Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide

by Thomas S. Elias, Peter Dykeman

Already a huge success in previous editions, this must-have field guide now features a fresh new cover, as well as nearly 400 color photos and detailed information on more than 200 species of edible plants all across North America. With all the plants conveniently organized by season, enthusiasts will find it very simple to locate and identify their desired ingredients. Each entry includes images, plus facts on the plant’s habitat, physical properties, harvesting, preparation, and poisonous look-alikes. The introduction contains tempting recipes and there’s a quick-reference seasonal key for each plant.

“Season-by-season guide to identification, harvest, and preparation of more than 200 common edible plants to be found in the wild....Hundreds of edible species are included....[This] handy paperback guide includes jelly, jam, and pie recipes, a seasonal key to plants, [and a] chart listing nutritional contents.”—Booklist. “[Five hundred] beautiful color photographs...temptingly arranged.”—The Library Letter

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Reference, Food, Plants, Gardening, Survival

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

One does not exactly "read" the book. But one big take away: you can eat an awful lot of things if you're willing to boil them for 15-25 minutes, dumping the water two or three times, and then slather them in butter, salt, and pepper. Or, you can just cut out the middle man and shake some pepper on salted butter and just eat that. But this does at least add roughage.

Nonetheless, there are some good pictures and I'm going to eat a lot of the weeds that plague my gardens. That'll teach em.

[Erfman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty solid book on the subject. It covers a wide swath of the edible wild plants found in America. The range maps are especially helpful. From them I know, for instance, that wild leeks are not generally found in eastern Iowa but are found across the Mississippi in Illinois.

I also appreciate how the guide in broken up into seasons so you can concentrate on the right portion of the book depending on the time of the year.

However, the depth of information is rather low and sometimes the photos are not precise or thorough enough to be sure of identification. To make up for these deficits I suggest picking up Steven Brill's book on the subject to fill in additional details. The drawings and text in that book compliment this book well.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up I enjoyed a "mountain man" stage when I all but lived outdoors for months, almost obsessively studying My Side of the Mountain and this book.

My siblings thought I was crazy, but they would often follow my lead anyway. As a result we had the greatest time and learned a lot. Some of our favorite adventures included "feeding the fish" in the creek (because our wooden hooks weren't sharp enough to catch them), cooking and eating dandelion jelly, building a treehouse, and making a picnic of the wild treats growing around us.

Ditch the computer games and set your kids loose in the wild with this full color guide.

[K Kriesel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been searching for a field guide to help me as I learn to forage, and I think this is what I've been looking for. Each plant has a picture, each picture has a map of North America showing where the plant can be found. The descriptions are great, and the book is categorized by seasons.

The only thing that would make this book perfect is if each plant had more than 1 picture, showing the many different parts of the plant & how it grows.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this whole book because I own a copy and I was thrilled when I found out it was here. This book is full of recipes, when to harvest, where it grows, and even more. WARNING SOME OF THE EDIBLE PLANTS ON THERE CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR POISONOUS ONES SO BE CAREFUL. This book sometimes says there are no poisonous look alikes when there are. So use at your own risk. But it's still a great book.

[KA · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome - tons of North American plants with their descriptions, recipes, photos, related species, poisonous look-alikes; and all the plants are arranged seasonally, which is a great help here in VT. I feel very confident using this book.

[David Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this twice when I was in high school, along with another book just like it (which I also read twice). You might be bored by it, but I was enthralled!

[Brandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way this guide is divided by season and location. I'm definitely going to buy this book and keep it with me when foraging.

[Annette Eddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an informative book for foragers with mostly clear pictures and preparation instructions for every plant. There were a couple species that I would have liked to see a better picture selection for - they were varieties I’m familiar with myself, but the chosen pictures would not have helped me identify the plant if I weren’t. However, this was only the case for one or two that I found. The only real issue I have with this book is that the location indicators for Canada are often incorrect. There are many plants in this book that are noted not to grow wild in my area but certainly do. If it weren’t for that, I would have given it five stars. It’s absolutely on my “to buy” list - I always borrow from my local library first to see if books are worthwhile to be added to my collection. This one makes this cut.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

great writeups on each plant. The book organizes the plants by season in which they are found or best harvested. Enormously helpful. Pictures suck. Only one pic per plant and usually at the plant's full maturity, which is not necessarily the best time to harvest. Some of the pics are even in black and white (how does that help?!). This book is useful so long as you have at least one more book for cross reference.

[Nick Eager · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide is very useful, but it seems that much information is missing. It would be useful to have a little more information about how to process the foods. It is hard to rely upon only one resource for all edible plants. This book is a compromise in that it has a moderate amount of information about a lot of types of wild plants.

[B.L. Twitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because there are a few pictures that are in black and white and I felt it wasn’t as easy to identify the plant.

There is a small map of the U.S. on each picture with the states grayed out that the plant grows in. That made it easy to flip through and find plants that I have in my state.

[Dinh Hong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give 5 stars if the photos are bigger and all colors and benefits or vitamins, minerals of these wild plants. They are wild plants so the photos are very important. Overall the book is very interesting and useful, always in my bag.

[Bozena · Rating 5 out of 5]

yeah this is a classic. buiying a copy for my brother. this helped me cook on a recent camping trip. thank you thomas and everyone and ancient knowledge that lets us enjoy this book

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource, but Google and my plant identifying app might be of more practical use.

[Pyro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent guild. Good information

[missi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful book for a bug out bag or if you just want to be able to survive and know more about nature

[Estee Hull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of good information and descriptions. Colored pictures as well!

Learned you can basically boil any leaf and as long as it isn’t poisonous, it’s edible lol

[Mayra Luria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource book

[Linda Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this book from the library to use as a field guide when my grandchildren and I hiked through the local State forest. What I found was an amazing guide including actual color photos of plants that tell not only which plants that we often dismiss as weeds are edible, but also how the plants can add to our daily diet.

I found it strange that plants such as the chokecherry, which are poisonous to pick and eat raw, can be transformed into teas nad jams that are safe and edible. This book was amazing, it gave my grandchildren a means to understand how the people of our area survived during the aftermath of the Volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815 which severly affected our climate, and the ability to grow food in 1816.

My grandchildren have decided that we should try some of these 'exotic' foods, while foraging in the local state forest we were amazed to find nuts and berries that we would have normally by-passed; such as the American chestnut which can only be eaten after it is roasted or can be bopiled to produce cooking oil, and highbush blueberries which appear to grow on trees because of the height of the bushes.

I am so glad that I took this book from the library -- I will be canning blueberry pir filling and making blueberry jam to fill our winter larder. We found wild wheat which we have dried and the grandchildren will be attempting to make into flour. Now that my grocery bill will be cut, who knows what I will be into next!

[Katarina Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very serviceable book concerning foraging for wild, edible plants in the US and Canada. The aspects that drew me to this book were the multiple processing options for the edible plants. The text breaks down how to locate, identify, harvest and then eat the various species, including which ones are best made into jam, eaten raw or cooked before ingesting.

The author also has a concern for sustainable harvesting of wild plants, an important aspect for the field considering the number of people who now inhabit North America. A critical aspect to enjoying nature's bounty is being able to tell which plants, or even what parts of the plant, are poisonous. Species like the Mayapple are edible but only the ripe fruit and nothing else. Care is taken to highlight how to handle such sensitive plants and which ones to avoid entirely.

For someone who enjoys the great outdoors, a book like this can mean survival if they're ever lost in the wilderness or simply interested in expanding their culinary repetoire.

[First Name · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. When I first looked at the preview online it didn't look good to me. But when I borrowed this book I learned how amazing it is. It's got 200+ wild edible plants, icons on how to use them. It also has recipes for the different ways to prepare it and a very good description on each plant. At the end of the book, there's all the poisonous plants with descriptions. The only thing I didn't like was how a few (3-4) of the plant pictures are in black and white (it's probably because their very common). But I wouldn't let that deter you from this book.

I haven't completely finished this book front to back but I have read over enough to make this review. I'm taking it with me next time I go on a hike or on a nature trail.

I'm defiantly buying this book in the near future...

[Graybird · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an invaluable guide to some of the more common plants that can be foraged in North America (mostly United States-centric, some Canada). The plants are divided by season, and each plate has colored pictures, along with indispensable information about how to identify, harvest, and prepare the plants. There is also a section on toxic plants, which everyone should be able to identify before going out and foraging. My only complaints are that I'd like to see more common plants listed (such as wild carrot), as well as more West Coast plants. I was on the West Coast for much of the spring, and this book didn't seem to provide identification of a good portion of the plants that I encountered out there.

[Remy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One thing that makes this book more worthwhile than others I've read like it, is that it has maps that show where a specific type of plant can be found. That way you don't waste your time looking for things that don't grow in your area. Overall- a great resource and on my wishlist to purchase, instead of borrow from the library. ;-)

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better pocket guides, with full color photos of plants in different stages and parts, by season of harvest and with maps for locations across US. Some recipe/preparation information for each plant listed. Logo-keys in margin for safety, trail eating and a bunch of other labels.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures and layout of book was wonderful, but I think you would need a supplemental book to cover the many areas uncovered in this book. Like someone else said in review mainly centered in the west side of states and I am in Missouri.

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice guide to edible plants one might find outside the boundaries of a garden. Wonderful photographs and descriptions make it easy to locate the plants. There are even a few recipes thrown in to enjoy your finds.

[Carlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good intro to edible wild plants, but next time, I would get one specifically about Pacific Northwest edible plants.

[R Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

west coast bias.. but still very informative

[Arabesque · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic edible wild edible plants book with lots of pictures. Arranges the plants by season they are available which is useful. Good field guide.