Pacific Northwest Medicinal Plants: Identify, Harvest, and Use 120 Wild Herbs for Health and Wellness

by Scott Kloos

“An incredibly thorough guide for identifying, harvesting, and utilizing medicinal plants.” —Dr. Deborah Frances RN, ND Naturopathic physician, herbalist, author, and lecturer

In Pacific Northwest Medicinal Plants, Scott Kloos is your trusted guide to finding, identifying, harvesting, and using 120 of the region’s most powerful wild plants. You’ll learn how to safely and ethically forage, and how to use wild plants in herbal medicines including teas, tinctures, and salves. Plant profiles include clear, color photographs, identification tips, medicinal uses and herbal preparations, and harvesting suggestions. Lists of what to forage for each season makes the guide useful year-round. Thorough, comprehensive, and safe, this is a must-have for foragers, naturalists, and herbalists in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and northern California.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Nature, Gardening, Medicine, Health, Plants

417 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 2017

Reviews

[Haliation · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I did not read every word of this book. Because I couldn't. I just couldn't.

Last year was when I actually started hunkering down to learn more about the plants around me. I've been a witch (and an Indian LMAO - this will matter) for many years, but it was only last year that a genuine, unprompted interest in plants seeded in my brain. I grew up surrounded by the traditional medicine of my people, and of course, I have countless books that banally list of the "correspondences" of plants for witchcraft. Although I understand my plant kin as sacred, I would never say I had a good understanding or relationship with them. I am now seeking a better understanding of plant medicine.

All this to say: I am spiritual. I'm a witch. I don't take a big issue with wishy-washy, "holistic" stuff.

I'm nehiyaw, And I hold my people's medicine knowledge close (and guarded).

I'm away from my traditional ancestral territory (Treaty 4) living on the unceeded and unsurrended land of Squamish, StTsleil-Waututh and Musqueam peoples. I figured I'm not moving back to Treaty 4 anytime soon, so I should start here. I am casually seeking local Indigenous teachers - be that a walk through the woods, a lecture, whatever that may be. But I also came across this book, and I was like "SURE".

I've been reading a lot of books written by settlers, and it is absolutely astounding how they can absolutely wax sticky-sweet poetic about how beautiful, wonderful and holistic wildcrafting is and completely, utterly fail to acknowledge the land's original peoples.

You know, the Indigenous peoples who have lived as stewards of these lands since time immemorial? Whose medicinal knowledge you often steal to publish without permission and make a whole bunch of money from? Whose bones are likely under your feet? Who are almost always on the frontlines of protecting the remaining holy wilds of this land you call America? The people who have survived through genocide, but currently have some of the lowest health and quality of life indicators?? (These are literally just some of the first Google results - this rabbit hole goes down, down, down).

So we come to this fucking doozy:
"Connecting with these plants has helped me connect with parts of myself that have been marginalized, pushed aside, and forgotten. By studying these plants and the places where they grow, I remember my indigenous self as the presence of the ancestors who lived intimately with these lands - digging roots, gathering leaves, and making medicine by the cycles of the moon - reverberates through my being" (p. 11)

YOUR INDIGENOUS SELF?? What does this MEAN? You couldn't even be BOTHERED to acknowledge the people's whose land you are tearing medicine up for profit from by name? You have to invoke the mystical Indian trope and their mystical connection to the moon of course. This is just all kinds of appalling and a great example of what is wrong with settler-led plant medicine.

He suggests "offering tobacco" to a plant before you harvest it. Scott, have you ever considered offering a goddamn simple land acknowledgement or some monetary support for the people you ripped that traditional practice off of? I'll bet he also "smudges" his $1000+ paying students before class?

Like I said, I'm really just getting started on my plant exploration, but as far as I can tell, erasure aside, there is also really nothing about this book that makes it special - at the end of the day, it's just another book listing off properties. If you care about plant medicine that doesn't completely erase Indigenous people, here are some better reads that aren't super gross/dismissive:
-https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.c...
-Robin Wall Kimmer - Braiding Sweetgrass
-Nicole Redvers - The Science of the Sacred (not read yet, but heard great things)
-Sarah Farr - Healing Herbal Tea (a pacific northwester that actually takes the time acknowledge the original people's and gracefully grapples with the reality of colonization and being a settler in a few paragraphs.)

If you have other suggestions, I welcome them. Gettin' real fricken tired.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could be less annoyed with the author's flagrant disregard of the scientific method if this book had been placed in the religion section under the heading of botanical shamanism. It is not a book of medicine or botany. The only "medicine" that may unwittingly be offered up here is placebo, and the only botany offered up is that which may keep one from accidentally dying while making placebos (spoiler alert, don't eat hemlock).

To summarize his methods: "I feel like this plant is good for x. Then it must be good for x!" Or better yet, super medieval: "this plant is the same color as x, so it treats diseases related to xyz." This dude needs the same schooling that Data gives a pre-industrial teacher on an alien planet in STNG! You cannot classify objects and phenomena according to superficial observations -- you need empirical evidence. Pre-industrial aliens have an excuse -- they're ignorant -- what is yours? The scientific method! Try it!! Ever!!!

The glowing reviews of this book are further evidence that we are certainly living in a post-fact society. OR, that people are so desperate to interact with nature in a hands-on way that gives their lives meaning that they'll swallow any dopey nonsensical bs. But omg people, you don't have to commune with nature by making shit up! Just learn shit! Learn skills that engage your olfactory senses and nourish your body like foraging, or... Learn actual medicine-making? I hear it starts with 1.) establishing that a medicine is safe and 2.) establishing that it is effective (neither of which has to do with whether or not it is the same color as your symptom).

Also, if you want to believe that you have a spiritual connection with certain plants, that is wonderful; when you write books about it, they shouldn't be in the science section!

Worth mentioning -- this guy charges over fifteen hundred dollars a course at his School of Forest Medicine, and holds no medical credentials (naturopathic or otherwise). We can't know for a fact that he sucks off the teats of yuppies with imaginary Lyme disease, but when I communed with Fuller's teasel, it bestowed me with this knowledge. Or not. Okay I'm done.

[Jordan Kanemoto · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the information offered in this text is incorrect, and I worry that people who practice this in full confidence may be putting themselves in danger. For example, the bit on ghost pipe states it is used as an eye-wash, 'relieving pink eye or conjunctivitis', but on the same page suggests preserving it in 75% alcohol, a serious eye irritant. It also states that certain plants may be used for treatment of serious diseases such as Lymes, tumor suppression, kidney and liver issues, etc. with little to back it up. This seems like irresponsible information to hand out to the public under the guise of a field guide. At no point were the sources for these claims cited specifically to which study in the references section they were referring to, and it became difficult to discern what had actually been substantiated by empirical evidence, and what had not. I also did not appreciate its lack of reference or respect towards specific Native peoples, lumping everyone together vaguely as Native Americans. The Pacific Northwest is pretty diverse, and some groups have used certain plants in different ways in the past. If you are using the knowledge, the least you can do is credit the tribe or tribes that that knowledge came from. I also did not appreciate the lack of indication that this text had some more spiritual aspects to it. Don't get me wrong, that's cool and spirituality is fulfilling, but I was expecting a more straightforward science-based guide, especially given the popularity of this book in my area, a place renowned for its attachment to the natural sciences. If you're not expecting it, the 'ask the plant for permission, make offerings, and state your intention to the plant' bit kind of hits you upside the head. If you are looking for a more scientific approach with an emphasis on native plants and their traditional uses, I would suggest the revised 'Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast' by Pojar and Mckinnon. They go into details about which peoples used which plants and for what, as well as information about the plant's taxonomy, which is very useful for id purposes.

[Coleman Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a 3 star because of the information for identification and medicinal uses is great. But this book has one major flaw, it has a lot of new age spirituality in it. The authors fear of hospitals (which is pretty tame) to the advice not to harvest plants under power lines, or asking the tree if it’s okay to harvest them and they say no. Or!!! Or!!! Thinking that Mullen oil aligns your spine. Some herbs are believed to have anti-inflammatory properties that might help alleviate discomfort, but they don’t directly align the spine. I mean come on. As an actual botanist who enjoys medicinal knowledge is this book is hog-wash. A lot of it is barely not mumbo jumbo. I think a better book that tows the line between respecting plants and talking about spirituality is “Iwigara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science” by Enrique Salmón

However give that I would like to say a final review: In the end, though, this book is very well written, and you can tell the author is very passionate and gives good sound advice on certain topics. I don’t think this should be your first book or experience with wild harvest. This book is for white people, like me, who are scared of science.

[Debbie Tremel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love this book.

Until now, Michael Moore was my go to medicinal book. This book has, however, surpassed it. Outstanding information obviously gained through experience, directions on preparation and use but most unique, an incredible respect for the plants and information on each about propagating after harvest. Borrowed through Kindle unlimited but will now be buying print and e-book. Highly recommended.

[T.K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I can't evaluate the efficacy of its remedies (I used this reference to help me write a fictional book), it is perfectly lovely to use. Each herb is easy to find in the book with an excellent index, table of contents, color-coded page markers, and large text headings. The pictures are excellent and in color. The text is well-written, interesting, and seemingly exhaustive. If I ever start making my own remedies, this is the book I will use.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed the whole book and read a few plant listings. Seems to give enough information to get a good start working with a specific plant, whereas some guides dont. There's a lot of plants in the book that don't grow in BC which is often a problem for PNW books. Sometimes he's a bit new agey, talks about plant essences. But overall id consider buying this book used to keep as a referance.

[Heather Kernan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear concise resource book for those who want to learn more about medicinal plants in the Pacific Northwest. A good mix of lore and knowledge to empower and challenge a novice to take a deeper look at the plants around them.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. So much great info beautifully laid out. I loved his emphasis on enjoying the process of learning, of beginner's mind with plant medicine, as he misses that early stage of learning.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

my go-to for Seattle nature

[Aoure · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful and informative

[Scott Tienken · Rating 5 out of 5]

authoritative

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I do not live in the PNW, I still found this book really interesting and useful at identifying plants and getting plant info.

[Gabrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definitely opts for breadth instead of depth. It's a good resource but should be used as a companion to other offerings.

[Theresa Jump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous. Love it!

[angelina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the author’s ideas but I didn’t finish the book only because this book is not for beginners. This is for people that are experienced in identifying plants and want more information on the uses.