A handful of plants

55 spontaneous species that cure

This is one of those books that are a must-have on the shelves of any plant lover, of anyone with an interest in alternative nutrition. With prefaces by the phytotherapist Anne McIntyre and the biologist and researcher Célia Cabral, Uma mão cheia de plantas – 55 espécies espontâneas que curam (a handful of plants – 55 spontaneous species that cure) is a guide to exploring 55 wild plants with surprising therapeutic properties.

With technical information and images by Fernanda Botelho, this work provides the common name, the scientific name, the botanical family, the history, description and habitat, constituents and properties of each of the 55 wild plants presented.

Page by page, the work expresses the author’s respect and passion for the plant kingdom; this is shown in the excellent photographs, in the historical research, and in the seriousness of the information. Apart from being a practical guide, the work goes beyond the boundaries of technical manuals, and includes advice, interesting aspects from the point of view of cookery, cosmetics or dyeing, and also the precautions to take, information with which only popular wisdom is conversant. This is a heritage that the author seeks out at her roots, from the time when she was a girl, when she collected and dried plants with her grandmother in the Sintra area, where she was born.

A member of the Herb Society UK, Fernanda Botelho is the author of a number of books on medicinal plants; she participates in environmental education projects, organises workshops on aromatic and medicinal plants and essential oils, and appears regularly in the media. She is the writer of the blog www.malvasilvestre.blogspot.com.