WildlifeCampus-Survival Course 1

Module # 4 – Component # 2

Rules and Testing for Plant Edibility

Objectives

To provide the learner with a “last resort” mechanism to obtain edible plant material
in a survival situation.

Expected Outcomes:

The learner will be able to:

?? State various considerations when opting to use unfamiliar plant material

?? Recall the rules for plant edibility
?? Recall the process of testing for plant edibility

Pre - test:

Test your current knowledge of land survival.

1) You don’t need to know anything about edible plants as long as you know the rules and how
to test for plant edibility.

True
False

2) To make doubly sure the plant material is safe to eat, give yourself multiple cuts
with the sharpest object you can find and drip the sap of various plants into the wounds.

True
False

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WildlifeCampus-Survival Course 2

Introduction

It is best to have knowledge, even rudimentary knowledge, of specific edible and

useful plants in a region. If the Bushveld explorer knows just a few useful plants
his/her chances of survival increases drastically. In this regard it is important to
know what these plants look like, where they are found, what season are they
available and their uses.

The situation may however arise where you have no knowledge of the wildlife in the
vicinity that you are surviving in. Plants may look foreign or different to you and
identification features may be absent due to seasonal changes, drought or plants
being stripped bare by animals.

Do not eat or have contact with a plant or plant parts unless you are absolutely sure
that it is useful or edible. In an emergency where you are unsure about a plant’s
edibility there are two processes that may help you determine whether plants are
edible or not. The first is the “Rules of Edibility” and the second is “Testing for
Edibility”. The author suggests that in a situation where you are unsure about
edibility that you first apply the rules of edibility before testing for edibility.

Considerations for using Unfamiliar Plants

a. Warning!!! Do not apply the rules for edibility or the test for edibility on any
plant whatsoever unless you are positively sure you are going to die of
malnutrition and there are absolutely no other nutrients available.

b. Remember that you can survive for many days (sometimes weeks) without
food as long as you have water. Although certain people have survived more
than forty (40) days without food (e.g. hunger strikers) you have to consider the
fact that they were weakened beyond helping themselves long before they
eventually died.

c. If you have a sensitive stomach foreign food (like unfamiliar plants) may cause
diarrhoea which can lead to loss of energy, weakening and dehydration.

d. You may need unfamiliar plant food because you need the energy to keep going
(maybe escaping or evading enemy).

e. You need time to apply the rules and the test. Do not rush it, the longer you
take to test the better the results.

f. You may see baboons or monkeys feeding on certain plants. Although it is said
that most of what they eat would be edible to humans too, there may be
exceptions and you still need to apply the rules and the test.

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Rules for Edibility

In the event of having to use unfamiliar plants apply the following rules.

a) Avoid plants with milky latex.

Tamboti (Spirostachys africana) and tree euphorbia are both common and
potentially very poisonous plants, both containing a milky latex. There are many
others like them. However, there are also exceptions and if you are sure about
the identification you can eat the following plants which also contain a milky latex:

?? Wild Figs
?? Num-nums
?? Milk plums

The above mentioned edible plants are important because they are widespread
in some Bushveld regions and may just save your life. Many plants with a milky
latex (a whitish, sometimes sticky sap that oozes out when you break a leaf or
wound the plant) are quite poisonous and are sometimes even used by
indigenous tribes as hunting poisons. Some latex bearing plants are so
poisonous that fatalities have been recorded of people using the wood or
branches as meat skewers.

b) Avoid union-like bulbs

Although they may look edible and smell aromatic like onions do, stay away from
them. An example of a dangerous bulb is bushman poison bulb (Boophane
disticha) which can cause severe hallucinations and even death. It looks like a
huge onion-like toilet roll that sticks out of the earth and from the centre of the
“roll” emanates a spray of ribbon like leaves. Certain corms however are edible
like the corms of the Cyperus (sedge) family. They also have a brownish onion-
like outer sheath but inside a nut-like central part could be found. Only use edible
corms if you are absolutely positive about their identity. Many reed-like plants,
like the Cyperus, have edible underground stems.

c) Avoid fruits with a tomato-like appearance.

Fruits that physically appear tomato-like, tomato-like when cut through or have a
tomato-like star shaped attachment at the base of the fruit should be
avoided. These are mostly poisonous or may contain toxic steroidal alkaloids (like
in Solanum supinum, the poison apple) or other substances. An exception is
bluebush fruits (Diospiros lycioides) which appears tomato- like and has the
tomato-like attachment. Bluebush fruits are edible and quite tasty. The roots of
bluebush are also used in dental care. Ironically the poison apple is also called
the “toothache bush” since it’s fruit pulp juice is used in low quantities to treat
toothache.

d) Avoid all fungi and mushrooms

Don’t even try! Even so called “experts” are sometimes fooled by what appears to
be edible mushrooms. Just know that there are other sources of nutrients on
which you can survive, especially if the environment can support mushroom

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WildlifeCampus-Survival Course 4

growth. Certain mushrooms appear to be just like the commercial button

mushroom (Agaricus campestris) but they could be deceiving you. In fact it can
actually kill you or make you severely ill.

e) Avoid hairy plants and plant parts or plants with stinging hairs (nettles).

Even very fine hairs or velvet can be constituted as hairy. Watch out for plants
with any one or more of the following:

?? Hairy fruits
An exception is the fruits of the Baobab, which are velvety hairy but very
edible and useful. Make sure however that the fruit is from a baobab tree or
pick it directly from the tree. Another exception is the chestnuts (Sterculia sp.)
Which have an irritating hairy pod but the seeds can be roasted and eaten.
The chestnut hairs can seriously damage your eyes and they are so fine
that it is hard to remove the stinging hairs from your skin.

?? Hairy seeds
An example of a plant with poisonous hairy seeds would be poison rope
(Strophantus speciosus) which is used for arrow poison. The seeds are
compacted into the husk with clusters of long silvery hairs that probably
help with wind dispersal. The seeds are traditionally crushed, mixed into a
paste with saliva and used as arrow poison. This poison can bring down big
game within a distance of 100 meters.

?? Hairy leaves and leaves with nettles

An example of a nettle plant is blister bush (Peucedanum galbanum). The
leaves contain photo-toxic coumarins and contact with skin causes painful
blistering. The hairy lobed leaves of “Blouertjie” (Neorautanenia ficifolia) are
crushed and used as fish poison in some regions.

?? Hairy stems
The “downy thorn apple” (Datura innoxia) serves as an example of a plant
with hairy stems although the leaves are hairy too. Datura species are
potentially highly toxic and are also the source of “mad seeds” which are
used as a substitute for mind altering drugs. It is also known to have caused
many deaths.

To be on the safe side stay away from any plant with hairs unless you are
unmistakably sure that it is useful (e.g. as with baobab fruits)

f) Avoid lily-like plants and their fruits

These are normally plants with long ribbon-like leaves growing from a short
stem or directly out of the earth and a long slender flower stalk sometimes
adorned with colourful flowers. The family Iridaceae contain particularly
poisonous species but an exception would be the “wituintjie” (Moraea fugax)
which has edible underground corms and frutangs (Romulea rosea) with edible
green fleshy fruits. In many cases lily-like plants have onion-like bulbs too.

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WildlifeCampus-Survival Course 5

g) Avoid cone bearing plants (e.g. cycads)

Cone bearing plants should be avoided. An exception that is sometimes quite

obvious is the cone bearing stone pine (Pinus pinea), which contains edible and
tasty nuts (pine nuts).

h) Avoid plants on which brightly coloured insects are feeding.

Brightly coloured insects are often poisonous and they obtain their toxicity from
eating poisonous plants.

Testing Plants for Edibility

If you have any doubt whatsoever about the identity of a plant you should test it first
for edibility. Plants in the area that are plentiful and appear to be promising could be
collected for testing. Remember to apply the rules for edibility first. Collect plant parts
that seem likely to produce edible material e.g., fruits, leaves, soft stem material or
chewable roots. It is preferable to stick to fruits or leaves because they are easier to
obtain and they are more than likely easier to chew.

a) Break or cut the plant part or fruit open. Touch it with the tip of your tongue
and if it has a burning or bitter taste, avoid that plant part. Wait a few seconds
after touching it to your tongue since it may take a while for the effect to
register on your tongue. Warning! At any time during the test if you feel a
burning sensation or bitter taste rinse your mouth out with water and
abandon the plant part.

b) If the plant part does not have a bitter or burning taste, chew a very small
portion (size of a pea) for a short time (10 to 20 seconds) and spit it out.

c) If the plant part still does not have a bitter or burning taste, chew a very small
portion (size of a pea) for a considerable time (1 to 2 minutes) and spit it out.

d) If there is still no burning or bitter effects in your mouth after 5 to ten minutes
chew another very small portion (size of a pea) and swallow.

e) Wait for half an hour. If no cramps or unpleasant effects are experienced

chew a larger piece of the plant (Teaspoon size) and swallow.

f) Wait for an hour. If there is no ill effect after that hour chew more of the same
plant part and swallow. Don’t eat too much though and look out for the onset
of any ill effects. Three hours later you can assume that the plant part was
safe to eat in low quantities.

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WildlifeCampus-Survival Course 6

g) WARNING! Stick to the same plant part for the whole test. One plant part may
be less poisonous than another.

h) Larger quantities can be eaten once you feel it is safe to proceed. However,
since modern humans have a very sensitive digestive system you are best
advised to boil the plant material in a large quantity of water. The water is
thrown off and the process is repeated. This is to ensure that tasteless toxic
substances are also removed from the material.

i) Finally. You may still experience mild cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting even if
the plant part is safe to eat. The reason is that some indigestible (but non-
poisonous) substances may cause the symptoms of mild food poisoning.

As a survivor you must be aware of the fact that eating “Unsure” material can
cause you discomfort, loss of water (vomiting or diarrhoea induced dehydration) or
illness. On the other hand it may save your life. This is a decision you can only
take once you are in a survival situation. Once you press through with eating unsure
material and your stomach adjusted to it over time, you have discovered a valuable
new source of food. This is obviously an option you will follow only if you have
copious amounts of water and time to your disposal.

Last Word:

You may have heard from some psycho-babble-war-hero that you can scrape
yourself on your arm and drip plant sap into the scrapes to test for edibility. The idea
is to create multiple cuts (as in an allergy test) on which you can test multiple plants
at the same time to save time and even while you are on the move. The cuts that
swell and inflame would potentially then indicate inedible plants. Here are 5 reasons
why you shouldn’t do this:

a) Because it is just plain stupid!

b) Because a drop of sap from some plants can drop a 500 pound antelope within
100 meters. In fact a multitude of plants in the African Bushveld have been used
for arrow poison.
c) You don’t always have sterile conditions in a survival situation, which will make it
virtually impossible to determine whether it is the plant, the cutting instrument, or
some other airborne particle that infected it.
d) Only an idiot will cut him/herself when they are very vulnerable.
e) Some cuts may become infected and you may eventually develop serious sepsis
or even gangrene in the affected limb.

You will be best served with basic knowledge about specific plants, their
identification features and their uses. Module # 4 – Component # 4 highlights
the “most important” plants that are easy to recognise, widely distributed and
useful. Even if you know only a couple of important plants you stand a good
chance to find food in the Bushveld.

Rules and testing for plant edibility © WildlifeCampus