Healing with Aromatic, Bitter, and Tonic Plants

By Guido Masé

Healing Arts Press

The Wild Medicine Solution is a love letter to wild plants. From peppermint to dandelion root, Guido Masé writes with a fervent, irresistible intensity about the capacity of wild plants to restore humanity’s physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Masé, a clinical herbalist and an expert storyteller, blends ancient mythology and modern biochemistry to create an elixir of a book, at once informative and entertaining. For example, he asks, Did the Persians, who used frankincense after the birth of a child to ward off evil spirits, know of its ability to modulate heart rate variability—and subtly reduce the tension of mother and child? Were traditional herbalists aware of the correlation between tonics like ginseng and the stress hormone cortisol? The parallels between the three classes of plants (aromatic, bitter, and tonic), ritual ceremonies, and the human ability to adapt to change are some of the most compelling aspects of the book.

Masé provides practical ways for integrating plants into daily life with recipes for teas and tinctures. By writing at the intersection of physiology, history, and clinical practice, Masé comes up with striking conclusions about why “wild plant deficiency syndrome,” affects us right down to our DNA.