The plant book or the family book is a book of medicinal and edible plants created by the family of Katniss Everdeen.[1]
History[]
The book was started "ages ago" by an herbalist on Mrs. Everdeen's side of the family,[2] and over the years, they added drawings and written descriptions of plants' medicinal uses. Mrs. Everdeen brought it with her to the Seam from her family's apothecary shop, and her husband added a section on edible plants. Following his death, his daughter Katniss used his sketches and descriptions to bring edible plants home to feed their family.[1]
According to Katniss, she'd wanted to record her own knowledge in the book, but she held off because she wasn't an artist and every detail had to be exact. However, after she was injured in a fall while climbing over the electrified fence, she and Peeta Mellark spent many days working on the book together while she was on bed rest. On scrap paper, Peeta sketched out plants based on her descriptions or dried samples, and once she was satisfied, she let him reproduce them in the actual book.[2]
When Katniss returned to the Victors' Village after the bombing of District 12, this book was among the belongings she took back with her to District 13.[3] It was also one of the things Gale Hawthorne retrieved from the Everdeens' compartment just before 13 was bombed,[4] and it was returned to Katniss's home in District 12 after the Second Rebellion. The plant book served as a model, example and inspiration for Katniss and Peeta's memory book, which they created after the war to commemorate people they had lost.[5]
Contents[]
The plant book had yellowed parchment pages and a leather cover.[2] Each page had a neatly written description with the plant's name, where to gather it, when it came in bloom, and its uses, with an accompanying sketch in black ink.[1] Peeta eventually colored in the illustrations.[2]
A dandelion.
Edible plants[]
Added by Mr. Everdeen[]
Unknown[]
Added by Katniss and Peeta[]
- Yellow flower[3]
Trivia[]
- While not explicitly mentioned in connection to the plant book, Katniss learned about several edible and medicinal plants from her ally Rue in the 74th Hunger Games arena, so it's likely that these were included as well.
- "Tracker jacker leaves" - grew on bushes and drew out infection, useful in treating tracker jacker stings; similar to (if not the same as) ones used by Mrs. Everdeen[6]
- "Some sort of starchy root" - tasted like parsnips[6]
- "Unfamiliar berry" - Katniss compared the taste to blackberries[6] and said they were sweet[7]