Table of Contents

Introduction ix
Herbalism and Holism xi
Reductionism and Holism xiv
Different Kinds of Holism xvii
Energetics xix

PART I
The Practice of Traditional Herbal Medicine 1
CHAPTER ONE - Energetics of Traditional Medicine 2
Greek Medicine 2
Ayurvedic Medicine 7
Traditional Chinese Medicine 9
Alchemical Medicine 13
Physiomedicalism 17
Integration: Pharmacology, Taste, and Energetics 20
CHAPTER TWO - Herbal Actions 23
Modern Actions 25
CHAPTER THREE - Putting It All Together: The Art of Herbal Practice 29
“A Key to Galen’s Method of Physick” 30
CHAPTER FOUR - Preparation and Dosage 35
Preparation 35
Dosage 38

PART II
Materia Medica 41
Using the Materia Medica 42
References 539
Index of Herbs 561
Index of Conditions 567

About the Author

Matthew Wood, a practicing herbalist for almost forty years, lives on an herb farm thirty minutes west of downtown Minneapolis. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and holds a Master of Science degree in Herbal Medicine from the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine, accredited by the University of Wales. Wood is the author of four previous books (all published by North Atlantic Books) and a registered herbalist, or professional member, of the American Herbalists Guild, the only self-regulating body of practicing herbalists in the United States. He is also a regular contributor to the Journal of the American Herbalists Guild.

Reviews

“In The Earthwise Herbal, Matthew Wood has revived the richness, depth, and dignity of the herbal medicine of the old masters, while at the same time endowing it with a new cosmopolitan, cross-cultural flavor that lifts it to a genuinely planetary level.”
—Rudolph Ballentine, MD, author of Radical Healing

“Matthew Wood propounds with great clarity, wisdom, and his own experience the gifts the earth in its wisdom has given us in the form of amazing medicines for almost all our ills, whether of body, mind, emotion, personality, or constitution. How refreshing it is to find a new herbal that explores the depths of each plant’s contribution and does not attribute its powers solely or even mainly to its chemical constituents.”
—Anne McIntyre, English herbalist

“What [Matthew Wood] brings to herbalism is a first-hand sense of the old Western herbal knowledge with each plant steeped in its historic role.”
—The American Herb Association

“Another valuable resource by Wood, a practicing herbalist with 25 years experience under his belt. Part of a two volume set, this complete guide to old world medicinal plants describes the characteristic symptoms and conditions from a holistic perspective.”
—Within Kingston Magazine