Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest, the Definitive Guide: Medicinal & Edible Plants, Collection, Preparation, Use & Cautions. 2nd edition, revised and expanded. / by Charles W. Kane. Paintings by Frank S. Rose. Published by Lincoln Town Press, 2009, ©2006. ISBN 978-977-1333-1-4 (paperback); 978-977-1333-4-5 (hardcover) 346 p., color plates, illustrations in color, bibliography, glossary and index.
Author Charles Kane’s Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest, is a guide to the specific indications of more than 210 herbal medicines, organized alphabetically by common name. Included are chapters prior to the herbs: introductory notes, an explanation on how the entries are laid out to present each plant and its evidence of medicinal effectiveness, and a chapter on how to prepare herbal medicines according to desired form, whether tincture, tea, capsule, salve or syrup, etc. The Materia Medica follows, and is accompanied by color photographic plates and realistic paintings. Finally, Kane’s Bibliography gives the sources of journal articles that support claims to the medicinal quality of an herb. These were written in peer-reviewed publications and consist of studies of chemical constituents and clinical trials on the effectiveness of more than 80 plants for the treatment of certain conditions. The book also provides a Therapeutic Index, Weights and Measures, and Worksheets for use in percolation and extraction. The Glossary is focused on diseases and conditions, while the Index retains these in addition to herb common and scientific names.
Turning to the Materia Medica, a compendium of 210 plus herbs, the Reader sees that each entry contains sections as explained in the introductory chapters on format. These sections provide information consistently, so that comparison is painless and the gist is conveyed succinctly. One of the entries is Passionflower, found alphabetically after Ocotillo (a desert cactus whose branches are good for bronchial disturbances in cases of dry cough) and before Penstemon (a perennial that can be prepared as external medicine for cuts, wounds and bites and stings). Passionflower is a vine that originated in South America, in tropical soil. It is now naturalized along streams and ravines in the Southwest, a relatively dry environment. Passionflower is presented as an example here, but all entries follow the same format, most notably: nomenclature, distribution, medicinal uses, collection, dosage and cautions.
For nomenclature, the names of herbs, the Reader recognizes its common name first, in this case “Passionflower”, then finds that an herb may have several botanical (or as Kane calls them, scientific) names, owing to the known species of herb with properties useful to healing. Additionally, Kane gives synonymous names, however since their genus names may differ from the generally accepted scientific name, perhaps the variant names are better known elsewhere. If the Reader had reason to research the herb in question, these additional species names could be quite helpful. In the case of Passionflower, the Reader may know it as Passiflora mexicana, whereas others may know it as Cieca mexicana, etc. Passionflower is useful in part for anxiety, muscle spasm, insomnia, cough, and spasmodic diarrhea. As with many herbs, it is contraindicated in pregnancy.
Further, the entry on Passionflower covers its chemical constituents, which include alkaloids, flavonoids, and glycosides; preparation and dosage, which states that Passionflower can be taken in tincture, fluidextract and tea form, and other uses if they exist. Not all Passionflowers are equal in their sedative qualities: for Passionflora edulis, a species is grown for its fruit, medicinal qualities are negligible.
Kane’s emphasis for the herbalist is on wild-crafting, or collecting herbs from their natural habitat, as opposed to cultivating them in gardens or herb farms. Hence his section on collection is detailed with aspects of plant growth such as blooming times, if that knowledge is appropriate to the collection of the herb. In the case of Passionflower, the author notes the whole plant is effective, including how the plant should smell, for a good quality specimen.
The color plates are particularly useful to positive identification of the plants in their habitat. Kane’s selection often includes images of the whole plant for its identification as a tree versus shrub, etc. Details of the flowers, fruit, and some roots are displayed, especially where these would lead to positive identification of an herb. In most cases the images are clear and unmistakable, indicating form, branching, color, structure, to the seasoned plant collector. Many of the images were carefully selected to show the color and types of local surroundings that can camouflage the sought-after herb. Illustrations in color following this section are realistic and bright depictions of an herb’s flowers, or expressive leaves on black ground.
What sets this book apart from similarly arranged herbals is the inclusion in most entries of discreet facts that help the Reader to remember the herb’s benefits. To read in Kane’s Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest that a piece of root from the plant Clematis hirsutissima (means “hairy”) was used by North American Indians, the Nez Perce, to restore exhausted animals, coupled with the current use of the herb for migraines, headaches and arthritis, is thrilling. The inclusion of the seemingly incongruous, like an image of Syrian Rue (used for infection, fever and as a mild sedative) taken in Afghanistan (a number of herbs in the Materia Medica are also not native to the American Southwest) and the paintings, serves to underscore the Reader’s chance for inquiry and discovery. And, herbalists today from one point of view are contributing to the ethnobotanical history of herbs as medicine. That may be a fact which serves to direct the responsible collection of herbs for medicinal use, essentially a guideline Kane is passionate about.
The book could be considered a companion volume to other regional guides, certainly to Kane’s Herbal Medicine: Trend and Traditions, 2009, previously reviewed in this blog.
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