Reading List

Below you will find a collection of books, scholarly articles, online articles, and websites covering a variety of topics on our relationships with fauna, flora, and funga along the Misiziibi (Mississippi River) and her tributaries. While reading material is divided into separate categories, you may be pleased to find much overlap within many references. Topics include, but are not limited to: ethnopharmacology, foraging laws and ethics, ethnobiology, field guides, recipes, wildcrafting, and foraging history. The reading list is always growing, so check back periodically for updates.

Please use the Contact Form to submit recommendations for reading list additions. Include the title, author, date of publication, and link (if available).

Books

All books cited on this list are written by reputable authors. Be aware that today there are many foraging and herbalism books advertised online and sold widely that are written by Artificial Intelligence (AI). These books often do not have a person listed as an author inside the book, or a fake author is listed. These books, while undoubtedly containing some useful information, are highly controversial because they also include inaccurate (and, therefore, potentially harmful) information. If you are ever interested in purchasing a book on foraging or herbalism, I encourage you to research the author prior to buying. Here is one example of an AI-written foraging book - look up the title of this book and you will find the same book written by multiple different authors.

Fauna

  • Amphibians and Reptiles of Land Between the Lakes

    by David H. Snyder

    Austin Peay State University

  • An Instant Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians

    by Pamela Forey and Cecilia Fitzsimons

  • Birdsof Algonquin Legend

    by Robert E. Nichols, Jr.

  • Birds of Iowa Field Guide

    by Stan Tekiela

  • Feeding Cahokia: Early Agriculture in the North American Heartland

    By Gayle J. Fritz

  • Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians

    By Timothy R. Pauketat

  • Deerskins into Buckskins: How to tan with natural materials

    by Matt Richards

  • A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe

    by John D. Nichols and Earl Nyholm

  • The Emerald Horizon: The history of nature in Iowa

    by Cornelia F. Mutel

    published by University of Iowa Press

  • Face of North America: The natural history of a continent

    by Peter Farb

  • Iowa’s Natural Heritage

    published by: Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and Iowa Academy of Science

    edited by: Tom C. Cooper and Nyla Sherburne Hunt

  • The Pathological Protein (on the science and history of prion diseases, including Chronic Wasting Disease)
    by Philip Yam

Flora

  • Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America
    by Samuel Thayer

  • Kaufman Field Guide To Nature Of The Midwest
    by Kenn Kaufman, Kimberly Kaufman, Jeffrey P. Sayre

  • The Forager Chef‘s Book of Flora (recipes)
    by Alan Bergo

  • A Handbook of Native American Herbs: The Pocket Guide to 125 Medicinal Plants and Their Uses
    by Alma R. Hutchens

  • Making Plant Medicine
    by Richo Cech

  • Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia
    by Anthony Cavender

Funga

  • Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States: A Field-to-Kitchen Guide
    by Joe McFarland and Gregory M. Mueller

Scholarly Articles

Fauna

  • Linnekin, B. J. (2017). Food law gone wild: The law of foraging. Fordham Urb. LJ, 45, 995.

  • Lee, R. B. (2005). Power and Property in Twenty-First Century Foragers.Property and Equality: Encapsulation, commercialisation, discrimination, 2, 16.

  • Synk, C. M., Kim, B. F., Davis, C. A., Harding, J., Rogers, V., Hurley, P. T., ... & Nachman, K. E. (2017). Gathering Baltimore’s bounty: Characterizing behaviors, motivations, and barriers of foragers in an urban ecosystem. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 28, 97-102.

  • Bunge, A., Diemont, S. A., Bunge, J. A., & Harris, S. (2019). Urban foraging for food security and sovereignty: quantifying edible forest yield in Syracuse, New York using four common fruit-and nut-producing street tree species. Journal of Urban Ecology, 5(1), juy028.

  • McLain, R. J., Hurley, P. T., Emery, M. R., & Poe, M. R. (2014). Gathering “wild” food in the city: rethinking the role of foraging in urban ecosystem planning and management.Local environment, 19(2), 220-240.

  • Sawers, B. (2015). Property law as labor control in the Postbellum South. Law and History Review, 33(2), 351-376.

  • Hahn, S. (1982). Hunting, fishing, and foraging: Common rights and class relations in the Postbellum South. Radical History Review, 1982(26), 37-64.

  • Zreik, R. (2016). When does a settler become a native? (With apologies to Mamdani). Constellations: An International Journal of Critical & Democratic Theory, 23(3).

  • Williams, E. S. (2005). Chronic wasting disease. Veterinary pathology, 42(5), 530-549.

  • Richardson, J. R., Fitsanakis, V., Westerink, R. H. S., & Kanthasamy, A. G. (2019). Neurotoxicity of pesticides. Acta neuropathologica, 138(3), 343–362. 

  • Duque, A., Arellano, J. I., & Rakic, P. (2022). An assessment of the existence of adult neurogenesis in humans and value of its rodent models for neuropsychiatric diseases. Molecular psychiatry, 27(1), 377-382.

Flora

  • Turner, N. J. (1981). A gift for the taking: the untapped potential of some food plants of North American Native Peoples.Canadian Journal of Botany, 59(11), 2331-2357.

  • Kuhnlein, H., & Turner, N. (2020). Traditional plant foods of Canadian indigenous peoples: nutrition, botany and use. Routledge.

  • Moerman, D. E. (2010). Native American food plants: an ethnobotanical dictionary. Timber Press.

  • Coté, C. (2016). “Indigenizing” food sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous food practices and ecological knowledges in Canada and the United States.Humanities, 5(3), 57.

  • Grey, S., & Patel, R. (2015). Food sovereignty as decolonization: Some contributions from Indigenous movements to food system and development politics.Agriculture and human values, 32(3), 431-444.

  • Alkon, A. H., & Mares, T. M. (2012). Food sovereignty in US food movements: Radical visions and neoliberal constraints. Agriculture and Human Values, 29(3), 347-359.

  • Manget, L. (2016). Nature’s Emporium: The botanical drug trade and the commons tradition in southern Appalachia, 1847–1917.Environmental History.

  • Kuhnlein, H. V., & Turner, N. J. (1986).Cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum Michx.): An Indigenous Vegetable of Native People of Northwestern North America. Journal of Ethnobiology, 6(2), 309-24.

  • Grauso, L., Emrick, S., de Falco, B., Lanzotti, V., & Bonanomi, G. (2019). Common dandelion: A review of its botanical, phytochemical and pharmacological profiles. Phytochemistry Reviews, 18(4), 1115-1132.

  • Valková, V., Ďúranová, H., Bilčíková, J., & Habán, M. (2020). Milk thistle (Silybum marianum): a valuable medicinal plant with several therapeutic purposes. The Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences, 9(4), 836.

  • Turker, A. U., & Camper, N. D. (2002). Biological activity of common mullein, a medicinal plant. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 82(2-3), 117-125.

  • Gupta, A., Atkinson, A. N., Pandey, A. K., & Bishayee, A. (2022). Health‐promoting and disease‐mitigating potential of Verbascum thapsus L. (common mullein): A review. Phytotherapy Research, 36(4), 1507-1522.

  • Tatli, I. I., & Akdemir, Z. F. (2006). Traditional uses and biological activities of Verbascum species. Fabad Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 31(2), 85.

  • Levine, R. A., Richards, K. M., Tran, K., Luo, R., Thomas, A. L., & Smith, R. E. (2015). Determination of neurotoxic acetogenins in pawpaw (Asimina triloba) fruit by LC-HRMS. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 63(4), 1053-1056.

  • Sanders, M. (2018). Neurotoxicity of Asimina Triloba.

  • McLaughlin, J. L. (2008). Pawpaw and cancer: annonaceous acetogenins from discovery to commercial products. Journal of Natural products, 71(7), 1311-1321.

  • Sepp, J., Koshovyi, O., Jakštas, V., Žvikas, V., Botsula, I., Kireyev, I., ... & Raal, A. (2024). Phytochemical, pharmacological, and molecular docking study of dry extracts of Matricaria discoidea DC. with analgesic and soporific activities.Biomolecules, 14(3), 361. [pineapple weed]

  • Simopoulos, A. P., Norman, H. A., Gillaspy, J. E., & Duke, J. A. (1992). Common purslane: a source of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 11(4), 374-382.

  • Uddin, M. K., Juraimi, A. S., Hossain, M. S., Nahar, M. A. U., Ali, M. E., & Rahman, M. M. (2014). Purslane weed (Portulaca oleracea): A prospective plant source of nutrition, omega‐3 fatty acid, and antioxidant attributes.The Scientific World Journal, 2014(1), 951019.

  • Said, A. A. H., Otmani, I. S. E., Derfoufi, S., & Benmoussa, A. (2015). Highlights on nutritional and therapeutic value of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 7(10), 8-14.

  • Dhouibi, R., Affes, H., Salem, M. B., Hammami, S., Sahnoun, Z., Zeghal, K. M., & Ksouda, K. (2020). Screening of pharmacological uses of Urtica dioica and others benefits. Progress in biophysics and molecular biology, 150, 67-77.

  • Parente, R., Paiva-Santos, A. C., Cabral, C., & Costa, G. (2025). Comprehensive review of Urtica dioica L. (Urticaceae) phytochemistry and anti-inflammatory properties. Phytochemistry Reviews, 24(2), 1591-1628.

  • Asgarpanah, J., & Mohajerani, R. (2012). Phytochemistry and pharmacologic properties of Urtica dioica L. Journal of medicinal plants research, 6(46), 5714-5719.

Funga

  • Kuhar, F., Furci, G., Drechsler-Santos, E. R., & Pfister, D. H. (2018). Delimitation of Funga as a valid term for the diversity of fungal communities: the Fauna, Flora & Funga proposal (FF&F). IMA Fungus, 9(2), A71-A74.

  • Friedman, M. (2015). Chemistry, nutrition, and health-promoting properties of Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane) mushroom fruiting bodies and mycelia and their bioactive compounds. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 63(32), 7108-7123.

  • Szućko-Kociuba, I., Trzeciak-Ryczek, A., Kupnicka, P., & Chlubek, D. (2023). Neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects of Hericium erinaceus. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(21), 15960.

  • Saitsu, Y., Nishide, A., Kikushima, K., Shimizu, K., & Ohnuki, K. (2019). Improvement of cognitive functions by oral intake of Hericium erinaceus. Biomedical Research, 40(4), 125-131.

  • Chong, P. S., Fung, M. L., Wong, K. H., & Lim, L. W. (2020). Therapeutic potential of Hericium erinaceus for depressive disorder. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(1), 163.

  • Li, I. C., Chang, H. H., Lin, C. H., Chen, W. P., Lu, T. H., Lee, L. Y., ... & Lin, D. P. C. (2020). Prevention of early Alzheimer’s disease by erinacine A-enriched Hericium erinaceus mycelia pilot double-blind placebo-controlled study. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 12, 155.

  • Ajibola, O. O., Nolasco-Hipolito, C., Carvajal-Zarrabal, O., Salleh, S. F., Adeyinka, G. C., Adefegha, S. A., ... & Thomas, R. (2024). Turkey tail mushroom (Trametes versicolor): An edible macrofungi with immense medicinal properties. Current Opinion in Food Science, 58, 101191.