In this companion volume to The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants, Matthew Wood, an expert herbalist who has used medicinal herbs with tens of thousands of patients over a twenty-five-year career, provides detailed descriptions of New World (North American) herbs and their uses. Organized as a materia medica (names and descriptions of herbs/plants are listed alphabetically), the book explains the use of the whole plant (not just “active ingredients”) in the treatment of the whole person and describes symptoms and conditions that the plants have been successful in treating—from digestive ailments, headaches, and high blood pressure to asthma, skin rashes, and allergies, to name a few. Wood, who has systematically studied ancient and traditional herbal literature, takes a historical view and presents information in a thoughtful, engaging, nontechnical style. In addition, he provides remarkable case studies as well as insight into the “logic” of each plant—its current and past usage, pharmacological constituents, and other elements that together produce a comprehensive portrait of each herb.

Discover the healing applications of a wide variety of medicinal plants with this first comprehensive herbal repertory from an internationally known herbalist Expert herbalist Matthew Wood takes the guesswork out of the application of medicinal plants. Here, he provides an invaluable cross-reference of constitutional types, energetic categories, and specific systems—so herbalists can more easily identify the right remedies for a specific condition. Unlike many reference books in which medicinal plants are defined simply by condition or disease name, this book offers tools for differentiating between remedies and analyzing each case in a holistic fashion. While this system of cross-referencing is well known to homeopaths, it is less frequently used by herbalists. The Earthwise Herbal Repertory seeks to bridge the gap between different healing systems, incorporating knowledge from ancient Greek and traditional Native American medicine, nineteenth-century botanical medicine, homeopathy, and modern biomedical research. This definitive repertory proves useful for homeopaths and herbalists, professionals and home practitioners alike.

The first part in a comprehensive two-volume guide on the use of medicinal plants in Western herbal medicine—from an author who has almost forty years of clinical experience The first in a two-volume set, The Earthwise Herbal profiles Old World plants (volume two will treat American plants). Organized alphabetically, the book encompasses all the major, and many of the secondary, herbs of traditional and modern Western herbalism. Author Matthew Wood describes characteristic symptoms and conditions in which each plant has proved useful in the clinic, often illustrated with appropriate case histories. He also takes a historical view based on his extensive study of ancient and traditional herbal literature. Written in an easy, engaging, non-technical style, The Earthwise Herbal offers insight into the “logic” of the plant: how it works; in what areas of the body it works; how it has been used in the past; what its pharmacological constituents indicate about its use; and how all these different factors hang together to produce a portrait of the plant as a whole entity. Ideal for beginners, serious students, or advanced practitioners, The Earthwise Herbal is also useful for homeopaths and flower essence practitioners as it bridges these fields in its treatment of herbal medicines.

The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism places the function of western herbs in their true historical context, apart from homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, and Ayurveda. Recently there has been a revival of interest in western herbalism, but practitioners haven't been able to explore its benefits due to a void of information on the topic—the system of medicine the herbs fit into had all but disappeared. To remedy the situation, herbalist Matthew Wood has researched the old-time practices and reconstructed them for modern use. In resuscitating western herbal medicine and bringing it up to date, he gives his readers a powerful tool for holistic theory and treatment. Wood makes the point that plant medicines, because they are made from a broad range of chemical components, are naturally suited for the treatment of general patterns in the body. He argues against the biomedical model of standardization, in which herbs are refined and advertised as if they were drugs suited to an exact disease or condition.

The first part in a comprehensive two-volume guide on the use of medicinal plants in Western herbal medicine—from an author who has almost forty years of clinical experience The first in a two-volume set, The Earthwise Herbal profiles Old World plants (volume two will treat American plants). Organized alphabetically, the book encompasses all the major, and many of the secondary, herbs of traditional and modern Western herbalism. Author Matthew Wood describes characteristic symptoms and conditions in which each plant has proved useful in the clinic, often illustrated with appropriate case histories. He also takes a historical view based on his extensive study of ancient and traditional herbal literature. Written in an easy, engaging, non-technical style, The Earthwise Herbal offers insight into the “logic” of the plant: how it works; in what areas of the body it works; how it has been used in the past; what its pharmacological constituents indicate about its use; and how all these different factors hang together to produce a portrait of the plant as a whole entity. Ideal for beginners, serious students, or advanced practitioners, The Earthwise Herbal is also useful for homeopaths and flower essence practitioners as it bridges these fields in its treatment of herbal medicines.

This “deep excursion into the heart of herbalism” pulls back the curtain on centuries of herbal medicine and offers an inventory of useful plants for the modern herb gardener or homesteader (Rosemary Gladstar) Traditional herbalists or wise women were not only good botanists or pharmacologists; they were also shamanic practitioners and keepers of occult knowledge about the powerful properties of plants. Traveling back to the healing arts of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, The Herbal Lore of Wise Women and Wortcunners takes readers deep into this world, through the leechcraft of heathen society and witches’ herb bundles to the cloister gardens of the Middle Ages. It also examines herbal medicine today in the traditional Chinese apothecary, the Indian ayurvedic system, homeopathy, and Native American medicine. Balancing the mystical with the practical, author Wolf Storl explains how to become an herbalist, from collecting material to distilling and administering medicines. He includes authoritative advice on herb gardening, as well as a holistic inventory of plants used for purposes both benign and malign, from herbs for cooking, healing, beauty, and body care to psychedelic plants, witches’ salves for opening alternative realities, and poisonous herbs that can induce madness or cause death. Storl also describes traditional “women’s plants” and their uses: dyeing cloth, spinning and weaving, or whipping up love potions. The Herbal Lore of Wise Women and Wortcunners is written for professional and amateur herbalists as well as gardeners, urban homesteaders, and plantspeople interested in these rich ancient traditions.

Vitalism, the recognition that the physical body is animated by a vital life force, is the foundation of most natural healing therapies. The forefathers of alternative medicine discovered methods of healing the body by stimulating this life force. In Vitalism: The History of Herbalism, Homeopathy, and Flower Essences, Matthew Wood describes the theories, lives, and work of nine great physicians who laid the groundwork for natural medicine.