner’s Herbal Medicine (some parts of old edition available online)
Julie Bruton-Seal & Matthew Seal’s Backyard Medicine (excellent book for common wild plants) – the newer Big Book of Backyard Medicine is two books in one – all the content of Backyard Medicine plus nearly another book’s worth of additional plant profiles on common (sometimes obscure) weeds..
But why stop there??
Additional Great Beginner-Intermediate Level Herb Books
Also, don’t forget that I have lots of articles on my blog – by health concern, remedy making, materia medica plant profiles, and more
Katja Swift & Ryn Midura’s Herbal Medicine for Beginners – really well done!
David Winston, Adaptogens (topic specific – stress, vitality, but still covers a lot of herbs in fantastic detail)… Donald Yance’s Adaptogens book is also great – more academic and expansive in its content but not as approachable as Winston’s
Steven Horne & Thomas Easley’s The Modern Herbal Dispensatory – more on medicine making techniques, but excellent (though very short) plant profiles – one of my go-tos for quick reference, doses, basic energetics
Kathi Langelier, Herbal Revolution – fantastic recipes organized by body system and beautifully laid out with photographs, plus nice (though very short) plant profiles
Robin Rose Bennet, The Gift of Healing Herbs – organized by body system, full of great recipes, and a lovely folk and spirit minded tradition, loaded with great info
Mimi Hernandez, National Geographic Herbal – I really enjoy Mimi’s teaching, and many common and less-often-covered herbs are covered in this beautiful book. This book is particularly good for background history of each plant, the vibe of the plant, popular key benefits, and botany (note that there are other National Geographic herb books, too – such as the one listed further below)
Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide (really lovely! Somewhat similar to but less dense than Rosalee’s Alchemy book) and her other books.
Henriette Kress’ Practical Herbs Vol 1 & 2
National Geographic’s Guide to Medicinal Herbs – great for extra info on history, traditional use, growing, co-authored by several experts including Teirona Low Dog and Stephen Foster
David Hoffman, Medical Herbalism – heavy reading, HUGE textbook with LOTS of information…
for a MUCH LIGHTER beginner book (which is good and great for learning herbal actions, but nowadays I think those by Rosalee de la Foret, Rosemary Gladstar, are more comprehensive) see his The Herbal Handbook
Mary Colvin, The Herbalist’s Guide – a fantastic resource for fledgeling home herbalists and students looking for an affordable and approachable yet thorough resource to learn herbalism and incorporate it into their daily lives. It’s like a beginner/foundational herbal study program in book form. The exercises speckled throughout are a gem to gain *experience* with the herbal medicine while learning the plants, body, and building a home apothecary.
Allan Tillotson, The One Earth Herbal Sourcebook – a bit out of date now but still nice, covers some TCM and Ayurvedic herbs and organized by body system
Michael Moore, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West and Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West
Lesley Tierra, Healing with the Herbs of Life – lovely introduction to TCM
Michael Tierra, Planetary Herbology or The Way of Herbs
Matthew Wood, The Book of Herbal Wisdom, Earthwise Herbals (2 volumes), and other books
James Duke, The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook
Also check out Henriette Kress’ recommended reading list
Advanced Herbals
The beginner/intermediate books mentioned previously are an excellent starting point (particularly my Body into Balance, Rosalee’s books and website, Sharol Tilgner’s books/website, Easley/Horne’s Modern Herbal Dispensatory, Seal’s Backyard Medicine, the Adaptogens books by David Winston and Donald Yance), but these will step your bookshelf and herbal learning up a notch:
***The aforementioned book by Christa Sinadinos is TOP NOTCH and highly recommended.
**Marisa Marciano & Nikita Vizniak, Evidence-Informed Botanical Medicine Manual, 2nd edition (2019) – Naturopath-written, relatively affordable, excellent quick reference for many medicinal herbs geared towards trained practitioners (not beginners), lots of excellent additional information and charts for clinicians although the plant profiles; medicinal uses sections are quite cursory and often lacking, includes toxic herbs, interactions, nutrient deficiency/toxicity/interactions, etc. Though the medicinal use info is too short and lacking IMHO, for all the additional info and appendixes, this is still a highly recommended book for advanced students and professionals.
*Dr. Jill Stansbury’s Herbal Formularies for Health Professionals, various volumes by body system – advanced herbal information as well as a list of potential formulas and some information on how to formulate
Dr. Sharol Tilgner, Herbal ABCs – advanced information by body system
David Hoffmann, Medical Herbalism
Simon Mills & Kerry Bone, Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy
Also see the starter herbals, botany/identification books, and evidence-based books lists
For students in my Advanced series, other highly recommended (but not required) books include:
Energetic Herbalism by Kat Maier (secondarily, Matthew Wood’s The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism) for herbal energetics
1+ top quality field guides for your bioregion,
Thomas Epel’s Botany in a Day
Herb-Drug Interactions Resource(s)
Aviva Romm’s Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health textbook, if this is an area of interest for you
Robin Rose Bennet’s The Gift of Healing Herbs takes a body system approach with a beautiful wise woman approach that incorporates simple yet profound hands-on backyard herbs, kitchen herbalism, and the magic of plants plus lots of recipes and formulation tips (versus Tilgner’s Herbal ABCs and Stansbury’s Formularies books, which are also excellent but more science/academic/clinical-minded)
Tierona Low Dog’s Fortify Your Life for assessing nutrient deficiencies and depletions (the Evidence-Informed Botanical Medicine Manual also highlights this data succinctly)
Ann Armbrecht’s Business of Botanicals
And others, which will be suggested in your class notes
Evidence-Based Herbals & Reference Books
In general, websites will be more up to date: https://wintergreenbotanicals.com/links/#science (use these websites for homework science sources), but these following are nice summaries of the research written or edited mostly by herbalists: Note that some are now quite out of date, which is why I also like using the aforementioned websites.
Christa Sinadinos, The Essential Guide to Western Botanical Medicine – amazingly detailed plant profiles with both science and traditional herbalism intertwined, released 2021
Marisa Marciano & Nikita Vizniak, Evidence-Informed Botanical Medicine Manual, 2nd edition (2019) – Naturopath-written, relatively affordable, excellent quick reference for many medicinal herbs geared towards trained practitioners (not beginners), lots of excellent additional information and charts for clinicians although the plant profiles; medicinal uses sections are quite cursory and often lacking, includes toxic herbs, interactions, nutrient deficiency/toxicity/interactions, etc.
David Hoffmann, Medical Herbalism
Simon Mills & Kerry Bone, Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy
Rob McCaleb, The Encyclopedia of Popular Herbs
Mark Blumenthal, The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs
Mark Blumenthal, Expanded German Commission E Handbook
American Herbal Products Association Botanical Safety Handbook (safety data only)
David Winston, Herbal Therapy & Supplements
Mosby’s Nursing Drug Reference (not herbal, for drug side effects and interactions)
Michael Murray, Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine
Michael Murray, Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements
Murray & Pizzorno, Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine
Herb-Drug Interactions & Related
* = favorites of mine
- **Mosby’s Nursing Drug Reference: 2025 linked but updated yearly and easy to use, this guide is organized by pharmaceutical drug. It not only lists potential interactions but explains what the potential risk or side effect would be. It also discusses pharmacokinetics of drug, including how the drug is metabolized by the body’s detoxification system, and it explains how the drug works, its class, and the range of potential drug side effects. It’s moderately cautious. Interestingly, the number of herb-drug interactions listed have dropped significantly in more recent editions. Presumably less realistic risks were cut. It retails for about $50.
- **AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook: Last updated in 2013 (online version available that is updated more regularly), this unwieldy tome is organized by herb. It provides useful context both for the herb’s general safety (including in pregnancy and while nursing) and risk of herb-drug interactions. It takes a scrutinizing look at the data to rule out unrealistic concerns and explains the studies behind the claims. It retails for $119.95 for the hardcover book OR the $195 per year for the annual (updated) online subscription. I do prefer the online version, but it is $$. They might give you a renewal discount.
- *Memorial Sloan Kettering “Search About Herbs”: This has nice info organized by herb/mushroom/supplement (on the herb profile, go into For Healthcare Professions, then Herb-Drug Interactions). I appreciate that they annotate with the source so you can dig deeper if you’d like. It’s one of our best online free resources for science-based, annotated info about each herb. Unfortunately they do not have the same info searchable by drug. Free
- *Aisle7/Healthnotes: This program sold to drug and natural food stores and business websites to educate their customers on evidence-based natural medicine in a DSHEA-compliant, consumer-friendly way. On the Vitamins & Herbs profiles, you can click on different tabs for details, interactions, references. Drugs section lists both positive and negative, click for more details. The program features drug monographs and an interaction checker. It’s expensive if you’d like to buy the program for your website or store; but it’s free if you find a website that has it available already. Updated frequently. Vitamins & Herbs A-Z, Health Conditions A-Z, Drugs A-Z. (Access site changes, links sometimes break, I often have the most up to date listed at https://wintergreenbotanicals.com/links/#science Free
- While I have liked the offerings of A.D.A.M. more or less in the past, it is not currently available for free anymore online as far as I am aware.
- CYP liver enzyme interaction info: Eric Yarnell’s thorough CYP interaction web resource page (on his Bot Med Rocks website) Also see HerbPedia links further below in CYP section.
- FullScript (for those of you who have Fullscript practitioner accounts) offers an interaction checker. Not sure how good it is.
- Herb books that are good but can become dated quickly:
- *The Essential Guide to Western Botanical Medicine: This 2021 amazing though expensive reference/resource, 700+ page fully illustrated, self-published by Christa Sinadinos offers perhaps the most in-depth plant profiles you can get (with an herbalist’s perspective and extensively annotated), including good safety information and some herb-drug interaction info. $179.95 + shipping, only available as a print hardcover book.
- * Evidence Informed Botanical Medicine, 2nd ed by Marciano & Vizniak (NDs): This 2020 edition contains some general interaction info as well as phytochemistry on many different herbs, organized by herb. Limited scope.
- Popular but Some Concerns/Caveats:
- Using AI? Google AI, ChatGPT, etc can be handy to ask in a pinch and will offer well organized information on just about anything; however, you must be very cautious everything must be taken with a huge grain of salt because they don’t always use quality resources. Always double-check with more reputable sources. You can also ask/look at the sources of the data AI compiles from to see how reputable it feels. I’ve caught both Google AI and ChatGPT in quite a few inaccurate, misleading, or not-quite-accurate errors.
- Herbal Contraindications and Drug Interactions Plus Herbal Adjuncts with Medicine by Francis Brinker is among the more popular (amongst herbalists) books out there. The 4th edition is the most recent yet still out of date (2010 pub date). Organized by herb plus several nice appendixes. Nicely detailed and organized, relatively trustworthy, just very out of date.
- Herb, Nutrient, and Drug Interactions: This book by herbalist Jonathan Treasure, naturopathic doctor Mitchell Bebel Stargrove, and medical doctor Dwight McKee is a favorite amongst herbalists for its measured, no-nonsense approach to interactions written by actual health practitioners. It’s organized by herb and nutrient. It’s very detailed in its 70 monographs, but this is still a relatively short list of all the herbs in common use. Unfortunately, having been last updated in 2008, it’s a tad out of date. The book retails for $117, the web application for $121 or so; you can also buy the PDF of the book from that web page for $49. (Hopefully they’re good about sending stuff when purchased – I’ve tried emailing questions and no one ever replies.)
I’ve yet to purchase/see this resource, but many herbalists rave about it.
- Somewhat helpful, somewhat not
- MedlinePlus.gov: On the Herbs and Supplements page, you can get pretty good, detailed (though highly cautious) from the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database monographs and slightly less detailed info on the NIH monographs. You can also search for the drugs themselves, though herb-drug RX info in more limited there. I do NOT love this site. Take all their cautions with a big grain of salt and think critically about them because they often report RX that are really of little to no concern and highly theoretical, and they often seem overly critical of herb benefits and dismissive of plants that may actually have pretty good research on them. VERY overcautious. Free
- drugs.com: This free website has a nifty Drug Interactions Checker at that allows you to plug in the drugs and herbs being used, then check for potential interactions – BUT it only includes the most commonly used herbs and supplements. It rates the severity of the potential reaction and explains what the interaction would be. Although you can look up individual drugs to view potential reactions, it does not readily list herb-drug interactions unless you plug in the specific drugs and herbs together in the Interaction Checker. You can look up drug interactions by herb, but the way it lists individual drugs is overwhelmingly detailed; instead of listing “sedatives” or “benzodiazepines” it lists every single name brand and generic possible drug/combination for each category. Limited scope. Free
- *Medi-Herb (an herbal supplement company geared towards practitioners, specific to their product line of herbs) has a nice quick overview list here. But dated and limited scope
- Ones that I don’t really love
- Epocrates (website & app): Lots of info on the drug side and only minimal but possibly useful info on herbs included within the interactions list. I do NOT love this source. Unfortunately the drugs are a long list (not organized by category nor interaction type) and the herbs are mixed in with them, so it’s not easy to see which herbs to avoid. If you click on the herb/drug in the interaction list, it does tell you the potential interaction, which is nice. Free
- RxList: This website covers the most basic/common interactions organized by drug. It’s best for drug-drug interactions but will include the better-known herb-drug interactions. It’s well organized and easy to read, and also will note which drugs are affected by which CYP pathways (though it doesn’t include herbs that may affect CYP pathways – see the Herbpedia/links later in these notes for that). Limited in scope. Free
- PDR & PDR online (for general drug info): Has very thorough information by drug including LOTS of drug-drug interaction info, drug side effects, warnings, and more. But it does NOT include herb-drug interaction Free
- Subscription Based – Natural Medicines Research Collaboration/Database (NatMedPro) (People seem to like it; I’ve never subscribed. I’m pretty sure it’s on the over-cautious and limited-in-scope side.) ~$150-200/year
- WebMD.com: Let me start by saying overall that I detest WebMD and do not allow students to use it for herb homework because the quality of content is so poor. This website tends to be unnecessarily cautious, with overblown cautions, interactions, and dangers at the same time that it minimizes herbs’ benefits. (For example, the antianxiety drug Ativan combined with the sleep herb valerian can have a synergistic sedative action. Drugs.com lists this as a “Moderate Interaction” concern while WebMD.com calls it “Serious – Use Alternative.”) Yet, it is free, expansive, and accessible. It features write ups on individual herbs, individual drugs, as well as an interaction checker. In the drug and herb monographs, the interactions descriptions are well organized, explained, and easily understood; they describe potential drug reactions in terms of both the drug class (i.e.: sedative medications – benzodiazepines) and examples of specific common drugs in this class with both generic and brand names. Like Drugs.com, WebMD.com unfortunately does not provide herb interactions when you look up specific drugs for general information; you need to look up the individual herb or do a specific herb-drug interaction check to get this information.
- Also see the safety data put out by the drug company (online or on package), especially the info that’s for practitioners/medical professionals, which will be more technical but also more detailed. It usually won’t include much for herb/food-drug interactions unless they’re very common and obvious.
- Beers List for Medications to avoid or use caution in Elders (Mosby’s has info, too): 2023 Beers
- Food Medication Interactions, by Zaneta M. Pronsky
- Drug-Nutrient Depletions and Interaction Info
- Mosby’s will list a few of the biggies.
- Dr. Tieraona Low Dog’s Fortify Your Life (appendix) – I love this book for nutrition information in general BTW! She is affiliated with a supplement company but the info in the book feels well researched and unbiased.
- Integrative Therapeutics (a supplement company!)’s Drug-Nutrient Interaction Checker (required account)
- Another (sponsored by supplement company Nature Made, posted on AAFP site) chart of drug class, herb-drug RX, supportive supplements, nutrient depletion
- HealthNotes/Aisle7: Vitamins & Herbs A-Z, Health Conditions A-Z, Drugs A-Z (or get the latest links/sources at https://wintergreenbotanicals.com/links/#science )
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase via that link, I make a small percent at no extra cost to you.)
Many herbals have a section or some information on blending herbs and formulating, especially more newly published herbals. Some that are more specific to the topic…
Kathi Langelier, Herbal Revolution – fantastic recipes organized by body system and beautifully laid out with photographs, plus nice (though very short) plant profiles – not specifically on formulation but excellent for starting with good recipe and then learning how to tweak them
Holly Bellebuono, an Herbalist’s Guide to Formulary – a lovely starting point
Dr. Jill Stansbury’s Herbal Formularies for Health Professionals, various volumes by body system – advanced herbal information as well as a list of potential formulas and some information on how to formulate
Bone’s Clinical Guide to Blending Liquid Herbs
Maud Grieve, A Modern Herbal Vol. I & II www.botanical.com
Rudolph Weiss, Weiss’s Herbal Medicine, Classic Edition
Many classic herbal texts are available for free on www.henriettesherbal.com in PDF format as well as on archive.org.
Christopher Hobbs’ Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms (newly published by Storey in 2021) is gorgeous, up to date, easy to read, with recipes, charts, psychedelic medicine section, focuses on the most common mushrooms
(his old Medicinal Mushrooms is nice too, more text-dense, but a bit out of date)
Greg Marley, Mushrooms for Health (approachable, NE mushrooms)
Robert Rogers, Fungal Pharmacy (huge and amazing guide – lots of mushrooms covered and lots of details on each one, plus photographs)
Paul Stamets – various books
David Wichland at Wichland Woods in Keene doesn’t have a book, but he grows great mushrooms and teaches classes. His speciality is growing mushrooms in the landscape, and he sells equipment and teaches classes on this.
Localvore Herbalism:
Using Wild – and Sometimes Cultivated – Herbs in the Northeast
(overlaps greatly with mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Great North Woods, Canada region plants and south to approximately/including North Carolina)
(Not all herbs covered in these books are “local” to NH, but many are.)
Rosalee de la Foret & Emily Han’s Wild Remedies is FANTASTIC not only for profiles of favorite wild medicinal herbs but also for harvesting, ethics, relationship with the plants, botany, creative recipes, etc.
Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants of the Midwest, 3rd Edition by Matthew Alfs – Mostly focused on common weedy herbs and native plants – many of which are not often profiled in herbals. Amazing VERY detailed profiles on common and less common wild plants found not only in the midwest but also throughout much of New England and the temperate USA. Incorporates vast historical (such as Eclectic and reports on Indigenous use), some scientific, and Matthew’s own experiences with the plants. Full color photography and illustrations, annotated with sources.
Julie Bruton-Seal & Matthew Seal, Backyard Medicine or their “double feature” Big Book of Backyard Medicine, the later has even more “obscure” (less commonly covered) medicinal weeds included
Michael Moore, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West and other books
Arthur Haines, Ancestral Plants Volumes 1 & 2 – hard to find but very well done – see the author’s website
JJ Pursell, The Herbal Apothecary
Beverly Gray, Boreal Herbal Wild Food and Medicine Plants
Matthew Wood, The Book of Herbal Wisdom
M. Wood, The Earthwise Herbal (especially the New World Plants volume)
Maud Grieve, A Modern Herbal Vol. I & II www.botanical.com
Guido Mase, Wild Medicine Solution
Other Bioregions:
Southwest/West: several books by Michael Moore
Timber Press’ Medicinal Plants guides by region (Pacific Northwest, Midwest, Mountain States, etc.)
Matthew Alfs’ aforementioned Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants of the Midwest, 3rd Ed – LOTS of cross over with the Northeast plants, too!
CoreyPine Shane’s Southeast Medicinal Plants
Phyllis Light, Southern Folk Medicine (Southeast)
Patricia Kyritsi Howell, Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians (Southeast)
Luisa Teish, Jambalaya (African American/Southeast)
Various Timber Press/Workman “Medicinal Plants” regional books (there are also region-specific “Foraging” books though these are more focused on edible qualities)
For Hawaii, Caitlin Duquette suggests La’au Hawai’i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants, Plants in Hawaiian Medicine, and Medicine at Your Feet: Healing Plants of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
See Chestnut School’s Bioregional Field & Foraging Guide list here
* Also check out Chestnut School of Herbalism’s regional foraging/field guide recommendations here
Field Guides & Botany Books
See my Plant Identification blog post here.
Also check out 7Song (a guru of herb ID/botany)’s recommended books/botany resources here
And while NO website or app is complete for ID, this is one of the best for New England: gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org (note, Native Plant Trust was formerly called New England Wildflower Society) and for the entire United States, see wildflowersearch.org is… meh….
Once you’re pretty sure of your plant ID or have it narrowed down to the species, you can check out the USDA Plants Database, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, and other sites.
If you’re really stuck, ask around on FB groups Botany Everyday or Plant Identification (still double-check those results!)
NEVER rely on a website or app as your sole source of ID. That said, Seek is meh (maybe right 2/3 of the time?) and Picture This (for pay but not too much $) is more accurate but still makes mistakes. ALSO use field guides and/or floras to confirm.
Outside the Northeast?
Check out Chestnut School’s Bioregional Field & Foraging Guide list here
For Great Lakes/Midwest/Michigan, jim mcdonald recommends the Field Manual of Michigan Flora (which is very technical botany, not beginner level) and What’s Doin’ the Bloomin’? A Guide to Wildflowers of the Upper Great Lakes Regions, Eastern Canada And Northeastern USA (easier to use, more picture-oriented). Many of your standard field guides (Newcomb’s, Peterson’s, etc) will also encompass the Great Lakes region. Note that forager Sam Thayer is also in this region.
For the Southeast Blue Ridge Mountains/Appalachians/Ashville area, CoreyPine Shane and others recommend Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians by Carthart and Horn as one of the best semi-beginner guides for the region. Newcomb’s will help at least get to the family or genus. For more advanced botanical keys, consider Guide to Vascular Plants of the Blue Ridge by B. Eugene Wofford. For herbals (not ID) for this region, consider the aforementioned books by Patricia Kyritsi Howell and Phillis Light as well as the work of Tommie Bass and Juliet Blankespoor.
My Pacific Northwest friends suggest the Revised Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska.and A Visual Guide to Medicinal Plants of the Pacific Northwest. Note that forager John Kallas is also in this area.
WILDFLOWER Field Guides for the Northeast:
Lawrence Newcomb, Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide – The BEST field guide for our area (organized by flower shape and leaf arrangement NOT by bloom color, great mostly B&W illustrations, includes distinctive flowering trees and shrubs, which most other wildflower guides do not include, Latin names are very out of date)
Marilyn J. Dwelley’s New England-specific guides (easy to use, organized by color and then by plant family, which is pretty cool, alas, terrible illustrations), but they appear to be out of print
Peterson’s Wildflowers (organized by color, expansive, but slow to flip through, ok illustrations)
Audubon Wildflower Guide (organized by color, good photos)
Clemants & Gracie’s Wildflowers in the Field and Forest (Northeastern US) (organized by color, up to date, great info and Latin names, but oddly hard to use, not great photos, includes distribution maps color coded by bloom season)
Ted Elliman & New England Wildflower Society’s Wildflowers of New England (well organized by color, then flower shape and leaf arrangement, photos not always great representations, up to date Latin names)
TREES:
Sibley Guide to Trees (entire US) tricky b/c the range is so big, but includes distribution maps and great multifaceted illustrations of leaves, tree structure, flowers, fruits… exemplary for this. No shrubs, though.
National Audubon Field Guide to Trees (Eastern)
Peterson’s Eastern Trees (personal fave)
Dwelley’s Trees and Shrubs of New England
HERBS IN COMMERCE
Wendy Applequist, The Identification of Medicinal Plants
Also check out Chestnut School of Herbalism’s regional foraging/field guide recommendations here
Botany & Natural History
Thomas J. Elpel, Botany in a Day – general understanding of plant families & medicines, his website is also loaded with great information (Montana-focused)
Marc Williams, Botany Everyday www.botanyeveryday.com (online classes, FB group)
GoBotany by the New England Wildflower Society gobotany.newenglandwild.org
Stokes Guide to Nature in Winter
Ancestral Plants Volumes 1 & 2 by Arthur Haines – Northeast and North Woods specific
Any book by Samuel Thayer, particularly Nature’s Garden – see excerpts online
Dina Falconi, Foraging and Feasting – backyard wild herb-focused, stunningly beautiful, loaded with tips
Any book by Euel Gibbons, particularly Stalking the Wild Asparagus
Other good authors: John Kallas, Steve Brill
Peterson’s guide to Edible Wild Plants as backup only!
Also check out Chestnut School of Herbalism’s regional foraging/field guide recommendations here
Also see my herbal gardening blog hub here.
My own book, Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies – excellent for beginners and backyard gardener-herbalists who want easy-to-grow herbs and then recipes to make medicine with them, organized by body system/health goals
Jeff & Melanie Carpenter, The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer – possibly the BEST for those who are farming herbs commercially on a small-medium scale (also nice for gardeners)
Juliet Blankespoor’s The Healing Garden: Cultivating & Handcrafting Herbal Remedies This delightful book finally released in 2022 after many years in the works. It’s gorgeous and delightfully dense, rich with stunning photography, delicious culinary and medicinal remedies, step-by-step illustrated remedy making tips, and detailed herb gardening information. More than 400 pages long, it includes tips on landscaping, building soil, dealing with plant pests and diseases, container gardening, propagation, harvesting and drying, foundational herbal medicine tips, and approximately 30 detailed plant profiles on both cultivated and wild medicinals including less commonly covered plants including anise hyssop, ashwagandha, bee balm, hibiscus, gotu kola, prickly pear cactus, and passionflower. With this book, Juliet weaves together her own unique skills including photography, herb cultivation, botany, and medicinal plant education. For students doing herb homework, these 30+ profiles will be useful for your monograph homework; they contain highly detailed information on the plants!.
Peg Schafer, The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm – excellent for farmers, permaculturists, and gardeners who want to grow Chinese and popular Ayurvedic herbs
Richo Chech, Growing At-Risk Medicinal Herbs and other books – highly popular with herbalists
Tammi Hartung, Growing 101 Herbs that Heal (which has market value for herbs) or newer edition: Homegrown Herbs
Christopher Hobbs & Leslie Gardner, Grow It, Heal It
Jekka McVicar, The Complete Herb Book – many plants are covered although the gardening tips are cursory, Jekka is famous in the UK for growing herbs
Susan Belsinger and/or Art Tucker have written many great books, primarily on growing culinary herbs
Patrick Lima, Herbs: The Complete Gardener’s Guide
Shatoiya & Richard de la Tour, The Herbalist’s Garden
Also see the cooking hub of my blog here.
Jekka McVicar, Jekka’s Herb Cookbook
Brittany Wood Nickerson, The Herbalist’s Kitchen
Holly Bellebuono, The Healing Kitchen
Dina Falconi, Foraging and Feasting
Jerry Traunfeld, The Herbfarm Cookbook and The Herbal Kitchen
J. Traunfeld, The Herbal Kitchen
Kami McBride’s The Herbal Kitchen
Susan Belsinger’s many books
BIPOC/Herbalists of Color: My training in western herbalism is admittedly White/European-American centric. I’m just starting to delve into the herb books written by herbalists of color, and more are (finally!) releasing, which is wonderful!
Some of the BIPOC-authors and BIPOC-Centered Herb Books I love ~Working the Roots by Michele Elizabeth Lee: Also see KhadiYah’s video review of Michele’s book This book weaves together stories of elder healers, popular remedies, and history.
The Art & Practice of Spiritual Herbalism by Karen M. Rose: Well-respected Empress Karen Rose of Sacred Vibes Apothecary in Brooklyn released this beautiful, heart- and spirit-centered book on herbal medicine in 2022. Easy to read yet multifaceted and deep in its approach, Karen teaches herbalism through the body systems, the coinciding patterns of emotions, healing, and ancestral medicine, energetics, ritual, and cosmology all in one approachable, enjoyable, meaningful book. Released 2022.
Farming While Black by Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm: Though this book is more about homesteading, reclaiming a connection to the land, and justice, it also interweaves herbal medicine and history of African and African American herbal healers into a practical and impactful book.
Wild Apothecary: Reclaiming Plant Medicine for All by Amaia Dadachanji with Claudia Manchanda: Though not specific to African or African American herbalism, this gorgeous book teaches practical herbalism through a lens accessible to all people including those in the BIPOC community. Released 2021.
Handbook of African Plants by Maurice M. Iwu: Though the out-of-print physical book is pricey, you may find second-hand or electronic versions that are more economical. The 400+ page resource catalogs common medicinal plants of Africa and then profiles individual plants in depth. 2014.
Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals by Luisah Teish: Though not as specific for medicinal herbalism, Yeye Teish is a respected herbal elder, storyteller, and priestess of Oshun. First published in 1985, this book is a classic mix of memoir, spiritual teachings, and African American traditions. 2021 latest edition, the original version published in 1985 and is among the first herbals/spiritual books I personally read and enjoyed in my early days. 🙂
KhadiYah Preciado of the Her Healthy Home YouTube Channel shares her favorite books on African Herbalism here. KhadiYah also offers herb classes online through an African herbalism lens here.
New & Forthcoming Books:
• KhadiYah Preciado’s Herbal Holistic Healing: African Herbalism for Modern Times (e-book releasing February 2023) will be full of detailed information, plant profiles, and more!
• African American Herbalism by Lucretia Van Dyke Releasing later in 2022, Lucretia will take you through the origins of African American herbalism including Egypt, tropical Africa, into the Caribbean and the United States, interweaving stories of individual healers, and practical medicinal and spiritual ways to connect with the plants in your daily life. Lucretia is a wonderful teacher!
• The Curanderx Toolkit: Reclaiming Ancestral Latinx Plant Medicine and Rituals for Healing by Atava Garcia Swiecicki, released July 2022. Herbalist and curandera Atava Garcia Swiecicki (founder of the well-respected Ancestral Apothecary herb school) spent decades gathering this traditional knowledge of curanderismo, Mexican folk healing, which had been marginalized as Chicanx and Latinx Americans assimilated to US culture. She teaches how to follow the path of the curandera, as she herself learned from apprenticing with Mexican curanderas, studying herbal texts, and listening to her ancestors. In this book readers will learn the Indigenous, African, and European roots of curanderismo.
•. Earth Medicines: Ancestral Wisdom, Healing Recipes, and Wellness Rituals from a Curandera by Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz released November 2021, interweaving Felicia’s heritage as a Latinx-Indigenous healer in the Southwest as trained by her abuelas. This gorgeous book is arranged by the elements – earth, air, fire, and water – incorporating practical, beautiful culinary, medicinal, and spiritual recipes, seasonal living, and short rituals that will support all people in their healing and joy of nature and herbs.
You’ll find a nice starter list in the resources section compiled by Alyson Morgan here.
If there’s a book or author you love that you think I should check out, let me know! Email office@wintergreenbotanaicals.com I’m super excited to see more and more herbals coming out featuring authors and topics that have historically bee under-represented.
Trans/GenderQueer/NonBinary Herbalists: Definitely check out this generous and amazing clearinghouse of information and resources by Vilde and Larken. I suspect that we’ll have more books available soon on these topics.
Pregnancy, New Parents, Children, Babies
Camille Freeman has some great “safe” lists for nursing and pregnancy. on her freebee page here.
*Mary Bove, ND, An Encyclopedia of Natural Healing for Children and Infants*
*Aviva Jill Romm, Naturally Healthy Babies and Children*
*A.J. Romm, Natural Health After Birth*
*A.J. Romm, The Natural Pregnancy Book*
* Liane Moccia, The Herbal Fertility Handbook
*LactMed Lactation Database (for drugs and some herbs/supplements), free and searchable online https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501922/
New book coming from Mischa Schuler… featuring recipes and gems from Dr. Mary Bove
Rosemary Gladstar, Rosemary Gladstar’s Family Herbal
Sheila Humphrey, The Nursing Mother’s Herbal
Colleen Dodt, Natural Baby Care
Andrea Candee & David Andrusia, Gentle Healing for Baby and Child. Pocket Books
Janet Zand, et al.,Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child
The Herbal Fertility Handbook by Liane Moccia RH (AHG)
Students have also recommended books and courses by Demetria Clark (I am leery about essential oils in pregnancy though, which is the topic of one of her books) and Mel at the Herbalist’s Path but I haven’t had the chance to check these resources out to totally endorse them.
Discover Herbs & Nature with Children
Definitely also check out my blog on this topic here.
A Kid’s Herb Book by Lesley Tierra
Walking the World in Wonder by Ellen Evert Hopman
Song of the Seven Herbs by Waling Night Bear & Stan Padilla
Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Visit the Children & Nature Network at www.cnaturenet.org to find a movement in your community.
Natural & Herbal Body Care, Essential Oils & Aromatherapy
For information and recommended resources for Aromatherapy and Essential Oils, click here
Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health
Donna Maria, Making Aromatherapy Creams and Lotions
Janice Cox, Natural Beauty at Home and other books
Greta Breedlove, The Herbal Home Spa
Dina Falconi, Earthly Bodies & Heavenly Hair
Some Amazon links are affiliate links. If you use these links to purchase this book, a small portion of of the proceeds will support my work at no extra cost to you.
You Can’t Go Wrong
with almost any book, class, article, blog, or lecture by…
Matthew Alfs
Rosita Arvigo
Betzy Bancroft
Paul Bergner
Juliet Blankespoor
Mark Blumenthal
Mary Bove
Larken Bunce*
Stephen Harrod Buhner
Lana Camiel
Vilde Chaya Fenster-Ehrlich
Bevin Clare
Richo Cech
Sam Coffman
Amanda David
Rosalee de la Foret*
Linden de Voil
James Duke
Thomas Easley*
Steven Foster
Margi Flint
Camille Freeman*
Cascade Anderson Geller
Kate Gilday*
Rosemary Gladstar*
James Green
Mindy Green
Emily Han*
Mimi Hernandez*
Christopher Hobbs*
David Hoffmann*
Steven Horne*
Kathi Keville
Susan Kramer*
Henriette Kress
Jessica LaBrie
Phyllis Light
Dr. Tierona Low Dog*
Richard Mandelbaum*
Guido Mase*
Rob McCaleb
Anne McIntyre
Debbie Mercier
jim mcdonald*
Amanda McQuade Crawford
Michael Moore*
Michael Murray
Olatukunbo “Ola” Obasi
Leah Penniman*
Ember Peters*
Nancy & Michael Phillips
Aviva Jill Romm *
Kiva Rose*
Wendy Snow Fogg
Deb Soule
Katya Swift & Ryn Midura
Paul Stamets
Tammi Sweet
Lesley Tierra
Michael Tierra
Sharol Tilgner*
Allan Tillotson
Dr Andrew Weil
Leslie “Leslita” Williams
David Winston*
Matthew Wood
7Song
*/bold = personal favorites
I’m still getting acquainted with a better diversity of herbal teachers. Those listed above are folks I have had the pleasure of learning from directly, listening to, or watching speak in person or via recordings. I urge you to also check out BIPOC and Queer and Trans herbalists compiled by Toi at the Queering Herbalism blog. <3
