American Household Botany: A History of Useful Plants, 1620-1900 Book

"In the relatively recent past, all humans had to be skilled practical botanists in order to survive; we had to know which vegetables would hold up during winter storage, which herbs to use for specific illnesses, how to prepare plant fibers for weaving, and how to select the right woods for construction or cooking fires. We now forget many of the daily interactions with plants that were taken for granted during the past three centuries."
?From the author?s preface

In this fascinating book, celebrated author Judith Sumner rescues from the pages of history the practical experience and botanical wisdom of generations of Americans. Crossing the disciplines of history, ethnobotany, and horticulture?and with a flair for the colorful anecdote?Sumner underlines a part of the American story often ignored or forgotten: how European settlers and their descendents made use of the "strange" new plants they found, as well as the select varieties of foods and medicines they brought with them from other continents. From "turkie wheat" (corn) to "tuckahoe" (a Native American source of starch), Sumner describes the transition from wonderment to daily use, as homesteads were built upon and prospered from the plants of the New World.

Virtually no aspect of "practical" botany is ignored in these pages, from dyestuffs to household herbs and from timber harvests to holly wreaths. It is a remarkable story of the interdependence of plants and the American home. Historians, herbalists, home gardeners, and ethnobotanists will find American Household Botany a treasure trove of original research and insight.