Wild Blackberry
Wild Blackberry Flower
Wild Edible Blackberry Bush
Persimmon Fruit
Persimmon Leaf
Persimmon Flower
Persimmon in Fall
Persimmon Tree
This plant can be used as a potherb, in salad, and as a coffee substitute. Young leaves can be picked in early spring before the plant has flowered to add to salads, it can also be used in replace of spinach. The leaves should be boiled in two waters to rid bitterness. The roots can be ground to make a bitter coffee, and eaten for survival during a famine. Dandelion greens also have a tremendous amount of Vitamin A (25 times that of tomato juice and 50 times that of asparagus).
Acorns are found on oak trees. Oak trees can be identified by the five to eight lobes on each side of their alternate leaves, which turn from yellow to brown in the fall, the bark, which is deeply grooved and grayish in color, and of course, the acorns. Oak trees commonly grow in both hemispheres and flourish in temperate climates. The most common oak, the Live Oak, unfortunately produces the least desirable acorns, mostly because of the difficulty in removing the meat from the shells and the bitter taste. Followed by Red Oaks, White Oaks produce the least bitter nuts, however, even these will need the tannins leached from their acorns. Tannins in acorns are not only bitter, but eating an excessive amount of acorns high in tannic acid can lead to kidney failure.
Tannins can be leached out of the acorns by placing the shelled nuts in a mesh bag, then submersing them in running water for several weeks. A quicker, more modern method would be to grind them into a coarse flour (blenders and food processors work well) then use them like coffee grounds and repeatedly run them through a coffee maker until they no longer taste bitter. Hot water greatly assists in extracing the tannins, so just the acorn flour, any filter, and some hot water will do the trick.
Asparagus grows in temperate regions throughout the world, often found in fields, old homesteads, backroads, and along fences. In the spring, the Asparagus plant resembles a cluster of green fingers. The mature plant resembles a small tree (roughly 4 feet tall), and has fernlike, wispy foliage and red berries (berries could be poisonous, DON’T EAT). Its flowers are small and greenish in color. There are several species that have sharp, thorn-like structures.
The best time to harvest Asparagus is in the early spring before the leaves form. Typically, the easiest way to find Asparagus shoots is to locate a mature plant, which is often taller than the surrounding grass and easy to identify, then searching around the base of it for the short, thick, grass-colored shoots.
You can eat Asparagus raw, however, it may cause nausea or diarrhea. Steaming or boiling them for 10 to 15 minutes is often best. In addition, the fleshy roots are a good source of starch and may be harvested any time of the year.
The arrowroot a plant that thrives in a moist to wet habitat, and is found worldwide in temperate zones and in the tropics. It has arrow-shaped leaves that are approximately 1 foot long and 4 inches wide, few white flowers, and potato-like tubers most often found in mud. The branced stems grow up to 6 feet tall. The jointed, light yellow rhizome roots are typically harvested after one year of growth. The Arrowroot is primarily harvested for its rich, high quality starch. You can simply boil the rootstock and eat it as a vegetable, or harvest the starch by first, soaking the roots in water, which makes their tough, fibrous covering easier to peel off. Once peeled, the remaining starchy tissue is then beaten into a pulp. The pulp is rinsed with water many times to separate the starch from the residual fiber. The liquid pulp is allowed to dry; the powder that remains is starch.
Care should be taken not to confuse this plant with the similar looking Arum, which also sometimes grows in the same environment. The most sure way to tell them apart is the leaves, which in the Arrowroot have parallel venation in each of the 3 lobes. The Arum has pinnate veins in the 3 lobes.
Amaranth is a bushy plant that grows 5 to 7 feet, with broad leaves and a showy flower head of small, red or magenta, clover like flowers which are profuse, and constitute the plants exquisite, feathery plumes. The seed heads resemble corn tassels, but are somewhat bushier. They are quite striking as well. The seeds are tiny (1/32″), lens shaped, and are a golden to creamy tan color, sprinkled with some occasional dark colored seeds.
Amaranth has a rich history in cuisine all over the world. The plant has been used for culinary and ornamental purposes in various cultures stretching back through history. Amaranth is abundant and nutritious, and therefore a useful plant to identify in a wilderness survival situation.
Look for a weedy area among crops, along roadsides or fields, in waste areas, or on disturbed ground. In some places in the world, amaranth is grown as a vegetable, or even much like a grain crop. Search for a weedy plant up to several feet tall with alternating green leaves. Sometimes, the stems are slightly red. Find tiny green, red or purple flowers clustered densely together, sometimes drooping slightly, at the head of the plant. Shake the head of the plant to collect the nutritious amaranth seeds. Eat the seeds raw, boil them, or even grind the amaranth seeds to make flour. Roast the amaranth seeds to pop them much like popcorn. This can then be mixed with honey or molasses to make a snack called “alegría.” Eat any part of the plant raw, or boil it to taste. The tips of a mature plant, or the whole of the young plant, are particularly good to eat.
This was a really informative Medical Marijuana documentary I came across, hosted National Geographic.
Black Birch
Black Birch Stem And Leaves
The Black Birch is most easily distinguished by the alternate (unpaired), elliptical, short-stalked, finely toothed leaves, the pointed, prominent, evenly spaced veins forming the letter “V” on the leaves, the slender twigs, and short, pointed leaf buds. The male catkins appear during the winter, before the leaves develop, and release pollen into the wind in early spring.
Black Birch Bark
Black Birch Catskins