Reddit reviews Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America, Third Edition (Peterson Field Guides)

you might actually get some good answers from subs like /r/Wicca, /r/witchcraft, or /r/energy_work despite your desire to avoid spiritual/folk beliefs, because of the high likelihood of overlapping interests. (EDIT: or a traditional chinese medicine/TCM subreddit)

part of the problem finding traditional healing divorced from extraneous beliefs is that the traditions usually include elements of ritual or belief because it helps the patient.

i used to a have a book called "where there is no doctor", and he tells a story about how a woman who was bleeding after childbirth wanted a shot, but he told her to do mild activity and drink orange juice from her tree out back. she persisted a while in her demands for a medical treatment, but she eventually went home, followed his advice, and began hemorrhaging heavily. he was called, and she was like "DAMN BITCH I TOLD U" and so he gave her a shot of water out of an ampule, and she stopped bleeding.

it was her belief in the magical ritual of injecting her with medicine that made her stop bleeding. you should at least be acquainted with this effect, although relying on it entirely isn't good either.

it's an incredible book that gives you no-nonsense advice on how to treat people with 3rd world resources. not exactly what you're looking for, but i highly recommend it. you will be equipped to evaluate situations far beyond what you will ever want or need to, which i think is ideal. link to the book

in this vein, survivalist plant guides would be a good resource as well. i don't know what subreddit might cater to that.

EDIT: a quick googling turned up this book. i've known some planty folks and i think they had this book. if my mom weren't dead, she would hook us up with some real sick shit.

If you would like to start hunting for herbs in your area, look for field guides. Peterson's makes some really good ones. Then get your self a few books on herbal information, and a few on preparations.... it is all about the cross-referencing.

I do not know where you live, and field guides need to be geared towards your area....https://www.amazon.ca/Peterson-Medicinal-Eastern-Central-America/dp/0547943989

Buy this guide to edible plants
https://www.amazon.com/Edible-Wild-Plants-Eastern-Peterson/dp/039592622X
a guide to medicinal plants and herbs
https://www.amazon.com/Peterson-Medicinal-Eastern-Central-America/dp/0547943989/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0547943989&pd_rd_r=N08YM67213X8MZCEC0YJ&pd_rd_w=eRrcI&pd_rd_wg=8ynt4&psc=1&refRID=N08YM67213X8MZCEC0YJ

Field guides and preparations are generally separate. Peterson's makes an excellent medicinal plants and herbs guide... Amazon

Dosages and preparations require a high degree of cross-referencing, as there is a lot less scientific research in this area (at least that is how I go about it)... Start with foraging around for what is available to you (using a field guide). Then hit up Wikipedia and work your way through the references, look at books on integrative medicine and natural health. Sites like Wikipedia and Web MD, will tell you if there is immediate or significant long term danger of consuming the herb, and give some insight into the alkaloids and active ingredients of most common medicinal herbs... After I pull from places like J-stor, and dive into more esoteric sources like Victorian pharmacopeias and folk lore, and books on ethnobotany etc.

Edit: conservation areas are also a good place to get started, MNR (or whatever the USA version is), and park departments often print little guides to local plants and their history.

Pearson has a good field guide you can check out. It's divided into east and west volumes for North America. It's a generic title like "Medicinal Plants of North America"

Edit: amazon link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0547943989/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_e2zwzbZEB5TXC