The Shakers sold medicinal herbs and the first commercial vegtable seed production to finance their various communities.

Aloe vera, arnica, angelica, basil, bee balm, blackberry root, black cohosh, black currant, black walnut, blueberry, borage, calendula, California poppy catnip, cayenne, chamomile, wild cherry bark, chickweed, chicory, cleavers, clover, coltsfoot, comfrey, cottonwood, corydalis, dandelion, dill
elecampane, echinacea, elderberry, evening primrose, fennel, feverfew, fig,
garlic, Garry oak, ginger (wild native, and potted tropical), ginkgo, heal all (aka self heal), hawthorne, holy basil, honeysuckle, hops, horsetail, juniper, Lady’s mantle, lavender , lemon balm, lemon verbena, lovage, marshmallow, milk thistle, motherwort, mullein, oats, Oregon grape, oregano, peppermint, plantain, raspberries, roses (domestic and wild), rosemary, sage, skullcap, spearmint, stinging nettle, St. John’s wort, thyme,
uva ursi (which is called kinnikinnick here), valerian, violets willow bark, witch hazel, yarrow, yellow dock, yucca.
Whew.

I have often consulted Duke’s old website: http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/ and now I see he has another although I haven’t explored it yet: http://www.greenpharmacy.com/

A lot of traditional uses are valid but some books still carry a whiff of the “doctrine of signatures” so it’s reassuring to have resources that are based on research.

comfrey, red clover, garlic, sage, oregano, bee balm, nettle, violets, mountain mint, catnip, lemon balm, hot peppers, jewelweed

These really cover most ailments I can imagine dealing with. Some volunteered, some have naturalized, a few are recently planted.

Wisconsin Garden Chick, It has been really cold and wet here – peppers are not thriving. I’ve got mine in pots and up on dry hot spots, and they still are only just beginning to set fruit. I did put cayenne up there, and I eat them for, let’s just say, non-medicinal reasons . I did forget raspberry leaves, which I’ve got in huge quantity.

Lorna, I like Richo Cech’s _Making Plant Medicine_, Tammi Hartung’s _Growing 101 Herbs that Heal_. James Green’s _The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook_ and _A Modern Herbal_ by Maude Grieve. Steven Foster’s _Herbal Renaissance_ is also excellent, but he does tend to be on the cautious side.

Sharon

Stephen Foster, The Herbal Drugstore – great for telling you what’s best (or at least best studied) for many different health issues.

James Duke’s, “The Green Pharmacy” is the first herb book I ever bought and is starting to wear thin

I just purchased “The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers” (I also got Trees, there are more in this series even minerals and sea shell ID books, how cool is that?!) to help me with plant ID. Since I own a combination of woods and open land I have a huge variety of plants and really needed the help identifying what’s there.

If you are in Appalachia I found this book when I was looking for a calendar based on wildcrafting, it’s “Appalachian Plants” by Bill Church. I haven’t bought it yet, but this man lives only 2 counties away from me. He also has a website called appalachianplants.com

A couple of good websites with pictures are foragingpictures.com (lists of edible, medicinal, poisonous, etc.)
and pfaf.org – this one is plants for a future.

So I’m kind of a geek when it comes to knowing my plants, but it’s a useful skill right? Please say yes so I can make my hubby read it