Research Catalog

Title

American household botany : a history of useful plants, 1620-1900 / Judith Sumner ; foreword by John Forti.

Author

Sumner, Judith.

Publication

Portland, Ore : Timber Press, 2004.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

396 pages : illustrations (some color); 24 cm

Summary

"In this book author Judith Sumner rescues from the pages of history the practical experience and botanical wisdom of generations of Americans. Crossing the disciplines of history, ethnobotany, and horticulture - and with a flair for the colorful anecdote - Sumner underlines part of the American story often ignored or forgotten: how European settlers and their descendents made use of the "strange" new plants they found, as well as the select varieties of foods and medicines they brought with them from other continents. From "turkie wheat" (corn) to "tuckahoe" (a Native American source of starch), Sumner describes the transition from wonderment to daily use, as homesteads were built upon and prospered from the plants of the New World." "Historians, herbalists, home gardeners, and ethnobotanists will find American Household Botany a treasure trove of original research and insight."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Botany, Economic > United States > History
• Plants, Cultivated > United States > History
• Plants, Useful > United States > History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-374) and index.

Contents

Ch. 1. The new world -- Ch. 2. Grains -- Ch. 3. Gardens, seeds, and vegetable staples -- Ch. 4. Fruits -- Ch. 5. The botanical pantry I : preservation, wine, vinegar, and beverages -- Ch. 6. The botanical pantry II : spices, sweets, and miscellany -- Ch. 7. Herbs, herbalism, and the practice of domestic medicine -- Ch. 8. Wood, fibers, and textiles -- Ch. 9. Domestic landscapes -- Ch. 10. Botanical lives.

ISBN

0881926523 (hardcover)

LCCN

2003026578

OCLC

• ocm53887606
• SCSB-5184994

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries