Eastern/Central North America (Peterson Field Guides)

Good book. Wish it was written for more of a novice such as me but it does give the information I wanted. Was looking for the book to be a survival guide for an emergency or scouting, some parts were confusing but it did the job somewhat. Book would have been better if not written at an intermediate level.

Great book! Now I don't worry about eating poisonous mushrooms and can live like a Neanderthal. Which is great, because america seems to be on its way out the door, and if that happens, you're going to want to know what plants are edible in your area.

Good book. Wish it was written for more of a novice such as me but it does give the information I wanted. Was looking for the book to be a survival guide for an emergency or scouting, some parts were confusing but it did the job somewhat. Book would have been better if not written at an intermediate level.

Great book! Now I don't worry about eating poisonous mushrooms and can live like a Neanderthal. Which is great, because america seems to be on its way out the door, and if that happens, you're going to want to know what plants are edible in your area.

Again I have ordered and to my joy both of the books I have ordered have been very informative, they also have given me an insight to the available things that are in the forests that you can eat if you have the time and patiecence to look for them. Articwolf

If you are creative and want to develop a new recipe, this is a great reference book. It presents various edible plants that can be used in food and drink. Helpful for those developing gin or other bitter based drinks.

Received Peterson's field guide and found it to be a good addition to my survival library. Book arrived ahead of schedule and was in excellent condition. Especially liked the quick order service of the store where minimum of typing was required to allow order submittal and payment. Don't remember who seller was but completely pleased with service.

Everything received in due time and good products:
Culligan FM-15RA Level 3 Faucet Filter Replacement Cartridge work fine

and intersting books about wild mushrooms

Thanks and regards

Save your money, book came today and incredibly disappointed. The drawings & descriptions are not enough to safely identify and eat the plants. You are probably much better off searching online. The drawings are not in color and many of the plants in my area that I know to be edible aren't even in the book.

Although this book is well written and organized, I have one minor complaint...

If you are going to depend on a book to decide whether or not you can eat something without poisoning yourself, the pictures next to the plant descriptions ought to be in color rather than black and white sketches.

The book is clear, concise, and the color pictures make the identification of edible plants much easier. It also clearly indicates that there are a lot more edible plants out there than is reflected in our supermarkets.

I bought this field guide because it was recommended highly in other books with related subjects. Being that I am fairly new to wild edibles I do not find it useful at all. The plant descriptions and pictures are to vague. A lot of the plants that I am familiar with are poorly represented by the drawings. Some plants that I know have dangerous look a likes are not cautioned. Lastly, I can accept black and white drawings of the plants(if they are accurate), but shouldn't at least the the poisonous ones be in color. I definitely would not gamble my survival on this field guide.

Excellent book. Loaded with resources and citations, nice color plates, and easy to navigate. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and anyone who is looking to forage and survive well.

Well written and good sized, fits in my cargo pants pocket well. Shipping was good, but my outer cover came damaged, the corner was folded over and now has a crease in it. It need to be packaged better.

My copy has several blank pages - missing photos, mostly. The content of the book is as advertized, and it will certainly help you to find edible plants - but if you order it, be sure to check for missing pages and plates when you receive it (before the return window expires.)

Unfortunately this book is more like a cookbook for plants that one would find in a forest. Although it has a good deal of breadth I feel like it is more for the little house on the prairie experience than the Bear Grylls style existence.

Well written and good sized, fits in my cargo pants pocket well. Shipping was good, but my outer cover came damaged, the corner was folded over and now has a crease in it. It need to be packaged better.

My copy has several blank pages - missing photos, mostly. The content of the book is as advertized, and it will certainly help you to find edible plants - but if you order it, be sure to check for missing pages and plates when you receive it (before the return window expires.)

Unfortunately this book is more like a cookbook for plants that one would find in a forest. Although it has a good deal of breadth I feel like it is more for the little house on the prairie experience than the Bear Grylls style existence.

I'm really disappointed with this book. The black and white pictures aren't hardly as detailed as they should be for such poor, colorless representation of the plants. How in the WORLD am I supposed to accurately spot edible wild plants when the drawings are so lame?! I'm not stupid, I know how to utilize a book to my best advantage, and at most I would say you could use this book as a cross-reference but this would not be the only book I would take with me while foraging. I initially had doubts about this book when I looked at the negative reviews, but was optimistic. Now I wish I had chosen another book. Lame Lame Lame.

Dear Seller,
love your book it is a real survival benefit for everyone I would recommend it to everyone. It teaches of the plants that I have learned when I was a child such as the berries of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries,strawberries and even the wild grapes that grew abundantly all around us when my family and I grew up. we had apple trees but no one knew how to take care of them as i am now trying to learn how to take care of my few dwarf apple and cherry trees and i am still i the learning process.It teaches you poisonous plants to be ware of like our childhood experiences with Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac however i never knew that Jewel weed grew near it and that it was the remedy or antidote to cure your ailments.It teaches some mushroom are eatable as others are poisonous. It also shows a lot of common plants that are eatable.
There are even some flowers that today are known to be eatable as well as what I have researched thanks to the Scientific study proof .
There were many of these that I just took for granted of the beauty that captured my eyes as well as my heart that we used to pick while my brothers and sisters walked along with me those few miles back and forth almost every day out to the Little Country store on the back roads behind our first high way.
We would always just admire all the tiger Lilly's that grew along side the road as later in the future I showed that same road to my future husband while we were in the beginning of courting each other that took us off into another road that lead us through the sweet scent of the of the most beautiful wild Lilacs of many different colors which really set the the scenery of our love that only deepened of the paradise that we had found together along with all the memories of my childhood days that brought us to that day near that beautiful lake that we used to swim at where my best friend and I used to go when we met in 1976.
It brought me back to the days of when I used to pick Wild Strawberries and Pussy Willows when I used to visit my friend who had a lot of cats and where my brothers would play ball down the ball field as I would stop in and sit on the bleachers and and catch the last inning cheering them on as I walked up the big hill on the opposite road cutting through a short cut while grabbing a few handful of sour Wild Grapes of my neighbors Grapevine that grew along that road that lead to my home of my Mom and dads house that lastly they would catch me snacking on their little Wild Blueberry bush as i would come home with a Pink Rose with in my hand as the sun would set before my curfew began.
Then in the morning I would walk down by the old beach that was down fro us and I would just wade in the water as thoughts of my fiance would go through my head of the wonder memories that i shared with him of my childhood life yet my heart would be filled with the new memories that we had shared together with future memories that would be made together. Dreams from my first garden which was carrots to my wild berry picking that lead from the Tiger Lilly's from that little country store and back to that day of where my husband and I found that little Paradise with all the wonder scents of the Lilacs and other flower scents that would carry me through out my life of the many wonderful sites that we have been before we were even together and after where today flowers have even been discovered to be eatable as well as the many different herbs and plants that someone born from yesterday could only be capture by all their beauty.If only the children of today could have lived with in our life time and see and experience what we have experienced and appreciate what they have our children would not only know but feel all the love that has surrounded us for all those years however it is sad because in this modern day world of convenience they may only get to have a glimpse of our world and they can never understand. I am just glad that our son who is now 19 has that chance to at least learn of some of our ways of what he knows to be Organics but what was not know way back then.
Thank again
medicine
Thank you again for this book that brings all those memories back to my husband, my family and me.
I should write a book as my sons say that I have that potential because I have much more that could be told only I will save that for another time just get the book and you will see as I edit more to my true story.
So I will catch you all later.medicine

This is a very handy book to have. For 2 reason! 1. This has decreased the risk of me starving to death during the zombie apocalypse! and 2. I now will not be complete pointless during the zombie apocalypse and with my new found use ~I gain status~ therefore my friends will not kill me first.

Admittedly, I ordered the WRONG book. I wanted the WESTERN book, since I live in Colorado. That was my fault, not theirs. However, I have yet to find a WESTERN book from Peterson. I have a few other Peterson books, and wanted some of the quality I'm used to.

I can't give a 5 star, since it is useless to me, and I haven't read it. I decided that 3 stars was fair.

What's weird is that I would have sworn that I saw a western version on the shelf at B&N. ??? oh, well.

CHANGED to 4 stars... it's not the book's fault that I ordered the wrong book!!!! :)

I bought this book to use as field guide thinking it would be able to use quite easily but was quickly dissapointed. For starters the pics are all drawings, and not that great, you honestly cannot use a drawing of a plant to indentify it because so many plants look similar the leaves and the flowers can look a lot of like the color is what is different and this book limits the colors, some pic depict leaves as large when the are infact small, vice versa, buy a book with color pictures, I could identify 50% of plants with this book due to black and white illustration just to much of a pain to use really..

First of all, this is an excellent field guide to edible wild plants. It contains nearly everything in North America that you might consider eating. It has decent descriptions and generally good photographs.

That said, it should only be one of several books the beginner needs to safely and efficiently forage. This is the book I carry in my backpack. It's compact, succinct, and has tons of plants. However, at home I have John Kallas book, Tom Seymour's books published by Falcon Guides (he is my neighbor), both of Samuel Thayer's books and Stalking the Wild Asparagus. Each one of these may deal with each plant a little differently, and in concert they provide the best view. What one book lacks, one of the others will cover. However, I can't carry a library around on my back, so the Peterson is my quick-refernce guide on the trail. I also bring a copy of Newcomb's wildflower guide on the trail. These two books are sufficient while in the bush. At home, the other books provide good armchair reading, refernces, planning, and recipes.

My main point in writing this review is for the beginner to realize that the Peterson guide is great, but do not head down the wild edibles path with only one book! Arm yourself with knowledge and take as many guided walks as you can by local foragers.

This book has a few minor errors and one major one: it lists the yellow pond lily / Bullhead Lily as having edible roots. They are NOT edible, they have toxic / unpalatable compounds. That error aside, this book is essentially a compilation of information from other sources, such as "Hunting the Wild Asparagus"--and some of those sources have errors and omissions that are perpetuated without any research by the author of this book.

I would strongly recommend to anyone who wants to forage for wild plants that you instead make your FIRST foraging book be "The Forager's Harvest," by Samuel Thayer. The essays that begin the book will teach you how to think about foraging, and his descriptions of plants, their habitat, and the foodstuffs you can harvest from them are comprehensive and interesting to read. Peterson's was my first guide book for wild plants, but as soon as I read "The Forager's Harvest," and after I tasted the caustic, bitter roots of a plant that this book listed as edible, I got rid of the Peterson's guide in total disgust.

Don't buy this book--the Thayer books are pricey but 100% worth it, and when you finally discover them, you won't have wasted your money on this one.

A must have for the field or hike!! This was the first plant guide I bought as a teen and I couldn't believe how almost any plant I found was in it. ( Wildflower guides ingore anything small or weedy )If I was lost for real, this is what I would want to have. ( Not just the 10 best known edibles) The ID checklists and drawings are great. It tells you concisely what part to gather, when, and how it needs to be cooked and any cautions. It has handy icons in the margins to show if a plant is used for salad, cooked green, fruit, condiment, flour, fritters, roots, tea etc. Poisionous look a likes are covered too. It doesn't have recipes but that cuts weight in the field. (WF Cookbooks at home make sense.) I LOVE the indexes. If it is summer say, I can see a list of all the salad greens or all the flour-making plants. Or I can turn to a listing of all the wild edibles by habitat. ( Woods, Meadow etc )

Note: Except for the center color picture section most of this book is in line drawings. These aren't poor sketches, these are the same professional illustrations that you would find in Petersons normal plant guides along with arrows pointing to the important characters. There is a reason why the big "bible" floras still use illustrations: you can have an over-all drawing and add in close ups of important details. Most photographed guides don't go to the trouble to have multiple shots. Neighboring foliage, poor focus, forshortening, insect damage and bad lighting can be eliminated. Sometimes, less detail is helpful: comparison leaf silluette illustrations say " Ignore the color, hairs and viens for a second here". Now for flower color yes I do prefer photos, but this guide does have have many in the center.

Although this book was published in 1977 it is probably one of the better books in regards to organization and formatting. This book almost never fails to have some information on edible plants that I am curious about. If you are new to learning about edible plants please don't rely on this book or any other single book to identify a plant before you eat it!!! Other reviews about this book bash it because of its age and line drawings but the drawings should be looked at as an initial visual to assist in making sure you are identifying the plant correctly. Plants organized by flower color which is great for quick field identification. Has 15 color plates for some common plants totaling about 75 color pictures. Someone teaching themselves about edible plants should own numerous books with good color photos and defining characters to cross reference to be sure you are collecting what you think your collecting. Furthermore, some books, like this one, contain wrong information copied from others such as the tubers of Water Lilies (Nymphaea species) being edible (pg. 22) when according to other resources they are poisonous. In any case, here are the things I like about it: 1) no matter what time of year you can go to the "Finding Edible Plants" section in the back and look up common edible plants by habitat and season. 2) There is also a food uses section so if you want to make a spice for example you can go to the "Seasonings/Condiments" section and find plants by season 3) Each plant account gives brief but informative information about the plant such as scientific name, distinguishing characters, uses, warnings, where it is found, when it flowers, edible parts and the season for the edible parts. This book initiated my interest in edible plants. It is full of useful information and I recommend this book for anyone interested in edible plants.

A great addition to my library. My only problem was that it dosn't cover South Florida. In these troubled times everyone should know what plants you can use to suppliment your diet in an emergency. This book makes it easy to identify the plants and gives helpful comments on preperation and cautions.

This is a must have for the edible wild plant enthusiast. It has basic easy to use indentification functions, used in most Peterson field guides. Although short on how to prepare and use the plants, it is big on basic information, ease of use, and how to.

This is actually a great field book. It contains information and pictures, about edible plants, and it also shows some poisonous plants. It describes when where and what. There are some color photos in the book.

This book has very few color illustrations. Most plants are shown in black and white. The uses and descriptions often times leave you scratching your head. I would NOT feel confident using this book to identify and consume wild plants.

This is an outstanding field guide! This book is my go to guide in the field. FULL of info and easy to understand plain simple language. Easy to understand symbols to state if its edible or not etc. It says Easter and Central North America but many of these plants are found all over America. It also gives pictures of the plant, in all stages and the 'fruit' in each stage etc. Just awesome!

it was copyrighted in 1977, not sure if it's been updated since but man is it useful. Looking for a little variety in your daily diet? Get it. Planning on a bug out/ survival event? Get it. Going camping via tent and hiking? Get it. Very entertaining and quite useful to have on hand.

Great Book.... If identification of anything is questionable I still wouldnt eat it. But good to have on hand if there was ever a collapse of the economy and forced to eat from natural sources vs food stores when plants are more abundant than animals.