Long before there was pharmacology as we know it, the North American Indians cured illness and maintained health by natural means, using the healing plants of the forest, desert, and seashore. Their discoveries continue to have impact on modern medicine: over 25 percent of all prescription drugs contain plant derivatives, and the mainstream medical establishment is acknowledging the effectiveness of herbal remedies in treating certain illnesses.

Earth Medicine, Earth Food is an A-to-Z reference to the plant remedies and wild foods used by the Indians. Organized by condition --from allergies to female complaints to wounds-- it explains which plants were used by different tribes to treat specific maladies, how they were prepared, and how to identify them in the wild. You'll learn that:

• The Catawba Indians treated back pain with a tea of arnica roots
• The Iroquois and Mohegans used the boneset weed for colds and fever
• The Blackfoot Indians applied a paste of scarlet mallow to burns as a cooling agent
• The Menominees cured insomnia with a tea steeped from the leaves of the partridge berry plant
• The Onondagas drank pennyroyal tea for headache

Earth Medicine, Earth Food also discusses non-animal food sources consumed by the Indians such as nuts, seeds, berries, and ferns, and examines the relevance of traditional dietary patterns to the way we eat now.

With over 160 detailed illustrations of plants as they are found in nature, Earth Medicine, Earth Food belongs on your shelf next to such works as Food and Healing, Traditional Foods are your Best Medicine, and guides to Chinese medicine.