Test if a Plant Is Edible

Drastic times call for drastic measures. If you ever find yourself stranded in the wilderness for several months without food, you're going to have to figure out how to feed yourself.

You can survive for at least a month with nothing but water, you will lose about 20 lbs. However, this is not a suggested fad diet, once you start eating again, you will probably put most of the weight back on. If you're well prepared and knowledgeable about the area, you should have no problem finding edible plants, but if you are near death, and can't otherwise positively identify a safe plant to eat, follow these guidelines to test for edibility.

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Steps

 * 1) Avoid ever having to use this method without careful planning. Some plants can be deadly, and even if you follow these guidelines perfectly, there is always a chance that a plant will make you seriously ill.  Prepare yourself for wilderness outings by learning about the local flora and fauna, and carry a guidebook or taxonomic key to help you identify plants. Even if you are unprepared and cannot find food you know to be safe remember that, depending on your activity level, the human body can go for days without food, and you're better off being hungry than being poisoned.
 * 2) Find a plant that is plentiful. You don't want to go through the rigorous process of testing a plant if there's not a lot of it to eat.
 * 3) Abstain from eating or drinking anything but purified water for 8 hours before the test. However, if you have to use this method, this step will probably be unavoidable.
 * 4) Separate a plant into parts. Some plants have edible parts and poisonous parts.  In order to test if a plant is edible, you actually just want to check if one part (leaf, stem, or root) of one kind of plant is edible. After you have separated the plant into parts, inspect each part you are preparing for parasites. If you encounter worms or small insects inside the plant, discontinue the test with that sample and consider seeking a different sample of the same plant. Evidence of worms, parasites or insects indicates that the plant is rotten, especially if the organism has vacated the plant. Many parts of plants are only edible during certain seasons (for example, acorns collected after the fall are usually rotten). If you find grubs inside the plant, the plant is rotting, but the grubs are edible and contain high amounts of protein (although they taste sour and are gritty).
 * 5) Find out if the plant is contact-poisonous. A contact-poisonous plant is one that causes a reaction merely by touching your skin.  Rub the selected plant part on the inside of your elbow or wrist.  Crush it so that the sap touches your skin, and hold it there for 15 minutes.  If the plant causes a reaction in the next 8 hours, do not continue testing that part of that plant.
 * 6) Prepare a small portion of the plant part. Some plants are poisonous only when raw, so it's a good idea to cook the plant part you are testing if possible.  If you can't cook the plant or if you don't anticipate that you will be able to cook it in the future, just test it raw.
 * 7) Hold a small portion of the prepared plant part against your lip for 3 minutes. Do not put the plant in your mouth.  If you notice any burning, tingling, or other reaction, discontinue testing.
 * 8) Place another small portion of the plant part on your tongue. Hold the plant on your tongue without chewing for 15 minutes.  Discontinue testing if you notice any reaction.
 * 9) Chew the plant and hold it in your mouth for 15 minutes. Chew the plant well, and do not swallow.  Discontinue testing if you notice any reaction.
 * 10) Swallow the small portion of plant.
 * 11) Wait 8 hours. Do not eat or drink anything during this period except purified water.  If you feel sick, immediately induce vomiting and drink plenty of water.  If activated charcoal is available, take that with the water.  Discontinue testing if you experience any adverse reaction.
 * 12) Eat 1/4 cup of the same kind of plant part prepared the same way. It is critical that you use exactly the same part of exactly the same kind of plant, and that you prepare it in exactly the same way as you did the initial sample.
 * 13) Wait an additional 8 hours. Abstain from any other food except purified water.  Induce vomiting immediately as above if you should feel ill.  If no reaction has occurred, you may assume  only that particular part of the plant is safe to eat, and only as prepared during the test.
 * 14) Begin a new test, if the plant part you have chosen fails any of the tests. If the first plant part you choose appears contact-poisonous, you may immediately test a new plant on your other arm or behind your knee.  If the plant causes a reaction before you have swallowed it, wait until the symptoms have disappeared before testing a new plant.  If you have an adverse reaction after you've swallowed the plant, wait until symptoms have disappeared and start a new test.  Although there may be edible parts of the plant you initially chose, it is preferable to move on to a different plant for subsequent tests.

Alternative Method
If you are in a situation where you have access to other sources of safe food, you can incorporate this test into your diet more gradually by splitting it up into 3 stages, and using your 8 hours of normal sleep as the 8 hours of pre-test for each stage. Again, this should only be used if you are in a survival situation (e.g. your existing food rations are running low, and you need to start testing another source before your current one is depleted) or if you cannot find documentation for a particular plant and are willing to undergo the risks (poisoning and death) involved.
 * 1) Wake up and do the contact-poisonous part of the test. After 8 hours, eat a normal meal (not of the plant under test).
 * 2) Next morning, complete the test up to swallowing a single piece. After 8 hours, assuming you are still alive and well, eat a normal meal again.
 * 3) Eat the full sample of the plant under test on the 3rd morning. After 8 hours, celebrate life and the adding of a new edible plant to your experience by eating a nice meal.
 * 4) Don't disregard any other steps, or tips, or warnings; this alternative method is only to save your body from the stress of 24 hours of fasting, and enables you to continually test new plants in your area without going hungry for more than 16 hours a day, and only 8 hours on the final day, assuming 1/4 cup of the food can sustain you.

Tips

 * The guidelines in this article, particularly in the Warnings section, may rule out some edible plants, but these warnings are included to help you avoid some of the most common poisonous plants.
 * Aggregate berries (such as blackberries and raspberries) are usually safe to eat. (Although in some places where blackberries are considered a pest, they may have been sprayed with herbicides.) One notable exception to this rule is a white berry that grows only in Alaska.
 * Cook underground plant parts if at all possible, to kill bacteria and fungus.
 * Peel ripe tropical fruits and eat raw. If you must eat an unripe fruit, cook it first.  Follow all other test guidelines with these fruits unless you know the plant to be edible.
 * Avoid plant bulbs unless they have the familiar onion or garlic smell.
 * If you see an animal eating a plant, do not assume the plant is safe for humans. Some things that are poisonous to humans may have no effect on animals.

Warnings

 * In general, avoid thorns or spines. If such a plant has aggregate berries, the berries are safe to eat.  Other exceptions include thistles and prickly pear cacti.
 * Avoid mushrooms or other fungi. While many fungi are edible, there are many that are deadly, and if you are untrained they can be very difficult to tell apart even after you have tested one.
 * Avoid plants with shiny leaves.
 * Avoid plants with yellow, white or red berries.
 * Avoid Hollyberries which are red and juicy these are highly toxic except to birds.
 * Avoid plants with umbrella-shaped flowers.
 * Avoid plants with milky sap (You should not eat dandelion stems, but all other parts are edible).
 * Do not eat plants that have been penetrated by worms, insects, or parasites.
 * Do not assume a plant that is edible when cooked is also edible raw.
 * Do not assume that a plant is safe if you see animals eating it.
 * Once you have determined a plant is edible, take care to make sure that subsequent plants you harvest are the same plant. Many plants are similar in appearance.
 * Testing plants can be dangerous. These steps should only be attempted in a dire emergency.
 * Before turning to unknown plants, look around to see if there is anything else you can eat such as coconuts, meat, fish or others things. If you cannot find another edible substance, be cautious about testing plants/berries.

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Survive in the Woods for 3 Days
 * How to Make a Bow and Arrow
 * How to Identify Wild Flowers
 * How to Eat Yucca
 * How to Dry Herbs

Sources and Citations

 * GlobalSecurity.org Reprint of Survival, Evasion, and Recovery, a U.S. military handbook in the public domain