Wild Food Plants in Australia – Tim Low – Angus and Robertson (AUS) 1988 ISBN 0207143838 – This is great book with colour photos of more than 150 edible species as well as a gallery of line drawn tubers and leaves to assist with identification. Each monograph covers information on how to use the plant as well as what it looks like and where it is found.
Wild Herbs of Australia and New Zealand – Tim Low – Angus and Robertson (AUS) 1991 ISBN 0207170010 – This is THE book for wild herbs as far as I am concerned so get hold of it if you can! Even if you are not in Australia or NZ this is still a useful book because most of the plants covered are European or American imports anyway. It covers a mind boggling array of plants from dandelion, shepherds purse and cobblers pegs to the cresses, wild radish and fathen. Each monograph covers how to identify the plant (including line drawings) what similar plants exist that it could be confused with and how to use it. There are a series of colour plates in the centre and a section on recipes.
Wild Food in Australia – A.B. and J.W. Cribb – Fontana Collins (AUS) 1986 ISBN 0006368964 – This book covers fruits, seeds, leaves and shoots, tubers, bulbs, flowers and fungi and has 144 colour photos in the centre of the book. There are very few line drawings. Each monograph covers where the plant grows, its range, what it looks like and mention of what it is used for, good for the serious bush tucker enthusiast.
Useful Wild Plants in Australia - A.B. and J.W. Cribb – Collins (AUS) 1981 ISBN 0002164418 – This is the companion to the above volume but covers oil source plants, plants for tanning, vegetable dyes, gums and resins, fish poisons, timbers, honey and pollen, fibres ropes and canes. Monographs cover each plant similar to the above volume but there are fewer colour photos and no line drawings. Interesting stuff!
Wild Lime – Juleigh Robins – Allen and Unwin (AUS) 1998 ISBN 1864480823 – While this is more a cookbook than anything else it does give information on how to identify, grow and harvest wild herbs and bush tucker as well as cook them. One problem with this stuff can be what to do with the plans once you have discovered them and this book covers that niche nicely.
The Wildfoods Cookbook – Joy O. I. Spoczynska – Comet Books (UK) 1985 ISBN 0863790895 – OK, this is another cookbook, but it covers all the wild herbs that inhabit Aus as well as the UK like nettle, dandelion, sorrel as well as elderberry, rose, hips and haws that grow in the UK hedgerows. Lots of good and simple wild herby recipes although I would be wary of the section on fungi if you live here in Aus.
Food for Free – Richard Mabey – Fontana Collins (UK) 1975 ISBN 0006334709 – This is the UK wild food classic! It covers how to identify and use nuts, fungi, green vegetables, herbs, spices, flowers and fruits. The book has 8 colour plates and 148 small line drawings. Each monograph covers how to identify each plant and suggestions for use. Useful here in Aus because of the naturalised plants but still tress, fruits and other stuff that will be rare or non-existent here.
The Edible Wild – Berndt Berglund & Clare E. Mosby – Charles Scribner’s Sons (US) 1971 SBN 684127598 – This is a book designed for the US and Canada but it covers all sorts of stuff we see here in Aus too like chickweed, plantain, purslane and sorrel so it is good for other areas too. Each monograph talks about what the plant looks like including a line drawing, and then gives lots of information on how to cook it at home and in the bush. It’s a good book if you can get it!
