Don't Panic, its all good.
You might not have noticed but I did point out that you did give a little bit of good advice.

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However, after you got past being offensive you did follow with a little bit of decent advice.

There are no universal edibility tests is very true.
Many very dangerous plants taste fine.
The fact that most poisonous plants are horrible tasting is not a reliable test at all.

It is to bad that you could spend years learning all the poisonous plants in your area, and still would not know a single food plant.
Or you could learn a few good safe food plants and learn them well enough to start safely with them.


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I did not say there are no universal edibility tests; and the Universal Edibility Test is not only about taste. It is designed to reduce the risk of eating irritating plants, and avoiding allergic reactions to otherwise edible plants, as well as to reduce the risk of eating poisonous plants, and is a very valuable knowledge tool. What I said is that I would never substitute the test for a reliable positive edible id, but that it is an otherwise very useful test in determining one's own physical reaction to a new edible. By the way, I consider a reliable positive edible id to be by way of a reputable regional flora-key, such as the Jepson Manual for CA.

ALL my advice is good, even if sometimes misunderstood. I am flawless, human! (slams hammer-fist down on table; remains seated) HUMOR

OH, so now you are agreeing with me, or not so much?

I did say there are no universal edibility tests. I will repeat that.

There is only one exception I would make.
If you eat it and live it is edible, if you die it isn't.
Other than that, nope.
(edit: note that this is not a recommended test for unknown plants)

Even peanuts, which we count as safe, will kill some people.

Maybe we should talk a bit more about personal testing to make sure you don't react to a food if you nave never tried it before?
(Especially since we are on such good terms now)

Edit: Careful not to hurt your hand there guy!

You're funny. Have a nice day, but don't forget to tip the natives. No really. They are another great (if not the greatest) resource of info concerning plants. See if you can get into a local college ethnobotany outing, you'll love it.

What more I will say about the Universal Edibility Test is that if it is being used to determine edibility, it must only be as an ultimate last resort if someone is starving and there are no other options. It is simply too unreliable to trust concerning whether a plant is edible or poisonous. Only in a last resort situation should anyone gamble with eating unknown plants.
Also, keep in mind what starvation actually is. Being "really hungry" is NOT the same thing as starving. After about 30 days without any food, you would be starving. And then, keep in mind that if you are in fact starving, as your mind begins to shut you out of the executive decision-making process, you will probably be inclined toward acting subconcsiously, so a real effort must be given to keeping the dangers of eating unknown plants, and thus the Universal Edibility Test, in mind.
Also, where there are plants, there are probably small critters. I would rather risk eating a bug than a poisonous plant.

Some good thoughts there.

Also people need to remember that gathering and preparing most plants (aside from berry plants) require more energy and calories used then the plants return to you.

If you were ever in the situation where your very survival depended on eating edible plants then you better hope that a) there is a lot of the plants in your immediate area to make it worthwhile and 2) that you have some other method of prolonging your survival such as obtaining wild game and fish by various other methods.

Desperado,

Yes, it is true that for some, forums are less of a social club and more of a learning resource. I don't know why that seems so unreasonable to some others. I don't mean to sound like I am trying to have the last word, only that it be understood that I desire to stay on topic. Sometimes people argue. So what. Argument is sometimes how people with different opinions share them with each other and learn from each other. Stop trying to point fingers at who is responsible for somebody else's feelings and contribute already. Many others have, now you can too.

Edible plants...

Sorry about egging you on Troglodyte, but I wanted you to expand on your comments a bit.

Sherpadog made a comment about the return of value for calories expended, and back near the start of the thread Dougwalkabout pointed this out.


With that I am going to shut up, sit back for now and hope somebody else picks up the thread.

Scafool,

I too apologize. I have the kind of personality that gets egged on a lot, and as a consequence, I have long held the reputation for quickly biting peoples heads clean off, so to speak. It's not personal, only a matter of respect; a personal aversion to feelings of indifference; an intolerance of certain kinds of strange criticisms.

I agree that plant leaves should not form the mainstay of a survival situation diet in terms of calories, but they do provide an abundance of nutrients (vitamins, minerals) that might prove to be just as important as calories, in little ways that might not be so obvious, and in certain situations.

I think most Americans have enough body fat, that for the few days or even several days that they might be in the wilds without food awaiting rescue, they are not even going to come close to dying of starvation, and a few daily handfuls of edible plant leaves might be enough to stave off the hunger pangs until the fat reserves are gone, which could be quite a while for some heavies. If edible plants are available, I would rather stave off the hunger pangs, while losing the fat reserves as I await rescue. To run around chasing rabbits would burn so many calories that I might then actually need to eat them. You thin guys and gals are a different story, and I hope you can catch them.
When the fat on our bigger bodies is finally gone, though, especially if on the move, and if living off the land for any extended time, meat is certainly essential, but so always will be plants.

Another consideration is for their medicinal value, and of course their utilitarian value.

For example, not only is plantain a widespread and common edible, it also stops bleeding.
Not only does cattail have starchy edible roots, the leaves can be weaved into baskets, and the fluff is a great inside the pants insulator and also a tinder.
All pine (Pinus) trees provide edible vitamin C rich needle-leaves, and strips of the inner bark can be made into cordage.
Willow shoots are made into baskets and fish traps, and the bark has salicylic acid (aspirin) in it.
The bitter tannic acid in acorns (edible) is also used to preserve leather, and as an antiseptic.

When looked at this way, plants are seen as indispensible, not only to survival, but also to wilderness living.