Reddit reviews Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast

http://www.amazon.com/Plants-Pacific-Northwest-Coast-Pojar/dp/1551055309 for plants

If you want something that will actually be thorough and help you out, this one right here is what you want. It's a serious reference with a ton of great information and not a pretty little coffee table book about wild berries.

Not useful at all. Identifying edibles and discerning them from indigestible or toxic plants requires a much more detailed plant guide. For my region I like this one

I've read some books on medicinal plants, native herbology, and ethnobotany in the Pacific Northwest. There are references to a smoking mixture sometimes called kinnikinnik - but sometimes kinnikinnik refers to the bearberry plant.

A few books - (Amazon links):
Plants of the Pacific Northwest


Ethnobotany of Western Washington


Indian Herbology of North America


Some sources indicate the inner bark of the red dogwood tree is mixed with bearberry leaves - dried and crushed for smoking, smudging and ritual use. I have seen mullein and even devil's club mentioned in some references after a brief search.


I haven't looked specifically into smoking herbs or mixtures, but these are the books I'd start with.

Definitely depends on your location. Here in the PNW we love Pojar, and I'm betting there's a favored guide in your area :) For that matter I have an additional guidebook for the Olympics, so even relatively small areas can have a lot of diversity that can be difficult to fit into a single guide. What you'll need depends on where you roam.

HERE is a better one for the Pacific Northwest. Comes recommended from many people I've encountered out on trails.

Also, use smile.amazon.com and they'll donate a portion of your purchase to a non-profit :)

This is a bit weird, but there's a fun book about edible plants in the Pacific NW: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1551055309/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_CuGiybADGAT2P

https://www.amazon.ca/Plants-Pacific-Northwest-Coast-Washington/dp/1551055309

i keep this book in my cruiser vest. Trees are relatively easy to identify once you get into the swing of things.

I think that being familiar with its counterparts (shrubs, herbs, etc) are VERY important to understanding forest dynamics and as it follows, they're a little bit trickier to identify than our trees.

That app sounds so cool! You might also like the app iNaturalist, it's helpful for learning what something is if you're not sure. Pojar is the absolute BEST guide if you want to learn more about PNW coastal plants before you explore! Also, sword fern spores are useful for soothing the pain if you accidentally walk into some stinging nettle. :)

This deserves a place on every Cascadian's bookshelf right next to the Cascadian classic Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
http://www.amazon.com/Plants-The-Pacific-Northwest-Coast/dp/1551055309

The Flora of the Pacific Northwest is the book you want. It has full keys. Picture guides specifically related to the northwest (like this and this) can be used to supplement this, but FPN is the best authority for most of that region.

"Wildflowers of North America" and Newcomb's Guide and things like that are not going to help you at all. They mostly cover Eastern species and there is rather little botanical overlap between there and the Pacific Northwest.