Materia Medica IV: Botany For Herbalists is indeed the fourth in our series of books exploring the powerful and diverse herbs that we so count on for this most vital work of healing naturally. Eight of our savvy Plant Healer Quarterly writers bring to these pages close to a full century's worth of personal experience and study, this time out focusing on providing the skills for accurate plant identification, on taxonomy features, families, communities, and the kinds of habitats where they can be found and gathered.

Join us in learning to parse the forms and structures that distinguish one species from another, from leaf to flower. Parse the familial differences between Rutaceae, Solinaceae and Asteracea, the specific signatures and actions that determine their groupings. Enjoy a virtual plant walk through some middle elevation meadows and a recovering burn scar, and take additional deep dives into the glory and uses of proliferate, health-bringing "weeds," Guido's celebration of "liminal" species, the role that rivers can play, and our own individual connection to the natural world and natural healing processes through our work with herbs.

We dedicate this volume to Plant Healer Quarterly's original botany columnist, the esteemed 7-Song -- and to our publication's current and future botanist scribe Shana Grover. Both have helped bring to life for everyone the herbs and actions without which there could be no effective herbal healings, reawakening in us a great curiosity and childlike sense of wonder that can propel as well inform and empower our very personal practice.

Part I: The Botany of Herbs

The Benefits & Joys of Botany Shana Lipner Grover

Botany For Herbalists 7 Song

Botanical Eyes & The 4 Whorls of The Flower Shana Lipner Grover

Flowers: A Basic Introduction 7 Song

Leaves Illuminated - Part I 7 Song

Leaves Illuminated - Part II 7 Song

Leaves: What They Can Tell Us Shana Lipner Grover

Winter Plant Identification 7Song

Part II: More Medicinal Plant Families

The Botany of Monocots & Eudicots Shana Lipner Grover

The Botany of The Rutaceae Family Shana Lipner Grover

The Botany of Solinaceae Shana Lipner Grover

The Botany of The Asteracea Shana Lipner Grover

The Botany of The Piper Genus Shana Lipner Grover

Lamiaceae Family: Heddy Johannesen

Aromatic Nervines & Carminatives of The Mint Family

Medicinal Shrubs Dara Saville

Part III: Deep Connections & Plant Communities

Relationships With Nature: Shana Lipner Grover

Connecting Deeper Through Herbs

Liminal plants Guido Masé

Honoring the Humble Weeds: Holly Dunbar

A Journey Back to the Plants

Invasive Medicinals Shana Lipner Grover

Mullein & Solomon's Seal: Alignment & Flow Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue

Plant Walk Through The Middle Elevations Meadows Shana Lipner Grover

Early Spring Medicines of The Black Hills Sean Croke

Plant Walk Through a Recovering Burn Shana Lipner Grover

Late Winter Plants: We Owe It All To The Rivers Sean Croke