Life Saving Plants 2: Pine Trees

Pine needles are a very useful plant to learn about since it can be found and used all year long. And since pines have edible needles and inner bark, this is a must know.

In a survival situation, you can brew the pine needles into a tea rich in vitamin C, or you can chew the needles like a gum; which you should spit out when finished. You can also add dried sap from the tree into tea for flavouring. The green needles are best; but eating pine needles comes with a warning. Natives used to use pine needles to cause an abortion, so because of this pregnant women should not consume any of it.

Before eating the soft inner bark, you can fry or boil it to create a sort of jerky. Dried bark can be made into a flour.

There are also other parts of pine trees that you can eat, though many are limited to specific species and times of the year.

Photo found on google from this link.

Life Saving Plants 1: Old Mans Beard

Old Mans Beard(or Usnea) is one of the plants that survivalists always make known right away to new learners in Canada. This lichen is not only normally easy to find and identify, but it is a must know for wilderness survival.

The first and most known part about this lichen is that it burns well. It only takes a little bit, and it will catch a flame to light your fire. That is a life saver in the survival world.

Next is that it is high in vitamin C. It is indeed edible, and while it might not taste the best, it could give you a much needed vitamin boost. It can be brewed as a tea.

Finally, there is the first-aid properties it holds. It has been used throughout history for hundreds of years. It was particularly used for surface wounds because of its antibacterial properties. Simply place it on a wound and it will work as bandage that will keep your injury from getting infected.

Image is from google at this link.

Please Note

That because of poisonous look-a-likes I will not be telling how to identify plants. I will, however, sometimes talk about plant's that are edible and what they can be used for(for example, saying you can  use dandelions in tea), but I believe it would be irresponsible to try and teach plant identification over the web and risk misinterpretation, since pictures of plants are not the same as looking at the real thing.

Poison Test

Question: How does one find edible plants reliably? To be honest there is no 100% reliable way to see if a plant is edible in a survival situation…unless you are a scientist that is. Generally, anything eaten by birds or animals is safe to eat except for the odd occasion, but here are is the theory I was taught for identifying edible plants in cadets that I still trust:

1. Try to identify the plant. IF you are even a little unsure what it is, continue with the poison test. Avoid all slimy and/or worm eaten plants.
2. Cut off a small portion of the plant and smell it. If it smells like bitter almonds or peaches, do not eat it.
3. Rub a small amount on to your skin, or squeeze some of the juices on it to a tender part of the body(under the arms for example). If a rash or discomfort develops on the spot, don’t eat the plant.
4. Lips, mouth, tongue. First place a small portion on the lips in the corner of the mouth if no irritation happens after a few hours, put a small portion on the tip of the tongue and wait a few hours again, continue this under the tongue, then chew and spit out a small portion and wait. If irritation, stinging, or burning occurs, do not eat the plant.
5. Swallow a small amount and wait five hours. Do not eat or drink anything else during this time.
6. If you did not get any symptoms of getting sick(pain, nausea, or anything else) you can consider eating the plant.

Also, when in doubt, avoid all white berries, plants that let out a white milky fluid when cut, berry that grow in clusters, and all mushrooms.