---
product_id: 487423150
title: "Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: of Eastern and Central North America"
price: "8627 kr"
currency: ISK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.is/products/487423150-sam-thayers-field-guide-to-edible-wild-plants-of-eastern
store_origin: IS
region: Iceland
---

# Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: of Eastern and Central North America

**Price:** 8627 kr
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: of Eastern and Central North America
- **How much does it cost?** 8627 kr with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.is](https://www.desertcart.is/products/487423150-sam-thayers-field-guide-to-edible-wild-plants-of-eastern)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Buy Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: of Eastern and Central North America on desertcart.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

Review: A MUST HAVE for anyone - Oh. My. Goodness. Where to begin? First off, the thing that struck me immediately was the organization, and general ease of navigation of this book. It feels like doing a more refined Google search where you could find your answer based on what you are looking at, and it walks you through narrowing your search down through very easily interpreted flowcharts etc. Second... the absolute amazing graphic design. The pictures of the same plant, showcasing the root system, the leaves, what it looks like in different stages or seasons. I mean... SO much love and effort and research went into this. I have never seen such a thorough botanical documentation for any reason anywhere of anything. Literally a masterpiece of botany literature in general. Third, the author puts his own commentary into the book. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression every photo was taken by him, and every plant was trialed and documented by him as well. So many guide books are copy/pasted from the one before them. Kind of how when you do an internet search for a obscure thing, and it comes up with 10 websites with the same 5 sentences maybe slightly grammatically changed. THIS BOOK however, is boots on the ground personal experiences ✨️meticulously✨️ documented. He doesn't write from "research," but rather experience. I am in absolute awe of the amount of effort and love that went into this book. I guarantee it will become an absolute wilderness guide treasure/classic in no time. I have NEVER seen a guidebook with this level of.... anything tbh. This is the new metric by which all of them will be measured going forward. Petersons guidebooks have NOTHING on this. My MIL is a gardener involved in research areas, and I'm sending this to her simply so she can admire how amazing this guide is. She'll get some use out of it too, I hope. Anyways, please purchase this book, if only to look in awe upon its abundance of folk knowledge, and ease of navigation.
Review: The greatest wild foods book I have ever read - This book is nothing short of a triumph, the culmination of Thayer's lifelong fascination with wild plants and his ultimate rebuttal to the subpar wild edibles field guides that we have settled for in the past. I'm a big fan of Thayer's first three books, The Forager's Harvest, Nature's Garden, and Incredible Wild Edibles. These books, combined with John Kallas's two volumes, are the finest wild foods literature available. The information on timing in Thayer's books is lacking in Kallas's, and the phenomenal photographs in Kallas's books do a much better job than Thayer's photographs. The Forager's Harvest series provides fewer recipes while Kallas often provides examples of prepared foods. Together, they provide all the information one could ask for about the plants covered, but you are of course limited to what plants are described, and carrying five volumes around is impractical when exploring in the field. Their purpose is depth and familiarity, something you study before you go out, and refer to when looking for a particular plant by bringing the particular volume along. The Field Guide here serves a distinctly different purpose. It is a field guide, complete with dichotomous keys, encyclopedic coverage of wild plants, and 1-2 page descriptions with relevant details for each of the 700 plants covered. One of the most difficult things when reviewing wild plant literature is keeping track of all the plants that are edible and in season at this particular time of year, deciding whether they are worth the effort, and finding out whether they even grow nearby. To seek out a particular plant requires knowing the types of conditions it tolerates, the type of ecosystem it is most often found in. With experience, you can tell easily whether a location is likely to support various plants, but only because you've seen where it grows enough times to build up your mental image. Thayer's Field Guide solves these problems by including a small section at the end called "Find Edible Wild Plants By Habitat And Season", and by including a distribution map and "Notes" section for each plant where the quality and harvesting effort are described. There is a "Best Index" after the index which is unique and very welcome - it contains the wild plants Thayer considers best for various things, e.g. "best things to feed a first date", "best fried greens", "best survival food", "best staple foods", and of course, "best edibles to tell a complete stranger what you are eating to get them to leave you alone." The way Thayer writes botanically is ideal for non-professional but rigorous botanical descriptions. Where Gray's Manual or Gleason & Cronquist might say "imbricated" to describe the bracts of e.g. the thistle, with Thayer they become "overlapping"; short axillary branches become "tufts" in the axils; a "cyme" inflorescence might be written "flat-topped branching cluster (cyme)" so that one can still verify with traditional manuals. This reduces ambiguity and excessive terminology, something even professional botanists struggle with, and without loss of information. Now, don't be mistaken - the terminology is still going to be a challenge for a beginner, for example the leaves of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) are described as "sessile, usually paired but occasionally in whorls of 3, 1.3-4.5" (3.3-11cm) long, ascending, lanceolate, soft-hairy to hairless, the bases rounded to heart-shaped, tapered to a sharp tip, the margins entire." A beginner must still be familiar with the terms sessile, whorl, ascending, lanceolate, base, heart-shaped, tapered, margin, entire; and every description will be this way. It's not terrible difficult to learn the terms, but it's a lot of memorization and comparison. It is absolutely worth the time and energy to highlight new words and difficult descriptions, and to keep notes on plant terminology to refer back to. New or confusing terms should include several examples, as well as non-examples to illustrate the limits of a descriptor. Finally, the coverage of plants is exceptional. I have yet to think of a plant I've eaten or thought about eating that is not featured in this book. I recently learned that the young fertile shoots of horsetail were eaten in spring by some native tribes, but it's hard to find any detail. I opened this book and horsetail is the very first plant. I've snacked on hairy bittercress, but it's not so frequently mentioned in wild food literature. It's here with pictures and comments. It was mentioned to me that some peoples used to prepare (very carefully over a long period of time) skunk cabbage as a seasoning, but I thought it would be an outrageous thing to try. Thayer clarifies, the roots can be dried weeks to years, or baked several hours to several days, and eaten. The youngest leaves can also be processed and eaten this way. Who would've thought. Compared to the foraging field guides that came before, this is like Euclid's "The Elements" - sure to replace all that came before, and sure to serve as the go-to reference for all years to come.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #27,281 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #13 in Botany (Books) #37 in Natural Food Cooking #3,443 in Self-Help (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars (714) |
| Dimensions  | 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches |
| ISBN-10  | 0976626640 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0976626640 |
| Item Weight  | 3.4 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 736 pages |
| Publication date  | June 1, 2023 |
| Publisher  | Foragers Harvest Press |

## Images

![Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: of Eastern and Central North America - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/713JRikoPFL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A MUST HAVE for anyone
*by M***A on June 3, 2023*

Oh. My. Goodness. Where to begin? First off, the thing that struck me immediately was the organization, and general ease of navigation of this book. It feels like doing a more refined Google search where you could find your answer based on what you are looking at, and it walks you through narrowing your search down through very easily interpreted flowcharts etc. Second... the absolute amazing graphic design. The pictures of the same plant, showcasing the root system, the leaves, what it looks like in different stages or seasons. I mean... SO much love and effort and research went into this. I have never seen such a thorough botanical documentation for any reason anywhere of anything. Literally a masterpiece of botany literature in general. Third, the author puts his own commentary into the book. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression every photo was taken by him, and every plant was trialed and documented by him as well. So many guide books are copy/pasted from the one before them. Kind of how when you do an internet search for a obscure thing, and it comes up with 10 websites with the same 5 sentences maybe slightly grammatically changed. THIS BOOK however, is boots on the ground personal experiences ✨️meticulously✨️ documented. He doesn't write from "research," but rather experience. I am in absolute awe of the amount of effort and love that went into this book. I guarantee it will become an absolute wilderness guide treasure/classic in no time. I have NEVER seen a guidebook with this level of.... anything tbh. This is the new metric by which all of them will be measured going forward. Petersons guidebooks have NOTHING on this. My MIL is a gardener involved in research areas, and I'm sending this to her simply so she can admire how amazing this guide is. She'll get some use out of it too, I hope. Anyways, please purchase this book, if only to look in awe upon its abundance of folk knowledge, and ease of navigation.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The greatest wild foods book I have ever read
*by S***. on June 2, 2023*

This book is nothing short of a triumph, the culmination of Thayer's lifelong fascination with wild plants and his ultimate rebuttal to the subpar wild edibles field guides that we have settled for in the past. I'm a big fan of Thayer's first three books, The Forager's Harvest, Nature's Garden, and Incredible Wild Edibles. These books, combined with John Kallas's two volumes, are the finest wild foods literature available. The information on timing in Thayer's books is lacking in Kallas's, and the phenomenal photographs in Kallas's books do a much better job than Thayer's photographs. The Forager's Harvest series provides fewer recipes while Kallas often provides examples of prepared foods. Together, they provide all the information one could ask for about the plants covered, but you are of course limited to what plants are described, and carrying five volumes around is impractical when exploring in the field. Their purpose is depth and familiarity, something you study before you go out, and refer to when looking for a particular plant by bringing the particular volume along. The Field Guide here serves a distinctly different purpose. It is a field guide, complete with dichotomous keys, encyclopedic coverage of wild plants, and 1-2 page descriptions with relevant details for each of the 700 plants covered. One of the most difficult things when reviewing wild plant literature is keeping track of all the plants that are edible and in season at this particular time of year, deciding whether they are worth the effort, and finding out whether they even grow nearby. To seek out a particular plant requires knowing the types of conditions it tolerates, the type of ecosystem it is most often found in. With experience, you can tell easily whether a location is likely to support various plants, but only because you've seen where it grows enough times to build up your mental image. Thayer's Field Guide solves these problems by including a small section at the end called "Find Edible Wild Plants By Habitat And Season", and by including a distribution map and "Notes" section for each plant where the quality and harvesting effort are described. There is a "Best Index" after the index which is unique and very welcome - it contains the wild plants Thayer considers best for various things, e.g. "best things to feed a first date", "best fried greens", "best survival food", "best staple foods", and of course, "best edibles to tell a complete stranger what you are eating to get them to leave you alone." The way Thayer writes botanically is ideal for non-professional but rigorous botanical descriptions. Where Gray's Manual or Gleason & Cronquist might say "imbricated" to describe the bracts of e.g. the thistle, with Thayer they become "overlapping"; short axillary branches become "tufts" in the axils; a "cyme" inflorescence might be written "flat-topped branching cluster (cyme)" so that one can still verify with traditional manuals. This reduces ambiguity and excessive terminology, something even professional botanists struggle with, and without loss of information. Now, don't be mistaken - the terminology is still going to be a challenge for a beginner, for example the leaves of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) are described as "sessile, usually paired but occasionally in whorls of 3, 1.3-4.5" (3.3-11cm) long, ascending, lanceolate, soft-hairy to hairless, the bases rounded to heart-shaped, tapered to a sharp tip, the margins entire." A beginner must still be familiar with the terms sessile, whorl, ascending, lanceolate, base, heart-shaped, tapered, margin, entire; and every description will be this way. It's not terrible difficult to learn the terms, but it's a lot of memorization and comparison. It is absolutely worth the time and energy to highlight new words and difficult descriptions, and to keep notes on plant terminology to refer back to. New or confusing terms should include several examples, as well as non-examples to illustrate the limits of a descriptor. Finally, the coverage of plants is exceptional. I have yet to think of a plant I've eaten or thought about eating that is not featured in this book. I recently learned that the young fertile shoots of horsetail were eaten in spring by some native tribes, but it's hard to find any detail. I opened this book and horsetail is the very first plant. I've snacked on hairy bittercress, but it's not so frequently mentioned in wild food literature. It's here with pictures and comments. It was mentioned to me that some peoples used to prepare (very carefully over a long period of time) skunk cabbage as a seasoning, but I thought it would be an outrageous thing to try. Thayer clarifies, the roots can be dried weeks to years, or baked several hours to several days, and eaten. The youngest leaves can also be processed and eaten this way. Who would've thought. Compared to the foraging field guides that came before, this is like Euclid's "The Elements" - sure to replace all that came before, and sure to serve as the go-to reference for all years to come.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Buy this! But buy it at the END of winter
*by G***T on December 1, 2024*

This is the coolest field guide in my collection. Always found them to be great to flip through for idle couch curiosities or to toss into a day pack. I foolishly purchased at the very beginning of winter so it will be my constant couch companion until I can get out there for spring shoots. It is a very hefty field guide, which feels appropriate to the breadth of the content. Still, I would probably bring it into the field only for forage specific trips just due to weight. If you geek out on well designed organization schemes, this is THE one. Multiple keys to help identify based on morphology, habitat, season, etc. Entries also include multiple photos and an almost farmers almanac mixing of humor, science, and practical application. All in all one of the most exciting books I’ve purchased!

---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.is/products/487423150-sam-thayers-field-guide-to-edible-wild-plants-of-eastern](https://www.desertcart.is/products/487423150-sam-thayers-field-guide-to-edible-wild-plants-of-eastern)

---

*Product available on Desertcart Iceland*
*Store origin: IS*
*Last updated: 2026-02-05*