How to Identify Burdock

You have probably seen burdock before but may have thought it was wild rhubarb, or perhaps pulled it from your garden as a weed. Burdock, though, can be a useful plant for wilderness survival. If you know how to identify burdock and prepare it, it can help keep you alive when you run out of food.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Find an open area or look along the edges of a forest. Burdock plants can be found in temperate zones throughout the northern hemisphere.
2. Look for a plant, usually around 1 meter tall, with very broad green leaves. The leaves are somewhat arrow-shaped, and have wavy edges.
3. Keep an eye out for purple or pink flowers, or clusters of spiny burrs. These burrs may stick to you clothing or to the fur of an animal.
4. Peel the leaves from the stalks and eat them raw. If you prefer, you can boil them thoroughly and eat them as you would spinach or other greens.
5. Dig up the fleshy roots. Boil or bake them to make them easier to eat.
6. Dry the roots and eat them later, when fresh vegetation is scarce. The dried roots can also be ground up and boiled in water to be drunk as a coffee substitute.
7. Peel the individual fibers from the stalks and dry them to weave rope.

Tips & Warnings

• Burdock plants are rich in vitamins and iron.
• When eating any wild plant, positive identification is essential to prevent poisoning.
• Do not confuse burdock with rhubarb, which looks quite the same and has poisonous leaves. If you are not certain you have burdock, avoid eating the leaves and stick to the fleshy stalks and roots of the plant.