ALASKA’S
WILDERNESS MEDICINES
Healthful Plants
of the Far North

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eleanor G. Viereck
Illustrated by Dominique Collet

Alaska Northwest Books™
Anchorage * Seattle * Portland

Copyright © 1987 by Eleanor G. Viereck

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

First printing 1987
Fifth printing 1995

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Viereck, Eleanor.

Alaska’s Wilderness Medicines.
Bibliography: p. 97
Includes index.
1.Medicinal plants--Alaska. 2. Materia medica, Vegetable--Alaska.

I.Title. [DNLM: 1. Plants, Medicinal--Alaska. QV 770 AA5 V6a]
QK99.U6V54 1986 581.6’34.’09798 87-1427
ISBN 0-88240-322-2

Cover design by Robert Chrestensen
Book design by Martine Richards

Alaska Northwest Books™
An imprint of Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company
Editorial office: 2208 NW Market Street, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98107
Catalog and order dept.: P.O. Box 10306, Portland, OR 97210
800-452-3032

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Contents

About This Book
Collecting Wild Plants

Alder	Cow Parsnip or Wild Celery	Iris	Rose	Sweet Gale
Angelica	Crowberry	Juniper	Shepherd’s Purse	Uva-ursi or Kinnikinnick
Birch	Currant	Labrador Tea	Shield Fern	Willow
Bistort	Dandelion	Larch	Soapberry	Wormwood
Chamomile	Devil’s Club	Lowbush Cranberry	Sourdock	Yarrow
Chickweed	Fireweed	Plantain	Sphagnum
Cleavers	Highbush-Cranberry	Poplar or Cottonwood	Spruce
Coltsfoot	Horsetail	Raspberry	Strawberry

From Leaf to Tea
Therapeutic Uses of Alaskan Plants
Conditions that can be treated with Alaskan Plants
Glossary
References
(no index available online)

Acknowledgments

I wish to acknowledge the assistance and motivation provided by Patsy Turner in obtaining funds to prepare the manuscript and in typing the first draft. I also wish to thank Dr. Helen Bierne, Commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services, State of Alaska, and Dr. Nils Annerud, Coordinator of the Preventive/Holistic Health Project. A previous edition of this book was made possible by a grant from the state of Alaska.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Dr. Dave Murray, Director of the Herbarium, University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum, for allowing me the use of his specimens in writing descriptions of plants. Without the botanical authority and personal support and good humor of my husband, Leslie A. Viereck, this book would never have been written. And the editing contribution of Maureen A. Zimmerman of Alaska Northwest Books has been thorough and responsive; she showed me many ways to improve this book and I thank her very much.