MacMillan Treasury of Herbs: A Complete Guide to the Cultivation and Use of Wild and Domesticated Herbs

by Ann Bonar

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0025134701
• ISBN13: 9780025134706
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.8" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

My Herb Bible

The Macmillan Treasury of Herbs was published in 1985, over twenty years ago. Is it obsolete? Is Shakespeare obsolete? In fact, recorded herbal use dates back 5000 years in China. On papyrus in Egypt over 2800 years ago are recorded medicinal uses of marjarom, mint, and juniper. Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the army of Nero in first century AD, wrote a manual for the use of 400 herbs which was standard reference for the next 1500 years in Europe. During the Medieval Period monasteries maintained a physic garden. Herbs came over to America during the colonial settlement and so on. In addition to the history of medical use, the book contains information about herbs used in the household (lavender cachets, cooking), beauty (lavender bath products, henna, chamomile), dyeing (elder, blackberry, dandelion), and perfumes (rose, rosemary). There is a chapter on cultivating herbs, herbs in the garden with sections listing annuals, perennials, shrubs, border plants, container herbs. A chapter for designing a garden helps the reader set realistic goals, another chapter for the care of herbs. Beginning on page 47 for the rest of the book (142 pages, excluding index) is my well-paged, well-read section. Pages 47-50 show, all crammed up together, lovely illustrations of numerous herbs, then on page 51 through 113 the individual herb. But here is the incredible part--and the part that makes THIS herb book so indispensible--a full page devoted to each herb. Each page contains the name, a short history, identification information such as comes on seed packets, photos of the herb in its entirety: root, stem, plant, flowers, seeds, dried product, and recipe product. Yes--my favorite part--a recipe for each herb, plus uses--culinary, medicinal, cosmetic, domestic, and fragrance. Here are some recipe examples: lemon balm in Mushroom Salad, sweet bay in Soused Herrings (that's what it says), comfrey in Comfrey Cleansing Oil (used in reducing puffiness in skin and in cleansing), feverfew in a salad or sandwich to reduce migraine pain, garlic in aioli and garlic butter, marjarom in Provencal Sausages, mint in mint jelly, pennyroyal in Pennyroyal Dumplings, sorrel in Sorrel and Tomato Soup, and yarrow in Yarrow Infusion used on cuts and burns. Finally, more chapters on cultivation and storing, including charts, and creating potpourris and fragrant gifts, as well as more recipes. As a gardener, I have many books and magazines about various aspects of gardening and product uses, but the herbal book I go back to time and time again is this one. Everyone has a favorite--this one is mine. Highly recommended! Now for a nice cup of herbal tea and a lavender bath. Divine!