Wild rice – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Wild rice (Zizania aquatica) Wild rice (also known as Canada Rice, Indian Rice, Marsh Oats, and Water Oats) is an tall, erect, aquatic grass that typically is 1 to meters (3 to 4 feet) in height, but may reach meters (15 feet). The leaves are flat, strap-like, about 3-4 feet…
Wild pistachio – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Wild pistachio (Pistacia species) Wild Pistachio plants can grow as shrubs or trees up to a height of 7 meters (23 feet). It branches are spreading and form a dense crown. The bark of the Wild Pistachio is typically ashen gray in color and deeply fissured often giving the tree…
Wild grape vine – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Wild grape vine (Vitis species) The wild grapevine climbs with the aid of “tendrils” on stems that are hairy when young but grow into hairless vines. Its bark is twining. The tendrils that are used for support grow opposite the leaves. Most grapevines produce deeply lobed leaves, alternately arranged, broad…
Wild gourd or luffa sponge – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Wild gourd or luffa sponge (Luffa aegyptiaca, Luffa cylindrica) The luffa sponge (also known as Smooth Luffa, Egyptian Luffa, or Wild Squash) is widely distributed and fairly typical of a wild squash. There are several dozen kinds of wild squashes in tropical regions. Like most squashes, the luffa is a…
Wild fig – how to identify figs and prepare for food
Wild fig (Ficus species) Collectively known as “fig trees” or “figs”, there are nearly 1,000 species of Ficus ranging from woody trees to shrubs and vines. Most are of the “strangler” variety, with aerial root systems, and hence easy to identify. The sticky seeds are spread by birds to other…
Wild desert gourd or colocynth – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Wild desert gourd or colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis) The wild desert gourd (also known as Bitter Apple, Bitter Cucumber, Egusi, or Vine of Sodom), a member of the watermelon family, produces a to 3-meter-long (7 1/2- to 9-foot-long) ground-trailing vine with hairy, angular stems. The leaves are 3-7 lobed. The perfectly…
Wild caper – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Wild caper (Capparis aphylla) Wild Caper, also known as Kerda, Kair, Karir, Kirir, and Karril, is a small branched tree or thorny shrub that bears many thin, often tangled looking, leafless branches and grows to a height of about 15 feet. Leaves are usually only found on young shoots and…
Water plantain – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica) The Water-plantain plant, also known as Mad-dog weed, has small, white flowers and heart-shaped leaves with pointed tips. It has a fibrous root and several long-stemmed leaves with a triangular shaped stem. The leaves are clustered at the base of the plant. The plant produces many…
Water lettuce – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Water lettuce (Ceratopteris species) Water Lettuce, also known as Water Fern or Watersprite, is an aquatic or subaquatic fern buoyed via internal air pockets in its fronds. The soft, pale green to brown (color depends upon how much light it receives) leaves of water lettuce are much like lettuce and…
Water Caltrop – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Water Caltrop (Trapa natans) The water Caltrop (also known as Water Chestnut, Buffalo Nut, Bat Nut, Devil Pod, and Singhara) is an aquatic plant that roots in the mud and has finely divided leaves that grow underwater. The Waster Chestnut stem grows 12-15 feet in length and is anchored to…
Walnut – the many uses of Walnut trees in survival situations (including of course, eating the walnuts)
Walnut (Juglans species) Walnuts grow on very large trees, often reaching 18 meters (54 feet) tall, with some growing as high as 40 meters (130 feet) tall. Walnut trees often have divided (split or forked) trunks with wide-spread crowns of foliage at the top of the tree. Walnut trees have…
Tropical almond – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Tropical almond (Terminalia catappa) The Tropical Almond tree, also known as Indian Almond, Seas Almond Tree, and False Kamani, grows up to 35 meters (115 feet) tall. The tree has a smooth or grooved trunk and a symmetrical crown with horizontal branches and broad, glossy dark green leaves that are…
Ti – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Ti (Cordyline terminalis or Cordyline fruticosa) The ti plant (also known as Cabbage Palm, Good Luck Plant, and Palm Lily) is a woody, palm-like plant that has unbranched stems with strap-like leaves often clustered at the tip of the stem. The leaves vary in color and may be glossy green,…
Thistle – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Thistle (Cirsium species) This plant may grow as high as meters (5 feet). It has erect stems, typically with spine-tipped wings, and greyish green leaves that are long-pointed, spear-shaped, deeply lobed, and prickly. Disk flower heads grow at the end of the branches, on an enlarged, green spiny base, and…
Taro, cocoyam, elephant ears, eddo, dasheen – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Taro, cocoyam, elephant ears, eddo, dasheen (Colocasia and Alocasia species) All plants in these groups have large, arrowhead or heart shaped leaves (8-50 inches long), sometimes up to meters (6 feet) tall, that grow from a very short stem. The large rootstock (corn) is thick, fleshy, and filled with starch. …
Tamarind – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) The tamarind (also known as Tamon) is a medium to large, densely branched tree. It grows up to 25 meters (75 feet) tall. The crown of the tree has a vase-shaped outline of dense foliage. Its has pinnate leaves (divided like a feather) that are bright green…
Sugar palm – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) The Sugar Palm (also known as Arenga Palm, Areng palm, Black-fiber palm, Gomuti Palm, Black Sugar Palm, Aren, Areng Palm, Enau, Irok, and Kaong) tree grows about 15 meters (45 feet) high and has huge leaves up to 6 meters (18 feet) long. The trunk is…
Sugarcane – how to identify sugarcane and use as a nutritious food source
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) Sugarcane is a tropical, perennial grass that forms shoots at the base to produce unbranched stems with clearly marked segments. The sugarcane plant grows up to meters (15 feet) tall with stems 1-2 inches thick. It has broad, grass-like leaves that grow alternately from the stem and…
Strawberry – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Strawberry (Fragaria species) Strawberry is a small, low growing plant with a three-leaved growth pattern with coarsely serrated edges growing on short, scaly stalks. The terminal tooth on the leaf will be smaller than the other serrated teeth. It has small, white flowers, typically with 5-6 petals, growing solitary on…
Sheep sorrel – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella) Sheep Sorrel, also known as red sorrel, sour weed, and field sorrel, is a perennial weed that grows on an upright stem that is slender and reddish in color. These plants are seldom more than 30 centimeters (12 inches) tall. They have alternate, arrow shaped leaves…
Rattan palm – use for food, water, and tool construction
Rattan palm (Calamus species) The rattan palm is a strong, vine-like, robust climbing plant that differs from other palms in having tough, thin stems and a climbing behavior. It has prickly hooks or whitish spines on the mid-rib of its leaves that it uses to remain attached to the trees…
Plantain, broad and narrow leaf – many uses including food and medicine
Plantain, broad and narrow leaf (Plantago species) Plantains come in two types – broad leaf and narrow leaf. The broad leaf plantain has leaves over centimeters (1 inch) across with parallel veins that are spread wider at the broad part of the leaf. The plantain leaves grow in a cluster…
Pine trees – pine provides a bounty of uses in survival situations
Pine (Pinus species) Pine trees are easily recognized by their needle-like leaves grouped in bundles. Each bundle may contain one to five needles, the number varying among species. They are a resinous tree growing up to 250 feet tall. The tree's odor and sticky sap provide a simple way to…
Oak trees – the many uses of oak in a survival situation (yes, it’s even edible)
Oak (Quercus species) Oak trees have alternate leaves and edible acorn fruits. The leaves of the Oak may have serrated edges or may have smooth edges. The flowers are catkins produced in the Spring season. The fruit is a nut called an acorn. It is held in a cup-like structure…
Nipa palm – edible wild plant – how to find, identify, prepare, and other uses for survival.
Nipa palm (Nipa fruticans) The Nipa palm has a short, mainly underground, horizontal trunk (from above ground it appears to have no trunk at all) and very large, erect leaves up to 9 meters (30 feet) tall. The leaves are divided into leaflets. A flowering head forms on a short…
