Botany is the scientific study of plants, a subject I know very little about. I have been studying medicinal plants and their uses for over a decade, but I never really learned how to recognize specific plants or the parts of plants. Considering my love for herbal medicine I have always wanted to learn the wildcrafting and botany side of it. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to recognize all the plants and flowers around you AND know how to use them medicinally? Being a beginner, plant identification has always been intimidating for me. There are so many different books, classes, teachers and videos on the subject to choose from so it was hard to decide on where to start my studies of botany. I am thankful the book Botany in a Day, By: Thomas J. Elpel is required reading for my Master Clinical Herbalist Course. I can see why it has been such a popular book for over 20 years.
This book is very detailed about the parts, history and classification of plants. Included are full color pictures, charts and diagrams to help a beginner like me, to understand such a vass subject. Thomas uses the patterns method for plant identification. He explains that by learning to recognize plant patterns you can quickly start to recognize plants that belong in similar plant families. Therefore, being able to identify plants much faster then flipping through hundreds of plant classification pages.
Thomas suggests learning 8 of the plant families first. Specifically mint, parsley, pea, lily, grass, rose and aster. Approximately 45,000 species are included in these 8 common families. I felt a sigh of relief when I read his recommendation! I can start with just 8, right? There are approximately 750 plant families across the globe which is quite a lot! The majority of the pages in the book are detailed descriptions and pictures for each plant family. I don’t think he left any details out! Thomas’s thorough information of each plant family helps the novice plant lover avoid identification mistakes. In addition to Botany in a Day, Thomas has also written a children’s boo focused on the main 8
families called Shanleya’s Quest: A Botany Adventure for Kids Ages 9-99. Also, a card game to go along with the children’s book for extra fun practice. I have ordered the children’s book and card game for my four children and I can’t wait to share it with them! We love to exploring nature as a family so this will be a great addition to our nature bag.
I can definitely see myself referencing this book for many years to come. Slowly learning each plant family in detail. I really feel like this book will help further my knowledge of safely working with plant medicine.