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Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West |  | Author: Michael Moore
Publisher: Museum of New Mexico Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.33
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 80091
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Exp
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0890134545
Dewey Decimal Number: 615.3210978
EAN: 9780890134542
ASIN: 0890134545
Publication Date: August 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the first update since the original printing in 1979, renowned herbalist Michael Moore adds another 20 years of research and expertise working with medicinal plants to his classic 'Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West'. In this greatly expanded (168 additional pages) revised and enlarged edition, the book covers the entire range of medicinal herbs found in New Mexico, Arizona, west Texas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and California.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West January 8, 2009
Deanna Mccoy (Delta, CO)
An exceptional resource, even for those who are novices in
botanical medicinal uses. A must have reference.
 Rocky Mountain Herbal Medicine Bible.... January 3, 2009
David C. Young (Colorado Springs, CO USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm an amateur, but an experienced amateur. My father is a botanist, and my nextdoor neighbor grandma raised a family during the Great Depression using local wild plants for food. So I grew up a fair hand at recognizing plants in my native midwest, especially food plants. But medicinal plants....
Fifteen years ago, my wife & I moved to a cabin on Pikes Peak bordering a vast national forest, and I started to learn the local plants using not Grandma, but guidebooks. Gradually, I became knowledgeable, especially about wildflowers & food plants. Then someone introduced me to locally gathered mullein (or velvet dock), and I ended my struggles with antihistamines. That put me on the lookout: there's good meds in them thar hills!
If you buy only one book on medicinal plants of the Rockies, this is the book. (I know only the 2nd edition.) Moore has clearly collected, prepared & prescribed these herbs. It's readable (and I am NOT a botanist), even enjoyable -- I find myself skimming around just for the fun of it. I've checked out several books on Rocky Mountain medicinal plants, and this one beats the others for completeness and comprehensiveness. It gives solid descriptions of the plants' types of environment & geographic locations. In general and for each plant, it gives good descriptions of how & when to collect, how to prepare and how to use & not use. (These plants can be VERY potent, and they sometimes have dangerous look-alikes.) Moore discusses the various subspecies -- which are best, which are common, which are endangered, where they're found. I've used Moore and found him quite helpful in the central Rockies, on the western slopes and down into northern New Mexico. I suspect he's good in the northern Rockies, as he mentions these regularly and they're on his maps for each species.
So if you only buy one book, buy this one.
But #1: The pictures are clear, but black & white. For me, I can have trouble going from them to real-live plants in color. In the field, I usually carry a couple of guidebooks with pictures or drawings in color, for example, Plants of the Rocky Mountains and Guide to Colorado Wildflowers: Mountains (Guide to Colorado Wildflowers. Vol 2. Mountains). You probably want to check amazon, maybe local National Park, Monument, Forest professionals for the best local books.
But #2: Herbal medicine comes from many, many traditions collected by many, many investigators from many, many sources. With so many "local" plants coming from Europe & Asia, these traditions are truly world-wide. Additionally, there's a growing scientific literature on what's effective. All this information is widely scattered. For example, Moore doesn't include goldenrod. But I found it in Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies (see my review), dried some, and it stopped a couple of colds dead, when nothing else helped. While Moore mentions research data, a book like Prescription for Herbal Healing: An Easy-to-Use A-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies mentions more, and includes many plants found in the Rockies.
But #3: No book is entirely comprehensive in the sense of safety. For example, Moore has a great entry on chokecherry (wild cherry bark). Chokecherry bushes & trees have various cyanide compounds. Moore states that these are safe, even for children. I collected some local bark and tried it. Like Moore said, it smelled wounderful, tasted wonderful, felt wonderful in my throat -- WAY beyond anything I've ever had from my local herb stores. And it REALLY didn't do well in my tummy. As always with a first use, I tried only a little. So I checked around and found in, among other places, the Kerry book mentioned above, that only COMPLETE drying or VERY LENGTHY boiling (esp. at high altitudes) destroys the cyanide.
So various rules of thumb include: Don't buy one book, check out many. Find people who are knowledgeable. Go slow & be careful. Use common sense. If something doesn't seem right, don't do it. OF COURSE: check with a doctor for any medical condition that even MIGHT be serious. Take all cautions seriously. Stuff like that.
But I've also found good meds in my mountains.
An aside: Moore mentions food use, but this isn't the book for that. Locally, I prefer Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies and Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains.
Every Weed Has a Reason September 12, 2007
J. D. Crayne (California)
Comprehensive without being stuffy, Moore has written an engaging description of western medicinal plants that includes lists of their active ingredients, how they are used, and how to prepare them. His text is readable enough for the novice but does not skimp on informative details for the seasoned user of native plants.
So easy to understand!!! March 10, 2007
Lisa Ellis (Queen City, TX USA)
Michael Moore makes it easy for the average reader to understand his works. His descriptions of plants and there uses are wonderful and to the point without being tedious to read. I'm a fan!
Informative and useful October 27, 2005
ThePaperbackStash.com (FL)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Michael Moore is a delight to read. He offers much information on his website and in his books. Humor is injected freely into his text, but his viewpoint on many herbs is that of someone who really does use them and knows what he's talking about. It's clear that he's confident in his approach, knowledgable and, best of all, willing to share.
He tells four methods of collecting, followed by an intense listing of herbs and their actions. Each herb lists a great general reference guide - one of the more honest ones out there, making it a true favorite. On some of the herbs I would have liked the information to be a bit longer, but overall its an excellent job and a guide I'll keep returning to.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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