Healing Plants: A Medicinal Guide to Native North American Plants and Herbs

Ana Nez Heatherley
The Lyons Press (1998)
ISBN 1558215093
Reviewed by Juanita Watson for Reader Views (8/06)

Ana Nez Heatherley comes from a long family line of herbalists.  She is a registered nurse, speaks regularly on the topic of traditional herbal medicine, and has written for the highly credited magazine Mother Earth News.

Her book “Healing Plants: A Medicinal Guide to Native North American Plants and Herbs” is an excellent addition to any library, but especially for anyone interested in traditional and herbal medicine.  Heatherley explores approximately one hundred plants and herbs common to North America.  Though some information here may be redundant to a seasoned herbalist, there is a number of herbs that you don’t see in the typical books of this genre – such as Buttonbush, Catalpa, and Prairie tea.  I actually don’t remember seeing Prairie tea mentioned anywhere else, let alone with a picture as included in Heatherley’s book.  Impressive!

Heatherley includes distribution maps, bullet-point side bars, and photo section containing a picture for every plant.  This combined with practical applications, interesting folklore, tips, cautions, recipes, and more, round out this informative and interesting book. 

I have a very large library of herbal books and it takes a lot to impress me these day - unfortunately, many simply repeat the same information.  “Healing Plants” was an unsuspected surprise!  Heatherley provides a slightly new perspective on the commonly known medicinal plants, and an impressive account of many not-so-well-known plants that deserve their day in the spotlight. 

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