Wild Plant Identification
Wild plants are all around us, even in highly urbanized areas. Maybe you liked to climb trees when you were little, or maybe you found a gooseberry bush and liked to pick and eat them. There's no reason you can't do that now, too---if you know how to identify which wild plants are safe to eat, and which should only be admired from afar. Does this Spark an idea?
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Important note
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All information presented here should be used in conjunction with a good field guide to wild plant identification. Multiple such guides exist; you may even want to buy more than one. Additionally, the USDA has a good online database (see Resources), and others exist online as well. If you've got a phone with Internet capabilities and you're exploring in an area with good signal, your phone might be an excellent guide as well.
Basic Identification
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In order to use your field guide, you'll need to make note of some of the individual characteristics of the plant you're attempting to identify. If it's got a flower, what shape and color is that flower? Has it got hair? Is it spiky? Does the plant have fruit? What are the shape, color, and arrangement of the leaves? The U.S. Army Survival Manual has some helpful diagrams that illustrate some of these identifying characteristics. See References for a link.
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Digging Deeper
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Once you've narrowed your choices down by noting the steps above, you'll need to determine whether or not the plant in question is poisonous. Many safe, edible plants have poisonous analogs---and you don't want to find out you've eaten one after the fact (see Reference 3).
Considerations
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Unlike what supermarkets have taught us, plants are seasonal. Tomatoes in nature only grow in certain conditions; during the rest of the year, their seeds are either dormant or the plants themselves have no edible parts available. The same holds true for many less familiar plants, so it's important to take the seasons into account when you go exploring (see Reference 3).
Edibility
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You may only be interested in identifying plants for the sake of self-education. If, however, you've decided that you'd like to try to eat some of them, it's best to be absolutely sure that they're not poisonous. In cases where you're mostly sure, but can't quite make the distinction, you can try the Universal Edibility Test---if you're feeling adventurous. The U.S. Army Survival Manual has details of the full procedure; see References for more information.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Robert: PicasaWeb
