437 Edible Wild Plants of the Rocky Mountain West: Berries, Roots, Nuts, Greens, Flowers, and Seeds

I own several books treating on wild edibles of the Rocky Mountain region. I also own a few of the author's other books. From the introduction, Mr. Warnock wants this book "to be in the running for the most comprehensive book on wild edibles ever printed." This is a worthy and ambitious goal, but it falls short in some regards. The many photos depicting plants in different stages are very helpful for the majority of entries. Still, for some entries, the photos are less helpful, minimal, or even nonexistent. Each plant is given one page, with half of the real estate given to photos (which is good). I was surprised at times, however, at how little information is contained in the descriptions for most entries, however. Some entries provide good detail and notes of multiple paragraphs, as are found with other more thorough edible plant guidebooks, but other entries are lacking in detail. Some are given barely a sentence. The book's 1.3" girth is greater than my other edible plant books, but nearly a third of that comes from near-duplicate entries for very close subspecies: i.e., 10 biscuitroots, 11 wilkweeds, 15 mariposa lilies, several multiples of mustards, phlox, brome, etc. I understand that there can be practical differences, but in some of these cases, the descriptions given are practically identical, and the repetition felt gratuitous. I'm keeping the book as a reference, but still need other sources for more detailed descriptions for many plants that, in this book, receive only bare minimal coverage.

This is an enjoyable book to browse through. Having many years professional experience dealing with plants, I noticed some of the pictures do not match the plant listed. Something of critical importance in a book of this nature.

I like that it shares with you the edible parts, the time of season to harvest, and has multiple pictures. I have a Master’s Degree in Herbology so have studied and looked through many books on herbs. The pictures are most important! Identification is not easy. I understand Freebrownies comments on not enough notes/details but can you imagine how large the book would be if all the information on how to use and every little detail was included. It would have to be in multiple volumes. Most of them are short and to the point which is good since this is not a comprehensive report on each herb-other books do that well. This book is for identification the photos are so much better than line drawings!

Just okay. I bought this for my daughter and I to use while adventuring in our pasture. While the book is beautiful, I’m not loving it. It’s not organized well. You will have to flip through each page of the book to find the right page for the plant you’re trying to identify. It would be much easier if it was organized by flower color or some other quick identifier. For example, our bird identification books arrange sections by color. It also doesn’t have any methods of preparation for edible plants. It tells you what parts of the plants are edible but no other info. Is it edible more medicinally as a tincture or jelly? Or can I make a salad with it? How much can you safely eat? This just doesn’t have enough info for us. We’re still going to have to research online everything we find and identify. I wanted an all-in-one-place resource.

As an amateur horticulturalist, and native of Utah, I'm always looking for plant ID books, and if they list edible species, all the better. This is the best book of edible plants for this area I've found yet. Anyone who is even remotely interested in plants, survivalism, camping, scouting, or gardening should have this book. If you're a permaculture gardener in the Rocky Mountain area, you NEED this book. Fabulous information.I wouldn't use it as a stand-alone source for hard-core wild-plant eating, but it's a great place to start, and a great quick-reference while you're out in the field. For more information, you can find the plant in this book, and then Google the latin name of the plant to find more details about more specific uses, nutritional info, and risks related to eating the individual plants.I've noticed the hardest part of finding edible wild plants is identifying them (especially with their Latin name), and this book is fantastic for that.Highly, HIGHLY recommended.

1. This is NOT a quick reference book for the amateur1. There is no effective overarching method for identifying a plant by its traits. The traits lists in the back of the book require painstaking effort to use -- and are printed in literally miniscule fonts making it impossible without a magnifying glass, and only reference one trait with no images, and only provide a list of Latin Genus/Species names which if you don't know, you get nothing.2. You can look a plant up ONLY by its technical full Latin genus-species name (as opposed to a clever cross-referencing by multiple traits method). Without knowing the genus-species name already, you'll struggle to find a practical application for this book. While the 'common names' of plants are not reliable, as the author correctly points out, there desperately needs to be a better way to cross reference by multiple traits.3. The images for each plant are generally small thumbnails, often blurry and are always uncaptioned. A bewildering choice, frankly.4. In fairness to the author, lots of work has been done here compiling so much information. And, choices have to be made to keep the book from becoming the size of Merriam-Webster's dictionary. But, if usability as a plant identification field reference has any priority, wrong choices were made here.It's clear to me that this book would be better created as an online database or local app where plant traits and images can simultaneously be matched and cross-referenced in order to get a quick look-up. If I was the author, I'd get together w/ a tech person to make that happen. It would make the book itself more useful.

Wonderful pictures and descriptions, my biggest problem being that the Rocky Mountains extend a great deal further north than the book does.

I love that there is a picture for every plant; no guessing!