Stalking the Healthful Herbs

Even those who have no intention of combing the countryside for cleavers, slippery elm or velvet dock will welcome the return to print of this 1966 classic guide to American wild herbs for its wealth of knowledge. Many since the late Gibbons ( Stalking the Wild Asparagus ) have written about the medicinal and nutritive properties of indigenous flora, and nouvelle cuisine has domesticated the notion of edible flowers, but the author's good-humored approach to preparing pine tree needles, boiled nettles and similar treats establishes his as a uniquely charming voice in the self-important world of health foods (``I would like to think that it was sheer genius that caused me to get all the proportions right in my first attempt to make this fragrant ambrosia rose petal jam, but I know it was just blind luck''). Gibbons is the quintessential American naturalist, rhapsodic about nature but eminently practical as well--and never above looking for get-rich-quick schemes, as demonstrated by his experiments to produce a chocolate substitute from basswood. Illustrated. (Sept.)