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Release date: 2020

Dimensions: cm 15 x 21

Pages: 277

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Exploring the wondrous diversity of wild plants.

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The plant world encompasses an enormous universe that has had a profound influence on people's culture and traditions over time. It is estimated that in ancient times, people could rely on more than 1,500 species of wild plants, whereas today the survival of the majority of the world's population depends on a very small number of plants, including wheat, rice, barley, maize, millet and potatoes.

Focusing on the needs of modern agriculture, which is strongly affected by the effects of climate change, and the importance of a diet centred on the quality and variety of food, essential for preventing the onset of degenerative diseases, Maurizio and Sandro Di Massimo continue the series “Cultura e salute dalle piante selvatiche” (Culture and health from wild plants), with a volume dedicated to leaves. This is an invitation to learn about the principle wild plants of our flora that have a nutritional and medicinal use.

We will learn all about the characteristics of the leaf, an organ with a high degree of functional plasticity acquired over millions of years of evolution, and its fundamental role in plant life: it is involved in vital processes such as transpiration and photosynthesis. We will also explore the history and uses of plants such as borage, watercress (a remedy that can fortify the mind and stimulate the most ardent passions), wild chicory, and the curious salad burnet (every seasonal mixed salad should include salad burnet leaves among its ingredients, as it is able to balance the bitterness of other herbs that by nature have a tendency to overpower), purslane, sow thistle (the forerunner of Popeye's famous spinach), dandelion (which ancient Chinese doctors prescribed to treat liver and kidney failure, pneumonia and bronchitis). A practical handbook full of interesting facts that will transform the taste and colour of your cooking.

Sandro Di Massimo, a biologist and ethnobotanist, and Maurizio Di Massimo, a herbalist specialising in spagyric and ayurvedic remedies, have published several articles in specialist journals.

With Aboca they have published Ritorno alle radici. Le piante spontanee per l'alimentazione e la salute (2015), Le radici (2018) and Le gemme e i germogli (2019).

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