Medicine of Place

Bookmonger: Spring Thoughts Turn to Plants

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/mar/02/bookmonger-spring-thoughts-turn-to-plants/

Spring has sprung up in my soul, if not on the calendar quite yet, and it was helped along by the books I read this week.
"Medicine of Place" is a labor of love spearheaded by Julia Brayshaw, with collaboration from artist Karen Lohmann. Both women hail from Olympia.
Drawing from her two vocations as a psychotherapist and a flower essence practitioner, Brayshaw makes an argument for the healing qualities of Cascadia's wildflowers. She suggests that the patterns and ecology of the native plants of our bioregion can offer not just relief for physical maladies, but spiritual tonic as well.

Medicine of Place

By Julia M. Brayshaw
Alchemia. 214 pages. $34.99.

"When we approach botany wholeheartedly, allowing it to enliven our senses, imagination, and intuition, we recognize the same patterns of creation in wild nature, in our bodies, and in our psyches," she contends.

Brayshaw provides monograms of 33 wildflowers found in the Pacific Northwest, from grass widow, which begins blooming as early as January, to explorer's gentian, which blossoms at the end of the growing season.
For each flower, she gives the botanical description and geographical range. A section on habitat and ecology discusses the plant's web of relationships, and sometimes includes the effects humans have had. The camas, for example, was a sustainable staple in the diet of Native Americans. Later, the agricultural practices of settlers contributed to the severe decline of the flower.
Brayshaw also lyrically describes the "gesture" of each flower — its physical characteristics — before moving on to the chief focus: the flower's "medicine story." These portraits propose ways of considering the flower's message or inspiration.
And the deck of over-sized cards, with wildflower images painted by Karen Lohmann, invites the same kind of involvement, with suggestions about using the cards to develop a more intuitive connection with plants. It may sound a little "woo-woo" for the more hard-boiled among us, but I found it to be a fun, mind-expanding exercise, if not quite as transformational as the author might have hoped.
Another new book that covers much of the same literal territory is the "Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants," compiled by three more plant experts out of southwestern Washington.
This reference features over 500 species of native plants that can be incorporated into Northwest gardens, with the aim of restoring some of the biodiversity that has been ripped out by development over the last century and a half.
The entries include advice on propagation, siting and cultivation, and there are lists of plants to include in hedgerows, meadows, and more.
Armed with multiple degrees in botany, author Kathleen A. Robson has worked for the U.S. Forest Service and as an adjunct faculty member for Washington State University, and currently operates a native plant nursery in Woodland. Her affection for these plants shines through in her authoritative descriptions of even the humblest bulbs and grasses.
Gorgeous photographs by Master Gardener Alice Richter and pen and ink botanical drawings by Marianne Filbert enhance this inspiring resource from Portland's Timber Press.