by Tim MacWelch
Contact with any part of this plant will cause a severe rash for most people. Burning any part of it will send its irritant oils airborne, which can cause even more harm, especially if inhaled. Poison ivy contains a phenolic substance called urushiol, which is responsible for roughly two million contact dermatitis cases in the United States each year. Remember the old saying, “leaves of three, let them be,” and commit the pictures below to memory.
Young poison ivy leaves
Poison ivy resembling a young tree
Older poison ivy vine with hairs
130 STAY HANDS FREE
Not all plants are helpless—they can, in fact, bite back. Many have defensive adaptations, from irritating oils to sharp thorns. Be aware of the following botanical armaments and naturally occurring defense mechanisms.
DEFENSE
OILS
EFFECTS
Oils from many common (and well-known) plants can produce a severe rash
WATCH OUT FOR
Poison ivy (left), poison sumac, poison oak, wild parsnip, trumpet creeper
NEEDLES
EFFECTS
Punctures from needles can be deep and harmful
WATCH OUT FOR
Cacti (left), evergreens, ocotillo or desert coral
THORNS
EFFECTS
Thorns will scratch and puncture skin
WATCH OUT FOR
Blackberry (left), aloe, thistle, citrus trees, prickly gooseberry
SPINES
EFFECTS
Some plants have spines that deliver painful stings
WATCH OUT FOR
Stinging nettle (left) or common nettle, fever tree
LATEX
EFFECTS
A saplike milky fluid called latex will irritate eyes and skin, causing inflammation and pain
WATCH OUT FOR
Eyebane (left), also known as spotted spurge; poinsettia
131 BE ALLERGY ALERT
Although most common edible plants are widely tolerated, you never know who might be sensitive to them. An allergic reaction can range from nausea or digestive upset to rashes, hives, or other skin irritation. In the worst cases, allergies can be life-threatening. If you have food allergies, be especially cautious as you try new wild edible plant foods, following the guidelines in item 106. If you think you might be having an allergic reaction, seek medical help immediately. If the reaction is severe (particularly if breathing becomes difficult) and you can’t get medical treatment quickly, taking oral antihistamines such as Benedryl can literally be a lifesaver. Many experts recommend carrying an antihistamine you know works for you, just in case you run into something you didn’t know you were allergic to.
132 DON'T BE FOOLED
One of the trickiest parts of foraging is avoiding the dangerous plants that look enticing. Berries are usually the worst culprit, followed by other fruits and nuts. Keep these off your menu.
POKEWEED BERRIES
Cause digestive distress and death
BUCKEYE NUTS
Can cause cardiac arrest
NIGHTSHADE BERRIES
Lead to respiratory troubles, coma, or death
YEW BERRIES
Cause cardiac and respiratory failure
HORSE CHESTNUT
Can cause digestive upset but is rarely fatal
HORSE NETTLE FRUIT
Potentially fatal
WHITE BANEBERRY FRUIT
Causes severe digestiveupset
VIRGINIA CREEPER BERRIES
Potentially fatal
133 ACT QUICKLY
If you suspect poisoning, you’ll need to act fast. While most poisonings merely cause digestive distress, you don’t want to take any chances in case worse symptoms develop. A quick response to toxins will minimize the damage they can cause and perhaps even save a life.
IF MEDICAL CARE IS AVAILABLE
Call 911 immediately if you suspect poisoning. Give them the name of the plant or the best description you can muster. Explain what plant part was eaten and how much of it. Provide the time and manner of consumption, as well as the age and weight of the victim. Finally, describe the poisoning symptoms that you observe. Wait for an ambulance or take a trip to the doctor as directed.
IF MEDICAL CARE IS NOT AVAILABLE
In this scarier scenario, you’re on your own. Have the victim drink several glasses of water and induce vomiting. This can be done by sticking a finger or twig down the throat or taking an emetic (like ipecac syrup). The victim should vomit several times, until the stomach is clear. Then monitor for symptoms of shock or other serious issues. Get to skilled medical care as soon as possible.
134 PICK YOUR POISON
While coming into contact with plant toxins and irritants can be, well, irritating, consuming plant toxins is generally the worst thing you can do. While some toxins are mild, causing nothing more than a stomachache, other toxins can be fatal. And if that isn’t bad enough, some plants can even harbor multiple toxins. Make sure you don’t put these poisons on your plate.
ALCOHOLS Plant alcohols can cause some of the most severe poisonings, even leading to death. For example, water hemlock contains the alcohol cicutoxin, which can be fatal even in small amounts.
ALKALOIDS Although this category includes some popular chemicals (like caffeine), they can also do a world of harm. Alkaloids are the largest group of toxins, and their effects range from indigestion to death.
AMINES These dangerous nitrogenous compounds (derivatives of ammonia) can be found in American mistletoe.
GLYCOSIDES When consumed, glycoside compounds convert into sugars and nonsugar residue (the poisonous part). Cardiac glycosides, like the ones found in dogbane, can cause cardiac arrest. The cyanogenic glycosides found in cherry leaves and pits can act like cyanide.
OXALATES This group of toxins has a corrosive effect on animal tissues. Calcium oxalate is one of the most common forms, and it’s found in many plants. These small, insoluble crystals create burning and stinging sensations on mucous membranes and can lead to kidney stones.
POLYPEPTIDES These protein building blocks can be deadly in amanita mushrooms. They include toxins like amatoxin and phallotoxin—fatal poisons that can destroy the liver and kidneys.
135 MUSHROOM MADNESS
IT COULD HAPPEN
My family was camping in a remote wilderness area . . .
and before I knew it, he had a mysterious mushroom in his hand.
I jumped into action!
We watched him carefully for signs of illness.
To be sure, we decided to figure out for certain what kind of mushroom this was.
I guess I let little henry wander off . . .
But who knows if that was the first one he found . . .
One successful spore print later, we could all get back to relaxing!
136 GO NUTS FOR ACORNS
Want a food that’s high in protein, fat, and carbohydrates? Look no farther than your nearest oak tree. That’s right, acorns are a wild-food powerhouse that can be found all across the Northern Hemisphere. Ancient peoples used these hardy nuts as a staple food.
Acorns vary in size and appearance and may even resemble other tree nuts; check for a solid nutmeat surrounded by a thin shell. This shell grows inside a cap, which may or may not remain intact. The caps can be flat, with the majority of the nut sticking out of them, or may surround most of the nut.
All acorns are technically edible, but some contain bitter tannic acid, which needs to be leached away (see item 138). Tannic acid does provide some useful medicinal benefits when used topically or as a mouthwash, but consuming it can lead to illness. Bitterness can vary from nut to nut and tree to tree, and according to different habitats and species.
137 SPOT A GOOD NUT
ACORNS ARE FINE TO USE EVEN IN THE FOLLOWING CASES
If they have sprouts coming out of them
If they are bug-eaten (just pick away the bad spots and remove the worms)
After sitting on
the ground all winter (as long as there’s no strong fermented smell)
If the nutmeats are orange, red, tan, or brown (as long as they don’t have a strong fermented smell)
ACORNS SHOULD BE AVOIDED IN THE FOLLOWING CASES
If they have a strong fermented smell
If they are moldy
If you’re not 100 percent certain they’re actually acorns
138 PROCESS YOUR ACORN BOUNTY
To make acorn flour, first you’re going to want to leach out the bitterness. Some people like to boil them, but I find that really doesn’t get all the tannic acid flavor out. Also, boiling can destroy some beneficial starches. Instead, I recommend leaching the nuts in baths of warm and cold water.
COLLECT Gather the acorns by hand or using tools to rake or shovel them (A). In short grass, they can be scooped with a “bedding fork,” which is like a pitchfork with two dozen tines. Or lay out tarps under an oak, shake the branches (or just wait a few days), and collect the fallen soldiers.
PREP Remove any attached caps immediately (in case of worms), crack the nut’s thin shell, and remove the nutmeat (B). You can now leach, dry, or freeze the nut. You can also roast them inside their shells to make tough nuts easier to crack—or just for a new flavor.
LEACH Taste-test by chewing a small piece. If it’s not too bitter, you probably have a white oak acorn, which can be ground into flour once it dries. If it’s bitter, soak the nutmeats in alternating warm and cold water (C). Every hour or so, test to see if they’re still bitter. If so, change the water and keep soaking. You can also submerge them in a bag or basket in a stream, but in this case you’ll need to cook the acorn meat before tasting. This may take hours or even days depending on the tannic acid content.
GRIND Dry the nutmeat until you are able to grind it without forming a paste (D). The resulting flour or meal can be used immediately, frozen for future use, or thoroughly dried and stored in an air-permeable cloth bag or wood vessel in a very dry location. If you store it, inspect it weekly for mold or bugs—and know that freezing is the best storage method for acorn flour.
139 CASE STUDY: HUGH GLASS
If you’ve ever doubted that the American frontier was a rough place, then a story like this one—in which trapper, scout, and all-around mountain man Hugh Glass survived on wild plants after a bear attack—should set you straight. His month-and-a-half-long nightmare started when he woke up after being left for dead by fellow trappers—and then things somehow got even worse.
WHO HUGH GLASS
WHAT LEFT FOR DEAD AFTER A BEAR ATTACK
WHERE MISSOURI TERRITORY
WHEN 1823
HOW LONG HE SURVIVED SIX WEEKS
HIS STORY Hugh Glass was a mountain man on a fur-trapping expedition in August 1823. The expedition planned to proceed up the valley of the Grand River in present-day South Dakota, but when Glass accidentally surprised a mother grizzly bear with her two cubs, he was massively injured. He managed to kill the bear with help from his trapping partners, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger, but was left badly mauled and unconscious. The expedition leader, Andrew Henry, was convinced that Glass would not survive his injuries.
Henry asked for two volunteers to stay with Glass until he died, and then bury him. Bridger (then 19 years old) and Fitzgerald stepped forward and began digging his grave, but instead of waiting, they left him alive and later incorrectly reported to Henry that Glass had died.
HOW HE DID IT Glass regained consciousness with a broken leg, cuts on his back exposing bare ribs, all his wounds festering, and abandoned without weapons or equipment. He was more than 200 miles (320 km) from the nearest settlement, at Fort Kiowa on the Missouri. He set his own broken leg, wrapped himself in the bear hide his companions had placed over him as a shroud, and began crawling. To prevent gangrene, Glass lay down with his wounded back on a rotting log and let maggots eat the dead flesh. Glass survived mostly on wild berries and roots. It took him six weeks to reach the Cheyenne River. He then fashioned a crude raft and navigated by referencing the prominent Thunder Butte landmark. Aided by friendly Native Americans who sewed a bear hide to his back to cover the exposed wounds, Glass eventually reached the safety of Fort Kiowa. After a long recuperation, Glass set out to track down and avenge himself against Bridger and Fitzgerald. When he found Bridger, on the Yellowstone near the mouth of the Bighorn River, Glass spared him, purportedly because of Bridger’s youth. When he found Fitzgerald, he had joined the United States Army, so Glass restrained himself—killing a U.S. soldier was punishable by death. He did, however, recover his “borrowed” rifle.
COULD YOU DO IT?
How in the world could you survive being critically wounded, bereft of equipment, and left for dead in the wilderness? It sounds like a recipe for certain death, and yet Glass managed to beat these unbelievable odds. Not only did he shelter himself, collect food, and do his best to nurse his wounds, he also had to stay vigilant for unfriendly locals, who might not have welcomed a trespasser on their lands. Here’s how you might be able to pull off this feat of extreme survival.
SHELTER With the bear-hide death shroud, you might be able to stay warm at night without too much work, though it’s not much of a shelter if the weather turns foul.
WATER Before European cattle brought giardia and other pathogens to frontier waterways, the creeks and streams provided cleaner water. Today, under the circumstances of Hugh Glass’s story, your best bet would be to locate the springs that fed the local watercourses. Drinking directly from springs is the best way to get safe water without equipment or fire.
FOOD You can survive off roots and berries—for a while, anyway. In the late summer in the American frontier, you can find paw-paw fruit, Jerusalem artichoke tubers, wild cherries, Indian currants, and many other wild edible plants.
MOTIVATION Apparently, revenge is a powerful motivational tool. It kept Glass going, despite massive, infected wounds and a lack of survival gear. Considering the circumstances, the two men who were the focus of that revenge were extremely lucky to have been spared.
140 DINE OUT IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE
Eat the weeds from city sidewalks? Sure, why not? Urban foraging has grown over the past few years, from a few folks doing plant walks in city parks to a career path for urban harvesters who sell to fancy restaurants. In fact, every city I’ve ever visited boasted an amazing array of wild edibles. Tough weeds spring up through the cracks in the sidewalk and in green spaces throughout every modern metropolis. As long as you exercise a little reasonable caution, you can treat yourself to a fancy meal made of city weeds.
Concrete and asphalt aren’t all that harmful to have around your wild edible plants, but the things that go along with these hard surfaces can be a problem. Pollution is rampant in cities; cars release everything from vehicle exhaust to motor oil and antifreeze—none of which are good for plants or people. Cities that contain industrial activity can be even worse, with factories and refineries belching out filth to rain down on the locals. To avoid the heavy metals and pollutants of the city, watch out for the following.
URBAN HAZARDS
Sites near industrial areas
Ditches and waterways
Downhill and drainage areas of parking lots
Swampy areas downhill from the city or inside the city
Vacant lots or areas with signs of dumping activity
141 PARK IT
The idea of picking edibles at the park may not get your mouth watering, especially when you think about the reason dog owners take their walks there. But once you get off the manicured grass, you’ll find wild edibles in abundance—I see them on the edges of every park I visit.
If you’re worried about pet droppings or potential pesticides, just wash your harvest as soon as you get home. For even more insurance against pollution, wash the plants and then cook them. I guarantee that there are fewer pesticides and chemicals on your foraged greens than on the conventionally grown batch at the grocery store.
142 CRUISE
THE STREETS
Wild fruit and nut trees are surprisingly common in residential areas. City planners love the idea of stately oaks—later, those oaks yield a bounty of acorns to local urbanites. Wild cherries and wild grapes often grow up along fences and walls thanks to the birds that perch there and deposit the seeds. A friend of mine makes unparalleled meals and beverages from edibles that he collects entirely within his residential section of Baltimore, Maryland. His wild cherries soaked in brandy are particularly delicious. Grab a friend and a collecting bag, and take a walk—you never know what you’ll find.
143 MEET TEN WILD WORLD TRAVELERS
It’s always good to run into a familiar face when you’re far from home. It might be even better to run into a familiar root or flower. Many edible plants occur in the wild all over the globe. Some were carried to new continents because of their valuable edible and medicinal properties, while others may have inadvertently tagged along with travelers, setting up populations as weeds in new lands. However the plants may have spread, familiar edibles can be found all over. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing these ten edible plants no matter where you’re traveling.