This is just one of my Areas of extreme curiosity, I am not so much a 'store a years worth of food' survivalist as I am a 'drop me off anywhere in the lower 48 with nothing but a knife and I'll do fine' type.
I have a couple pretty good books on the subject and have identified many local plants that are edible but, I am always looking for new info. Any recommended books or other sources? I already have Edible wild plants (Elias and Dykeman) and a couple of Petersen field guides.
Pap, A book called "The SAS Survival Handbook - by John Wiseman, HarperCollins Publishers or Harvill has a section on Rdible Plants. It talks about Dandelions and how you can eat the leaves. Apparently you can eat the young leaves raw, but are advised to boil the older ones changing the water to remove the bitter taste. Dandelion juice is rich in vitamins and minerals and the roots can be boiled or roasted for coffee. Cat's-tail or reedmace with long narrow leaves and that dark brown sausage-shaped flowerhead eootstock and stems can be eaten raw or boiled and the leaves can be cooked like spinach. There is wild rhubarb stalks are edible also. Pines cones when heated releases the seeds. They can be eaten raw or roasted. There are many other examples and illustrations listed in this source. I hope this is of some use especially to hikers, campers etc.
Ive seen the SAS book before but never picked it up. I'll give it a look. I like to get descriptions of plants from a couple sources before I try any of them just the paranoia in me. Some of these plants can look dangerously similar (for example Comfrey, which some people use for medicinal purposes, and Foxglove, a deadly poisonous plant).
BTW, they are right about dandelions, they are higher in vitamin A than just about any other plant you can get.
Under the plant section in that book, poisonous plants are listed with pictures of what they look like and where they are found. Edible fungi is also mentioned with the many poisonous ones pictured as well.
