BOOK REVIEWS

A Handful
of Herbs

Karina Hilterman
Southern Publishers Group
$NZ24.95

AUTHOR Karina Hilterman is a Bay of Plenty medical herbalist. She's well qualified, as her initial interest was fuelled after she treated her own condition, systemic lupus, with garlic and echinacea. To these herbs she attributes her recovery.

A Handful of Herbs, as the title suggests, is a breezy if slender introduction to the use of herbs. Thirty herbs - from aloes to yarrow - are identified and introduced with a pithy quote or phrase.

The term "herb" is used here in its broadest sense as chickweed, cabbage, apples and roses also get a revealing once-over. The constituents of each herb are given and their cultivation, in most cases, is discussed.

The herbs' traditional therapeutic value is outlined but there's a clear warning the book is not intended to replace medical advice.

The illustrations - some done by the author herself - are charming, but the choice of typeface and its sepia tone may tax tired eyes.

For those who are "into" herbs there's not much here that won't be common knowledge, but A Handful of Herbs serves as a welcome entrée to herbs and their cultivation for the uninitiated.

Weekend Gardener, Issue 140, 2004, Page 28

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH