PDA

View Full Version : Here we go again!



Sarge47
09-22-2007, 05:39 PM
This post is also long, but not as long as the one on acorns, ready!




EDIBILITY OF PLANTS
Plants are valuable sources of food because they are widely available,
easily procured, and, in the proper combinations, can meet all your
nutritional needs.

WARNING

The critical factor in using plants for food is to avoid accidental
poisoning. Eat only those plants you can positively identify and you
know are safe to eat.

Absolutely identify plants before using them as food. Poison hemlock
has killed people who mistook it for its relatives, wild carrots and
wild parsnips.

At times you may find yourself in a situation for which you could not
plan. In this instance you may not have had the chance to learn the
plant life of the region in which you must survive. In this case you
can use the Universal Edibility Test to determine which plants you can
eat and those to avoid.

It is important to be able to recognize both cultivated and wild
edible plants in a survival situation. Most of the information in this
chapter is directed towards identifying wild plants because
information relating to cultivated plants is more readily available.

Remember the following when collecting wild plants for food:

* Plants growing near homes and occupied buildings or along
roadsides may have been sprayed with pesticides. Wash them thoroughly.
In more highly developed countries with many automobiles, avoid
roadside plants, if possible, due to contamination from exhaust
emissions.

* Plants growing in contaminated water or in water containing
Giardia lamblia and other parasites are contaminated themselves. Boil
or disinfect them.

* Some plants develop extremely dangerous fungal toxins. To lessen
the chance of accidental poisoning, do not eat any fruit that is
starting to spoil or showing signs of mildew or fungus.

* Plants of the same species may differ in their toxic or subtoxic
compounds content because of genetic or environmental factors. One
example of this is the foliage of the common chokecherry. Some
chokecherry plants have high concentrations of deadly cyanide
compounds while others have low concentrations or none. Horses have
died from eating wilted wild cherry leaves. Avoid any weed, leaves, or
seeds with an almondlike scent, a characteristic of the cyanide
compounds.

* Some people are more susceptible to gastric distress (from
plants) than others. If you are sensitive in this way, avoid unknown
wild plants. If you are extremely sensitive to poison ivy, avoid
products from this family, including any parts from sumacs, mangoes,
and cashews.

* Some edible wild plants, such as acorns and water lily rhizomes,
are bitter. These bitter substances, usually tannin compounds, make
them unpalatable. Boiling them in several changes of water will
usually remove these bitter properties.

* Many valuable wild plants have high concentrations of oxalate
compounds, also known as oxalic acid. Oxalates produce a sharp burning
sensation in your mouth and throat and damage the kidneys. Baking,
roasting, or drying usually destroys these oxalate crystals. The corm
(bulb) of the jack-in-the-pulpit is known as the "Indian turnip," but
you can eat it only after removing these crystals by slow baking or by
drying.

WARNING

Do not eat mushrooms in a survival situation! The only way to tell if
a mushroom is edible is by positive identification. There is no room
for experimentation. Symptoms of the most dangerous mushrooms
affecting the central nervous system may show up after several days
have passed when it is too late to reverse their effects.
Plant Identification

You identify plants, other than by memorizing particular varieties
through familiarity, by using such factors as leaf shape and margin,
leaf arrangements, and root structure.

The basic leaf margins (Figure 9-1) are toothed, lobed, and toothless or smooth.

These leaves may be lance-shaped, elliptical, egg-shaped, oblong,
wedge-shaped, triangular, long-pointed, or top-shaped (Figure 9-2).

The basic types of leaf arrangements (Figure 9-3) are opposite,
alternate, compound, simple, and basal rosette.

The basic types of root structures (Figure 9-4) are the bulb, clove,
taproot, tuber, rhizome, corm, and crown. Bulbs are familiar to us as
onions and, when sliced in half, will show concentric rings. Cloves
are those bulblike structures that remind us of garlic and will
separate into small pieces when broken apart. This characteristic
separates wild onions from wild garlic. Taproots resemble carrots and
may be single-rooted or branched, but usually only one plant stalk
arises from each root. Tubers are like potatoes and daylilies and you
will find these structures either on strings or in clusters underneath
the parent plants. Rhizomes are large creeping rootstock or
underground stems and many plants arise from the "eyes" of these
roots. Corms are similar to bulbs but are solid when cut rather than
possessing rings. A crown is the type of root structure found on
plants such as asparagus and looks much like a mophead under the
soil's surface.

Learn as much as possible about plants you intend to use for food and
their unique characteristics. Some plants have both edible and
poisonous parts. Many are edible only at certain times of the year.
Others may have poisonous relatives that look very similar to the ones
you can eat or use for medicine.
Universal Edibility Test

There are many plants throughout the world. Tasting or swallowing even
a small portion of some can cause severe discomfort, extreme internal
disorders, and even death. Therefore, if you have the slightest doubt
about a plant's edibility, apply the Universal Edibility Test (Figure
9-5) before eating any portion of it.

Before testing a plant for edibility, make sure there are enough
plants to make the testing worth your time and effort. Each part of a
plant (roots, leaves, flowers, and so on) requires more than 24 hours
to test. Do not waste time testing a plant that is not relatively
abundant in the area.

(continued on next thread.)

Sarge47
09-22-2007, 05:43 PM
And here we go!

Remember, eating large portions of plant food on an empty stomach may
cause diarrhea, nausea, or cramps. Two good examples of this are such
familiar foods as green apples and wild onions. Even after testing
plant food and finding it safe, eat it in moderation.

You can see from the steps and time involved in testing for edibility
just how important it is to be able to identify edible plants.

To avoid potentially poisonous plants, stay away from any wild or
unknown plants that have--

* Milky or discolored sap.

* Beans, bulbs, or seeds inside pods.

* Bitter or soapy taste.

* Spines, fine hairs, or thorns.

* Dill, carrot, parsnip, or parsleylike foliage.

* "Almond" scent in woody parts and leaves.

* Grain heads with pink, purplish, or black spurs.

* Three-leaved growth pattern.

Using the above criteria as eliminators when choosing plants for the
Universal Edibility Test will cause you to avoid some edible plants.
More important, these criteria will often help you avoid plants that
are potentially toxic to eat or touch.

An entire encyclopedia of edible wild plants could be written, but
space limits the number of plants presented here. Learn as much as
possible about the plant life of the areas where you train regularly
and where you expect to be traveling or working. Listed below and
later in this chapter are some of the most common edible and medicinal
plants. Detailed descriptions and photographs of these and other
common plants are at Appendix B.

TEMPERATE ZONE FOOD PLANTS

* Amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus and other species)

* Arrowroot (Sagittaria species)

* Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)

* Beechnut (Fagus species)

* Blackberries (Rubus species)

* Blueberries (Vaccinium species)

* Burdock (Arctium lappa)

* Cattail (Typha species)

* Chestnut (Castanea species)

* Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

* Chufa (Cyperus esculentus)

* Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

* Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva)

* Nettle (Urtica species)

* Oaks (Quercus species)

* Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)

* Plantain (Plantago species)

* Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)

* Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia species)

* Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

* Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

* Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

* Strawberries (Fragaria species)

* Thistle (Cirsium species)

* Water lily and lotus (Nuphar, Nelumbo, and other species)

* Wild onion and garlic (Allium species)

* Wild rose (Rosa species)

* Wood sorrel (Oxalis species)

TROPICAL ZONE FOOD PLANTS

* Bamboo (Bambusa and other species)

* Bananas (Musa species)

* Breadfruit (Artocarpus incisa)

* Cashew nut (Anacardium occidental)

* Coconut (Cocos nucifera)

* Mango (Mangifera indica)

* Palms (various species)

* Papaya (Carica species)

* Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)

* Taro (Colocasia species)

DESERT ZONE FOOD PLANTS

* Acacia (Acacia farnesiana)

* Agave (Agave species)

* Cactus (various species)

* Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera)

* Desert amaranth (Amaranths palmeri)

Seaweeds

One plant you should never overlook is seaweed. It is a form of marine
algae found on or near ocean shores. There are also some edible
freshwater varieties. Seaweed is a valuable source of iodine, other
minerals, and vitamin C. Large quantities of seaweed in an
unaccustomed stomach can produce a severe laxative effect.

When gathering seaweeds for food, find living plants attached to rocks
or floating free. Seaweed washed onshore any length of time may be
spoiled or decayed. You can dry freshly harvested seaweeds for later
use.

Its preparation for eating depends on the type of seaweed. You can dry
thin and tender varieties in the sun or over a fire until crisp. Crush
and add these to soups or broths. Boil thick, leathery seaweeds for a
short time to soften them. Eat them as a vegetable or with other
foods. You can eat some varieties raw after testing for edibility.

SEAWEEDS

* Dulse (Rhodymenia palmata)

* Green seaweed (Ulva lactuca)

* Irish moss (Chondrus crispus)

* Kelp (Alaria esculenta)

* Laver (Porphyra species)

* Mojaban (Sargassum fulvellum)

* Sugar wrack (Laminaria saccharina)

Preparation of Plant Food

Although some plants or plant parts are edible raw, you must cook
others to be edible or palatable. Edible means that a plant or food
will provide you with necessary nutrients, while palatable means that
it actually is pleasing to eat. Many wild plants are edible but barely
palatable. It is a good idea to learn to identify, prepare, and eat
wild foods.

Methods used to improve the taste of plant food include soaking,
boiling, cooking, or leaching. Leaching is done by crushing the food
(for example, acorns), placing it in a strainer, and pouring boiling
water through it or immersing it in running water.

Boil leaves, stems, and buds until tender, changing the water, if
necessary, to remove any bitterness.

Boil, bake, or roast tubers and roots. Drying helps to remove caustic
oxalates from some roots like those in the Arum family.

Leach acorns in water, if necessary, to remove the bitterness. Some
nuts, such as chestnuts, are good raw, but taste better roasted.

You can eat many grains and seeds raw until they mature. When hard or
dry, you may have to boil or grind them into meal or flour.

The sap from many trees, such as maples, birches, walnuts, and
sycamores, contains sugar. You may boil these saps down to a syrup for
sweetening. It takes about 35 liters of maple sap to make one liter of
maple syrup!

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/plants-1.php

Dark786
09-22-2007, 07:58 PM
Man u sure no your stuff

smokelessfire
09-23-2007, 09:44 AM
hey sarge, can you put the universal edibility test here? if it was in your post, i missed it. thanks bro.

Chris
09-23-2007, 10:58 AM
All that stuff is on this site, you can just link to the pages instead of copying & pasting.

Tony uk
09-26-2007, 02:27 PM
Indeed, less work the more ecconomic your posts the less time it takes and the less you have to type :D