As my collection of wild edible plant identification guides grows, I have been able to likewise grow my knowledge of the resources available to the would-be forager.
This review has been a long time coming, but the Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern/Central North America by Lee Allen Peterson (1977, 33rd printing) is by far the most comprehensive field identification guide I have examined, in keeping with the Peterson guide series made famous by Lee Allen's father, Roger Tory Peterson.
[Edit 6/1/10: Since writing this entry, I have acquired Steve Brill's Identifying & Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants, which is also quite comprehensive, and Samuel Thayer's The Forager's Harvest, in which he calls into question the edibility of at least two of the plants recommended by Peterson (certain water lily tubers, which Thayer says are actuallly poisonous.) As you can imagine, that put the fear of god in me--and so now, in an effort to make this review as honest as possible in light of new information, I will pass that concern along to you. As for me--I have the book and find it quite useful. However, knowing at the very least that there is some controversy, I will continue to cross-reference and use careful judgment about plants that are not widely corroborated in print and online references. Just so you know, Thayer asserts that a number of other wild edible plant books out there also have errors, likely caused by some instances of an author copying another author's accounts of a plant without testing it him or herself. So, do with that what you will. And now, on to the rest of the original entry and what I did and still do like about the Peterson guide...]
I received this book as a gift via an Amazon gift certificate and it accompanied me on my month-long east coast trip earlier this summer. Since the book is targeted towards eastern and central North America, I figured that would be a good place to start.
Here are some of the things I found useful about this book:
- It is concise, easy to navigate, and a good, compact size to pack along on foraging expeditions.
- It is very extensive, covering 373 of "the more important and better known species" out of "well over 1000 species of edible wild plants" that grow wild in eastern North America.
- The narrative descriptions of each plant are detailed and thorough. They provide information for identification, location, and preparation of each plant. These descriptions are accompanied by meticulous black-and-white line drawings. The text/illustration section is broadly organized by plant type (flowering plants, woody plants, and miscellaneous plants) and further organized within each category by pertinent characteristics. For example, the flowering plants section is organized by flower color.
- Alongside each visual/text description there are symbols indicating how the plant can be used as a food--boiled greens, candy, jelly, teas, and potatoes, to name a few. Then at the end of the book there is a narrative description of each use. By "potatoes," for example, Peterson means that the given wild edible plant produces a rootstock, tuber, or corm that can be substituted in a recipe for potatoes.
- Thirty-seven poisonous plants are listed and described, primarily those plants that can be confused with edible ones.
- Perhaps my favorite feature of the book is the section that lists plants by habitat type and season. So, if you are going to the seashore or the alpine tundra in the fall, for example, you can study up on all the types of plants you might find there in advance of your visit.
- Inside the cover at the front and back of the book there are illustrations of different plant parts and characteristics (showing, for example, the difference between a corm and a bulb or the difference between a toothed or lobed leaf). Definitions of these characteristics are also included in the glossary. The two can be cross-referenced with descriptions of individual plants to ensure correct identification. There is even a ruler on the inside back cover for field identification purposes.
- Color plates of some but not all plants are included in the middle of the book.
- Finally, there is a list of recommended reading to use for cross-referencing plant identifications.
This Peterson guide covers edible wild plants in Eastern/Central North America; unfortunately, there is no Peterson guide to edible wild plants in the west. Many of the plants featured in the guide, however, can be found in the west. Some examples include pennycress, mullein, wood sorrel, mint, elderberry, cattail, amaranth, dandelion, cheeses, sumac, stinging nettle, burdock, yarrow, chicory, and evening primrose, to name just a few. Therefore, I have been able to make use of this book here in the Colorado Rockies as well.
Another word of caution, however. In some cases, regional differences between similar plants may mean the difference between an edible and a toxic plant. For example, according to Cattail Bob Seebeck, the salomon's seal you find in the Rockies has edible berries, whereas in the northeast there are some poisonous varieties. Therefore, it is a very good idea to cross-reference suspected wild edibles using more than one book, particularly when attempting to apply information found in a book that targets a different locale than one's own.
About the only other critique I have of the Peterson's guide--or suggestion for a future edition, should that come about--would be to include more color plates, or possibly even to add color to the drawings. Although though the line drawings and plant descriptions are extremely detailed and do an excellent job explaining the different variations or species types you might find within in a given genus of plants (for example, a description might read: "the flowers of such-and-such species can be red, yellow, or pink"), I still find myself needing that visual photo confirmation of an initial identification.
All in all, however, I am confident in saying that if you're serious about foraging for plant foods in the wild, the Peterson field guide to Edible Wild Plants by Lee Allen Peterson is nonetheless a useful resource to have on hand.
Post edited & updated to reflect the question on the edibility of certain plants in this guide - 6/1/10.
I'm frequently frustrated by the large portion of this book which is indexed by flower color. When I'm trying to identify some plant with berries on it, the flowers are long gone, and I'm left to flip through every single page looking for a similar-looking leaf pattern, and then to double-check my identification. I suppose there isn't one right way to arrange all of the plants this book is trying to present, but flower color has never been useful for me. Almost anything else would seem more useful: separating plants that have single fruits, compound raspberry-like fruits, or no fruits; or according to their leaf shapes and arrangements.
Other than that, a very comprehensive book indeed once you know where to look for the right plant. And I agree, more color plates would strongly improve the book (would making each page a color plate make the book too thick?)
Thanks for the hands-on input, N. I have to admit I haven't done a great deal of searching for specific unknown plants (bearing berries or otherwise) in this book. Often I know a plant name and am using the Field Guide to confirm or disprove my initial identification.
I can see where you're coming from with this critique, though; one of the reasons I love "Best-Tasting Wild Plants of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains" by Cattail Bob Seebeck so much is that each entry contains four photos--one for each season, of a given plant. Hence both flowers and berries end up being pictured.