The Random House Book of Herbs

Book excerpt: The indispensable new reference book for every herb enthusiast With over 400 plants illustrated in full color, this is the most comprehensive photographic guide to herbs and plants grown all over the world for their culinary and medicinal properties. Included are descriptions of the plants' distinctive features for identification, botanical information showing where each is found, and how to grow it or gather it from the wild. The text relates the history of the plant, describes its traditional uses in cooking, medicine, or cosmetics, and where appropriate details modem research supporting long-held beliefs about the effectiveness of the plant.