One of the most valuable tools and resources for anyone who wants to forage, or wild harvest, is a good, local, field guide. Field guides help you stay safe from look-alike plants, identify dangerous plants from a distance, and recognize plant families.
Scroll down for the region that is the closest match to you for some relevant field guides. There are also some guides listed by country if you are not in North America.
Foraging in the South East:
Southeast Foraging: 120 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Angelica to Wild Plums
This book is focused on wild edible plants of the south-eastern United States. The plant profiles in Southeast Foraging include clear, color photographs, identification tips, guidance on how to ethically harvest, and suggestions for eating and preserving
Stay tuned for our mushrooming discussion on Friday, and get prepared with this handy little guide. This is a guide to all mushroom species, and will help you identify look-alikes, and dangerous mushrooms, as well as the friendly and edible kinds.
Illustrated Plants of Florida and the Coastal Plain
This extensively illustrated book contains information on around 1,400 species of plants, both common and rare, found in Florida and neighboring coastal states. It contains frequently occurring wildflowers, shrubs, and herbaceous plants from the region, with some grasses, rushes, and trees as well.
For each species, the book features an illustration, the plant’s vernacular and scientific names along with other common names, and a short description that includes the plant’s habitat, range, frequency, flowering times, and origin if not native to North America.
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers–E: Eastern Region
This guide focuses on wildflowers, but has clear images of around 950 different plants. Plant names and descriptions reflect up-to-date scientific names and identification information.
Foraging on the East Coast and Central:
Edible Wild Plants: Eastern/Central North America (Peterson Field Guides)
This is a useful volume for edible plant identification. There are more than 370 edible wild plants listed, and 37 poisonous lookalikes. For identification, there are 400 drawings and 78 color photographs to help you make a positive and safe ID.
The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants
This is the official army guide to edible wild plants for North America. More of a handbook than a field guide, but with useful illustrations and images.
North American Wildland Plants: A Field Guide
This book contains information on 200 different plants. Plants included in this guide are included due to prevalence, usefulness, or danger.
Identifying Trees of the East: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America
Since a lot of guides focus on flowers or herbaceous plants, a guide to trees on their own can be very useful. Trees are sometimes harder to identify, since for some species they lose their identifying characteristics during the winter.
Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont:
This guide takes a different approach to classifying plants. Instead of sorting by family and taxonimy, they are sorted by “community.” Basically, if certain plants normally grow close to others they will be listed in proximity in the book. The book lists 340 different plant species.
Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region
Another option for tree identification with 700 different tree species. A great option for full study of trees.
Foraging in the South
Plants of Deep South Texas: A Field Guide to the Woody and Flowering Species
A guide focused on the southern-most areas of texas. Great for anyone who lives in that region, or northern Mexico, or who may travel to those areas. Contains information on around 800 different species of plants.
Edible and Useful Plants of the Southwest: Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona
Covering several of the dryer, southern US states, this is a useful guide that covers edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants.
Southwestern Trees: A Guide to the Trees of Arizona, New Mexico, and the Southwestern United States
While the above guides cover some bushes and trees, they mostly focus on smaller plants. This guide focuses exclusively on trees in the dry and hot southern US states.
National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah
Another field guide for the hot southern states. Covers a lot of herbaceous plants.
Alaska:
Alaska’s Wild Plants, Revised Edition: A Guide to Alaska’s Edible and Healthful Harvest
Alaska has a much colder zone than a lot of the west coast and British Columbia, so a specific guide for Alaska may be of interest.
Foraging in South West
A Peterson Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs
A guide to over 200 plant and herb species that have medicinal properties in the western area of North America.
Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field-to-kitchen Guide
A guide focused on the edible mushrooms of North America from east to west and including central.
Foraging in the West Coast
Plants of the Inland Northwest and Southern Interior British Columbia
A personal favorite guide. This guide sorts by plant family, and includes small snippets of information on the traditional uses of plants, trees, shrubs, and grasses. This is the guide I grew up using (Sarah).
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Same authors as the above guide, this focuses more on coastal plants with over 700 species listed.
Field Guide to Mushrooms of Western North America
If you want a field guide for western focused mushrooms, this is a great option. This is a broad spectrum mushroom guide, listing all types, edible and poisonous.
Europe and Beyond
If you live in Europe, UK, Australia, or New Zealand (or anywhere outside of North America), you may be able to find better and more accurate guides locally or through a local book store. These are just some examples of the type of book that may help in these countries and continents.
Animals and Plants of Britain and Europe
This is a concise field guide, and includes both animals and plants. It should give a good overview of European and UK plants, but may not have super specific taxonomy information.
This guide covers the mushrooms of Europe, edible and poisonous alike. Good for an overview.
This guide seems to be focused on edible species in both Europe and North America. A broad book like this may lack some of the specific in formation that a more locally focused book can give.
United Kingdom
Wildflowers of Ireland: A Field Guide
This book is focused to Ireland, but many of the flowers of Ireland will also be found in other areas of the UK, and possibly some areas of Europe.
A Naturalist’s Guide to Wild Flowers of Britain & Northern Europe
This is a broader spectrum wild flower guide, which contains around 280 plant species.
Israel
A general guide for “Mediterranean” style climates, not exclusive to the Mediterranean basin. This guide is more focused on plant type and characteristics that let them thrive.
Wild plants in the land of Israel
No longer in print, but could be useful if located. Israel has a unique characteristic in it’s plant life. Israel is the furthest north of many African plants, and the furthest south of many European plants. This joining of areas makes Israel’s plant life a fascinating study, whether in-person, or through a book.
New Zealand
Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand
A brief overview focused on the edible plants of New Zealand, some of which may be imported but are now found naturally.
Australia
Focuses on edible plants of Australia. Has a wide range of coverage, but does only focus on edible ones.
Plants of Subtropical Eastern Australia
This book contains over 500 plants and plant species that can be found in this region of Australia. Is a narrow location, but wide ranged book. Plants covered include edible and poisonous ones, as well as simple non-useful but present plants.
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