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The Watercress News, a monthly publication containing news of The Society, is sent to all members. The following is an excerpt from a recent article submitted by a charter member. Book
Review
A recently published book "The Big Book of Herbs" has
appeared on the shelves of the Huntsville Public Library. It was written
by Dr. Arthur O. Tucker and Thomas Debaggio, who are long time members of
The Herb Society of America. Dr. Tucker is well known for his research on
aromatic plants, while Tom Debaggio has operated a herb nursery in
Virginia for many years and has introduced several new cultivars of
rosemary. At a national conference of The Herb Society of America, which
we attended in 1992, he was one of the featured speakers. This book reports on much research that has been done concerning the
consumption of plants as medicines and flavorings. There are listings of
several hundred herbs, which describe their growth habit, botanical name
and common name, hardiness, preferred growing conditions, propagation and
uses. All that are safe for ingestion include the letters G R A S that
means, "Generally recognized as safe". There are 14 pages of
excellent color photographs of some herbs and excellent line drawings of
every herb that is described. The first 112 pages (of the 688) are devoted to excellent information
about growing and propagating difficult species. Pruning, harvesting,
fertilizing and container culture are well covered. This is an excellent
source of information for all herb enthusiasts. I highly recommend it to
you.
- Mary Lou McNabb |