I’m loving Ali English’s Wild Medicine trilogy. They are small enough to pop in a day pack before you go out for a herbal foraging session and they are neatly divided into seasons so you don’t need to take a year’s worth of information out with you. They include some traditional herbs such as birch and toadflax, which have sometimes fallen out of favour with modern herbalists yet still have great value in both hedgerow medicine and as food.

In these books Ali shares both her obvious passion for herbs and a wealth of knowledge.  Along with the medicinal uses, descriptions of the herbs and their habitats, she also includes folklore, planetary and wheel-of-the-year information. The books also cover any contra-indications you need to be aware of when considering using these herbs so you can use them safely.

Like Ali, I came to Medical Herbalism via my love of herbs and using them day-to-day to treat
myself and anyone else who would let me near them. It is because of this that my personal
favourite bits of these books are the lovely recipe ideas which use the herbs both as food
and as herbal remedies for all kinds of minor ailments.