Ethnobotany

Updated with a new introduction from Robin Wall Kimmerer, the special edition of Braiding Sweetgrass celebrates the book as an object of meaning that will last the ages. Beautifully bound with a new cover featuring an engraving by Tony Drehfal, this edition includes a bookmark ribbon, a deckled edge, and five brilliantly colored illustrations by artist Nate Christopherson. In increasingly dark times, we honor the experience that more than 350,000 readers in North America have cherished about the book—gentle, simple, tactile, beautiful, even sacred—and offer an edition that will inspire readers to gift it again and again, spreading the word about scientific knowledge, indigenous wisdom, and the teachings of plants.

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Educator Information 
Includes an updated introduction from the author.

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456 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Hardcover

The recipes and traditions found in this book reflect the culture and the knowledge of the Medicine Wheel, featuring 26 edible and medicinal plants that you can gather in nature as Carrie and her grandmother did.

Create a luxurious and natural beauty regime by crafting your own lotions, soaps and teas from all-natural ingredients. From stress-busting teas and bath bombs to skin-smoothing lotions and creams, get vibrant skin and a healthy glow with Carrie’s creations based on her grandmother’s traditional teachings.

"I remember gathering plants and berries with my grandmother while she shared her stories and her deep understanding of traditional plants and their uses. My grandmother healed us with her medicinal plants—everything from pink eye, sore throats, stomach ailments, aches and pains, and infections. She’d make us these beautiful, healing teas." –Carrie

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144 pages | 6.00" x 7.75"

A powerful case for the essential role of plants and environments in recognizing Indigenous Peoples' land rights around the world.

For millennia, plants and their habitats have been fundamental to the lives of Indigenous Peoples - as sources of food and nutrition, medicines, and technological materials - and central to ceremonial traditions, spiritual beliefs, narratives, and language. While the First Peoples of Canada and other parts of the world have developed deep cultural understandings of plants and their environments, this knowledge is often underrecognized in debates about land rights and title, reconciliation, treaty negotiations, and traditional territories. Plants, People, and Places argues that the time is long past due to recognize and accommodate Indigenous Peoples' relationships with plants and their ecosystems. Essays in this volume, by leading voices in philosophy, Indigenous law, and environmental sustainability, consider the critical importance of botanical and ecological knowledge to land rights and related legal and government policy, planning, and decision making in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and New Zealand. Analyzing specific cases in which Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights to the environment have been denied or restricted, this collection promotes future prosperity through more effective and just recognition of the historical use of and care for plants in Indigenous cultures. A timely book featuring Indigenous perspectives on reconciliation, environmental sustainability, and pathways toward ethnoecological restoration, Plants, People, and Places reveals how much there is to learn from the history of human relationships with nature.

Reviews
"Nancy Turner is respected at every level of the field and this book brings together many of the collaborators she has worked with throughout her career. The chapters they contribute are impressive, and as a whole they comprise the collective research and experience of over forty authors all demonstrating how Indigenous peoples, past and present, have contributed to land rights, policies, ethics, and caring for the earth." - Scott Herron, Ferris State University

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554 pages | 6.25" x 9.25"

A freshly designed, new edition of a funny weekly chronicle that offers a year-long, intimate view of the flora and fauna populating the West Coast.

A Year on the Wild Side is a witty commentary on the social and natural history of Vancouver Island. Composed of short, readable essays arranged into 12 monthly chapters, this engaging book reveals the magic and humour of the natural world and reminds us of our place within it.

As the weeks and seasons unfold with the turning of the pages, you’ll be in sync with the living world that surrounds you. Discover what berries are ripe and the best time to pick them. Learn why the termites swarm, where the herring spawn, and when the maple leaves fall. Get up close and personal with fascinating creatures like the snowy owl, the giant Pacific octopus, the river otter, and more.

The West Coast is abundantly alive, and A Year on the Wild Side invites you to indulge in unforgettable experiences, week by week, all year long.

Reviews
"Salt Spring Island naturalist, artist and author Briony Penn has spent decades studying the flora and fauna of the West Coast. In her new book, A Year on the Wild Side, she shares her unique perspectives — and enchanting illustrations — on the social and natural history of more than 98 plant and animal species found on the coast." - Times Colonist 

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400 pages | 6.50" x 8.00" | 2nd edition

Your go-to guide for everything from cultivation to wine-making with one of humanity's oldest plant friends

Once a staple in homes across the world, and found along every highland, highway, and hedgerow, the forgotten elderberry is making a comeback. Its popularity as medicine is surging, its choice as an edible landscaping plant is growing, and its use for wine-making and crafts is being rediscovered.

Spanning history and geography, The Elderberry Book takes you on an adventure, deepening your appreciation of a plant that has played a crucial role across the world for thousands of years. Through this fun, inspirational, and educational resource, discover:

• Elderberry's amazing history
• Cultivating and foraging, from the balcony to the backyard
• Various traditional food and medicine preparations
• Simple wine-making techniques
• Traditional crafts and tools.

This is the definitive guide to the many uses of elderberry; no matter where you are, one of humankind's oldest plant friends can provide you with anything from syrup to wine to dyes, and more.

This book will be of interest to homesteaders, gardeners, herbalists, and people interested in folk history and crafts.

Educator & Series Information
Elderberries trees are widespread and naturalized in temperate Canadian regions including the Maritimes, British Columbia, and Ontario.

Useful, fun, inspirational and educational book that covers history, cultivation, foraging, traditional use, medicines, herbal remedies and tools from the elderberry tree.

Includes:

• Recipes
• Plans for crafts made from elderberry wood including a flute, a pencil, and even a bug hotel.
• Professional illustrations and full-colour photographs.

This book is part of the Homegrown City Life Series:

You’d like to be self-sufficient, but the space you have available is tighter than your budget. If this sounds familiar, the Homegrown City Life series was created just for you! Authors of this series will help you navigate the wide world of homesteading, regardless of how big (or small!) your space and budget may be. Topics range from cheesemaking to gardening and composting—everything the budding urban homesteader needs to succeed! 

• Increase your self-reliance
• Take back DIY skills
• Work with the space you have, apartment balcony or suburban backyard

Learn about fermenting, crafting, growing, preserving, and other skills for the urban homesteader.

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128 pages | 7.50" x 9.00"

From fiddleheads to spruce tips, wild food can be adventurous and fun--with the right guide. In Eating Wild in Eastern Canada, award-winning author and conservationist Jamie Simpson shows readers what to look for in the wilds and how and when to collect it.

Grouping foods by their most likely foraging locations—forests, fields, and shorelines—and with 50 full-colour photographs, identification is made accessible for the amateur hiker, wilderness enthusiast, and foodie alike. Includes historical notes and recipes, cautionary notes on foraged foods' potential dangers, and interviews with wild-edible gatherers and chefs. While gathering wild edibles may be instinctive to some, there is an art to digging for soft-shelled clams and picking highbush cranberries, and Simpson joyfully explores it in this one-of-a-kind narrative guidebook.

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152 pages | 6.50" x 9.00" | Paperback

“We are all visitors to this land, our land has so much to offer, our land is overflowing with the medicines our bodies need, but we are only passing through. With respect, our purpose is to watch, to learn, to grow, to love, to teach. Then we will return home.” – Caroline Sanoffsky

Muskgege is a written record of traditional knowledge, passed down through the generations. It features descriptions and illustrations of 36 wild plants that can be used to make medicines. It is a beautiful and compelling reminder of the important role nature plays in First Nations culture.

Educator Information
Grades 6 and under.

With over forty years since its original printing, and over 30,000 copies sold, this bestselling guide still remains a trusted and much-consulted reference for those interested in identifying, foraging and growing wild plants for food and medicine. Now Some Useful Wild Plants is back in print for a new generation of foragers and herbalists.

Some Useful Wild Plants contains sections on useful herbs, trees, berries and seaweeds, as well as commentary on avoiding poisonous species. Pick the young tender leaves of orach, salsify and miner's lettuce for a delicious and vitamin-rich spring salad or stir-fry. Concoct a cherry bark and licorice fern syrup to soothe a sore throat. Repel insects naturally using sage oil or vanilla leaf. From alder to yarrow, each featured plant has useful descriptors for identification and details on how to harvest, as well as how the plant is traditionally used for medicine by First Nations, pioneers and contemporary herbalists. Clear line drawings are provided to assist foragers in accurate identification. Directions are included for the preparation of ointments, salves, poultices, compresses and tinctures.

Dan Jason also addresses sustainability when foraging to ensure that harvesting supports the continuous growth of the plant and the natural environment.

Reviews
Great for both foragers and growers, the book draws from many sources, including the rich traditions of First Nations healers and Doukhobor wildcrafters, to identify the properties and uses of a wide range of plant life.... For those who feel skeptical about corporate farming and modern society’s mediated relationship with nature, this guide is a breath of fresh air. — Publishers Weekly

Occasional black-and-white illustrations enhance this venerable and practical guide sustainable foraging. From edible wild plants, to natural remedies for common ailments, to poisonous plants that should be meticulously avoided, Some Useful Wild Plants is reader-friendly, practical-minded, and highly recommended. — Midwest Book Review

Additional Information
186 pages | 5.00" x 7.00" | Line drawings | Revised edition

With the rise of urban living and the digital age, many North American healers are recognizing that traditional medicinal knowledge must be recorded before being lost with its elders. A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle is a historic document, including nearly 200 color photos and maps, in that it is the first in which a native healer has agreed to open his medicine bundle to share in writing his repertoire of herbal medicines and where they are found. Providing information on and photos of medicinal plants and where to harvest them, anthropologist David E. Young and botanist Robert D. Rogers chronicle the life, beliefs, and healing practices of Medicine Man Russell Willier in his native Alberta, Canada. Despite being criticized for sharing his knowledge, Willier later found support in other healers as they began to realize the danger that much of their traditional practices could die out with them.

With Young and Rogers, Willier offers his practices here for future generations. At once a study and a guide, A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle touches on how indigenous healing practices can be used to complement mainstream medicine, improve the treatment of chronic diseases, and lower the cost of healthcare. The authors discuss how mining, agriculture, and forestry are threatening the continued existence of valuable wild medicinal plants and the role of alternative healers in a modern health care system. Sure to be of interest to ethnobotanists, medicine hunters, naturopaths, complementary and alternative health practitioners, ethnologists, anthropologists, and academics, this book will also find an audience with those interested in indigenous cultures and traditions.

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240 pages | 6.00" x 8.99"

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Reviews
“Robin Wall Kimmerer has written an extraordinary book, showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is the way she captures beauty that I love the most—the images of giant cedars and wild strawberries, a forest in the rain and a meadow of fragrant sweetgrass will stay with you long after you read the last page.”— Jane Goodall

"I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual."— Richard Powers,New York Times

"In a world where only six percent of mammalian biomass on the planet now comprises of wild animals, I longed for books that pressed me up against the inhuman, that connected me to an inhuman world. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer moved me to actual tears."— Alexandra Kleeman, The Millions

"In Braiding Sweetgrass, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer tackles everything from sustainable agriculture to pond scum as a reflection of her Potawatomi heritage, which carries a stewardship 'which could not be taken by history: the knowing that we belonged to the land.' . . . It's a book absorbed with the unfolding of the world to observant eyes—that sense of discovery that draws us in."— NPR

“With deep compassion and graceful prose, Robin Wall Kimmerer encourages readers to consider the ways that our lives and language weave through the natural world. A mesmerizing storyteller, she shares legends from her Potawatomi ancestors to illustrate the culture of gratitude in which we all should live.”—Publishers Weekly

“The gift of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book is that she provides readers the ability to see a very common world in uncommon ways, or, rather, in ways that have been commonly held but have recently been largely discarded. She puts forth the notion that we ought to be interacting in such a way that the land should be thankful for the people.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Braiding Sweetgrass is instructive poetry. Robin Wall Kimmerer has put the spiritual relationship that Chief Seattle called the ‘web of life’ into writing. Industrial societies lack the understanding of the interrelationships that bind all living things—this book fills that void. I encourage one and all to read these instructions.”— Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper, Onondaga Nation and Indigenous Environmental Leader

Additional Information

Mary Siisip Geniusz has spent more than thirty years working with, living with, and using the Anishinaabe teachings, recipes, and botanical information she shares in Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask. Geniusz gained much of the knowledge she writes about from her years as an oshkaabewis, a traditionally trained apprentice, and as friend to the late Keewaydinoquay, an Anishinaabe medicine woman from the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan and a scholar, teacher, and practitioner in the field of native ethnobotany. Keewaydinoquay published little in her lifetime, yet Geniusz has carried on her legacy by making this body of knowledge accessible to a broader audience.

Geniusz teaches the ways she was taught—through stories. Sharing the traditional stories she learned at Keewaydinoquay’s side as well as stories from other American Indian traditions and her own experiences, Geniusz brings the plants to life with narratives that explain their uses, meaning, and history. Stories such as “Naanabozho and the Squeaky-Voice Plant” place the plants in cultural context and illustrate the belief in plants as cognizant beings. Covering a wide range of plants, from conifers to cattails to medicinal uses of yarrow, mullein, and dandelion, she explains how we can work with those beings to create food, simple medicines, and practical botanical tools.

Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask makes this botanical information useful to native and nonnative healers and educators and places it in the context of the Anishinaabe culture that developed the knowledge and practice.

Additional Information
344 pages | 7.00" x 10.00" | Paperback

How knowledge of plants and environments has been applied and shared over centuries and millennia by Indigenous peoples.

Volume 1: The History and Practice of Indigenous Plant Knowledge
Volume 2: The Place and Meaning of Plants in Indigenous Cultures and Worldviews

Nancy Turner has studied Indigenous peoples' knowledge of plants and environments in northwestern North America for over forty years. In Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge, she integrates her research into a two-volume ethnobotanical tour-de-force. Drawing on information shared by Indigenous botanical experts and collaborators, the ethnographic and historical record, and from linguistics, palaeobotany, archaeology, phytogeography, and other fields, Turner weaves together a complex understanding of the traditions of use and management of plant resources in this vast region. She follows Indigenous inhabitants over time and through space, showing how they actively participated in their environments, managed and cultivated valued plant resources, and maintained key habitats that supported their dynamic cultures for thousands of years, as well as how knowledge was passed on from generation to generation and from one community to another. To understand the values and perspectives that have guided Indigenous ethnobotanical knowledge and practices, Turner looks beyond the details of individual plant species and their uses to determine the overall patterns and processes of their development, application, and adaptation.

Volume 1 presents a historical overview of ethnobotanical knowledge in the region before and after European contact. The ways in which Indigenous peoples used and interacted with plants - for nutrition, technologies, and medicine - are examined. Drawing connections between similarities across languages, Turner compares the names of over 250 plant species in more than fifty Indigenous languages and dialects to demonstrate the prominence of certain plants in various cultures and the sharing of goods and ideas between peoples. She also examines the effects that introduced species and colonialism had on the region's Indigenous peoples and their ecologies.

Volume 2 provides a sweeping account of how Indigenous organizational systems developed to facilitate the harvesting, use, and cultivation of plants, to establish economic connections across linguistic and cultural borders, and to preserve and manage resources and habitats. Turner describes the worldviews and philosophies that emerged from the interactions between peoples and plants, and how these understandings are expressed through cultures’ stories and narratives. Finally, she explores the ways in which botanical and ecological knowledge can be and are being maintained as living, adaptive systems that promote healthy cultures, environments, and indigenous plant populations.

Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge both challenges and contributes to existing knowledge of Indigenous peoples' land stewardship while preserving information that might otherwise have been lost. Providing new and captivating insights into the anthropogenic systems of northwestern North America, it will stand as an authoritative reference work and contribute to a fuller understanding of the interactions between cultures and ecological systems.

Educator Information
Table of Contents

Volume One

Figures and Tables ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xv
Note on the Writing System Used in This Book xxxi

1 Introduction to the Book: Ethnobotanical and Ethnoecological Knowledge across Time and Space 3

Part One | History
2 Into the Past: Ancient Relationships among People, Plants, and Environments 43
3 Reflections on Plant Names in Understanding the History of People-Plant Relationships 117
4 Change, Loss, and Adaptation of Plant Traditions 191

Part Two | Development
5 Plants as Food: Development, Diversity, Dissemination 263
6 Plant Use in Technology over Time and Space 335
7 Herbal Medicine and Healing Traditions 415

Appendix 1: Major Sources of Information for the Book 467
Appendix 2: Names of Selected Native Plant Species in Indigenous Languages of Northwestern North America 473
Appendix 3: Names of Two Introduced Plants (Turnip and Potato) in Indigenous Languages of Northwestern North America 507
Notes 515

Volume Two

Figures and Tables ix
Preface xiii

Part Three - Integration and ManaGement
8 Moving for the Harvest: Seasonal Rounds and Plant Knowledge 3
9 Cultural Institutions Related to Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Practice 51
10 Trade and Exchange: Sharing Plant Products and Ethnobotanical Knowledge across Geographical and Cultural Space 101
11 Management and Sustainability of Plant Resources and Habitats 145

Part Four - UnderlyinG Philosophy
12 Narratives in Transmission of Ethnobotanical Knowledge 231
13 Worldview and Belief Systems in Ethnobotanical Knowledge Systems 297
14 Ancient Pathways and New Pathways for Retaining and Renewing Botanical and Environmental Knowledge Systems for the Future 351

Notes 413
References 441
Index of Plant Species 503
General Index 513

Additional Information
1056 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover 

The edible and medicinal wild plants of the Northwest have a long history of traditional use, with some remarkable success stories. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of years’ experience with the nourishing and healing properties of indigenous plants have been passed down through generations of Native peoples. Today, some deadly diseases such as breast and ovarian cancers are treated with extracts from native plants. Many roots, flowers, leaves and stems can be eaten raw or cooked, and some plants can even be made into beer. A surprising number of common local plants make tasty, nutritious treats or relieve health troubles. Meet 66 of them in this amazing new book!

Chapters include information on trees, shrubs, wildflowers, aquatic plants, horsetails, ferns and poisonous plants with lists of therapeutic plant uses and a medicinal glossary.

Nature heals! This compact field guide introduces readers to 26 common Canadian wild plants with extraordinary healing properties. Use arnica blossoms to heal muscle inflammation, improve digestion with chickweed and soothe a toothache with yarrow root--learning to identify and use wild medicinal plants is both fascinating and useful.

Each plant profile includes a colour photograph, identification and habitat information, as well as medicinal, cosmetic and culinary uses. Skilled herbalist Beverley Gray also includes tips on how to sustainably gather and safely use beneficial wild plants.

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2 pages | 4.50" x 8.70" | 30 photographs | Pamphlet

Explore the fascinating world of Nunavut’s varied plant life in this richly visual, informative book.

Through beautiful photographs and a broad range of information including traditional knowledge about plant use compiled through interviews with Inuit elders readers will learn about the appearances, adaptations, life cycles, and habitats of the diverse array of plants that live in the North.

Far beyond a barren land of ice and snow, this book will introduce readers to the beautiful variations of plant life that abound on the tundra.

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205 pages | 9.00" x 6.50"