Edible and Medicinal Plants #5

阿克

By: Love Spellcaster
Malanga
Xanthosoma caracu
Description:
This plant has soft, arrow-shaped leaves, up to 60 centimeters long. The leaves have no
aboveground stems.
Habitat and Distribution:
This plant grows widely in the Caribbean region. Look for it in open, sunny fields.
Edible Parts:
The tubers are rich in starch. Cook them before eating to destroy a poison contained in all parts
of the plant. WARNING Always cook before eating.
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Mango
Mangifera indica
Description:
This tree may reach 30 meters in height. It has alternate, simple, shiny, dark green leaves. Its
flowers are small and inconspicuous. Its fruits have a large single seed. There are many
cultivated varieties of mango. Some have red flesh, others yellow or orange, often with many
fibers and a kerosene taste.
Habitat and Distribution:
This tree grows in warm, moist regions. It is native to northern India, Burma, and western
Malaysia. It is now grown throughout the tropics.
Edible Parts:
The fruits are a nutritious food source. The unripe fruit can be peeled and its flesh eaten by
shredding it and eating it like a salad. The ripe fruit can be peeled and eaten raw. Roasted seed
kernels are edible. CAUTION: If you are sensitive to poison ivy, avoid eating mangoes, as they
cause a severe reaction in sensitive individuals.
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Manioc
Manihot utillissima

Description:
Manioc is a perennial shrubby plant, 1 to 3 meters tall, with jointed stems and deep green,
fingerlike leaves. It has large, fleshy rootstocks.
Habitat and Distribution:
Manioc is widespread in all tropical climates, particularly in moist areas. Although cultivated
extensively, it maybe found in abandoned gardens and growing wild in many areas.
Edible Parts:
The rootstocks are full of starch and high in food value. Two kinds of manioc are known: bitter
and sweet. Both are edible. The bitter type contains poisonous hydrocyanic acid. To prepare
manioc, first grind the fresh manioc root into a pulp, then cook it for at least 1 hour to remove the
bitter poison from the roots. Then flatten the pulp into cakes and bake as bread. Manioc cakes or
flour will keep almost indefinitely if protected against insects and dampness. Wrap them in
banana leaves for protection. CAUTION: For safety, always cook the roots of either type.
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Marsh marigold
Caltha palustris
Description:
This plant has rounded, dark green leaves arising from a short stem. It has bright yellow flowers.
Habitat and Distribution:
This plant is found in bogs, lakes, and slow-moving streams. It is abundant in arctic and subarctic
regions and in much of the eastern region of the northern United States.
Edible Parts:
All parts are edible if boiled. CAUTION: As with all water plants, do not eat this plant raw. Raw
water plants may carry dangerous organisms that are removed only by cooking.
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Mulberry
Morus species
Description:
This tree has alternate, simple, often lobed leaves with rough surfaces. Its fruits are blue or black
and many seeded.
Habitat and Distribution:
Mulberry trees are found in forests, along roadsides, and in abandoned fields in Temperate and
Tropical Zones of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Edible Parts:
The fruit is edible raw or cooked. It can be dried for eating later. CAUTION: When eaten in
quantity, mulberry fruit acts as a laxative. Green, unripe fruit can be hallucinogenic and cause
extreme nausea and cramps.
Other Uses:
You can shred the inner bark of the tree and use it to make twine or cord.
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Nettle
Urtica and Laportea species
Description:

These plants grow several feet high. They have small, inconspicuous flowers. Fine, hairlike
bristles cover the stems, leafstalks, and undersides of leaves. The bristles cause a stinging
sensation when they touch the skin.
Habitat and Distribution:
Nettles prefer moist areas along streams or at the margins of forests. They are found throughout
North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern Europe.
Edible Parts:
Young shoots and leaves are edible. Boiling the plant for 10 to 15 minutes destroys the stinging
element of the bristles. This plant is very nutritious. Other Uses: Mature stems have a fibrous
layer that you can divide into individual fibers and use to weave string or twine.
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Nipa palm
Nipa fruticans
Description:
This palm has a short, mainly underground trunk and very large, erect leaves up to 6 meters tall.
The leaves are divided into leaflets. A flowering head forms on a short erect stern that rises
among the palm leaves. The fruiting (seed) head is dark brown and may be 30 centimeters in
diameter.
Habitat and Distribution:
This palm is common on muddy shores in coastal regions throughout eastern Asia.
Edible Parts:
The young flower stalk and the seeds provide a good source of water and food. Cut the flower
stalk and collect the juice. The juice is rich in sugar. The seeds are hard but edible. Other Uses:
The leaves are excellent as thatch and coarse weaving material.
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Oak
Quercus species
Description:
Oak trees have alternate leaves and acorn fruits. There are two main groups of oaks: red and
white. The red oak group has leaves with bristles and smooth bark in the upper part of the tree.
Red oak acorns take 2 years to mature. The white oak group has leaves without bristles and a
rough bark in the upper portion of the tree. White oak acorns mature in 1 year.
Habitat and Distribution:
Oak trees are found in many habitats throughout North America, Central America, and parts of
Europe and Asia.
Edible Parts:
All parts are edible, but often contain large quantities of bitter substances. White oak acorns
usually have a better flavor than red oak acorns. Gather and shell the acorns. Soak red oak
acorns in water for 1 to 2 days to remove the bitter substance. You can speed up this process by
putting wood ashes in the water in which you soak the acorns. Boil the acorns or grind them into
flour and use the flour for baking. You can use acorns that you baked until very dark as a coffee
substitute. CAUTION: Tannic acid gives the acorns their bitter taste. Eating an excessive amount
of acorns high in tannic acid can lead to kidney failure. Before eating acorns, leach out this
chemical. Other Uses: Oak wood is excellent for building or burning. Small oaks can be split and
cut into long thin strips (3 to 6 millimeters thick and 1.2 centimeters wide) used to weave mats,
baskets, or frameworks for packs, sleds, furniture, etc. Oak bark soaked in water produces a tanning solution used to preserve leather.
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Orach
Atriplex species
Description:
This plant is vinelike in growth and has arrowhead-shaped, alternate leaves up to 5 cenitmeters
long. Young leaves maybe silver-colored. Its flowers and fruits are small and inconspicuous.
Habitat and Distribution:
Orach species are entirety restricted to salty soils. They are found along North America's coasts
and on the shores of alkaline lakes inland. They are also found along seashores from the
Mediterranean countries to inland areas in North Africa and eastward to Turkey and central
Siberia.
Edible Parts:
The entire plant is edible raw or boiled
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Palmetto palm
Sabal palmetto
Description:
The palmetto palm is a tall, unbranched tree with persistent leaf bases on most of the trunk. The
leaves are large, simple, and palmately lobed. Its fruits are dark blue or black with a hard seed.
Habitat and Distribution:
The palmetto palm is found throughout the coastal regions of the southeastern United States.
Edible Parts:
The fruits are edible raw. The hard seeds may be ground into flour. The heart of the palm is a
nutritious food source at any time. Cut off the top of the tree to obtain the palm heart.
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Papaya or pawpaw
Carica papaya
Description:
The papaya is a small tree 1.8 to 6 meters tall, with a soft, hollow trunk. When cut, the entire plant
exudes a milky juice. The trunk is rough and the leaves are crowded at the trunk's apex. The fruit
grows directly from the trunk, among and below the leaves. The fruit is green before ripening.
When ripe, it turns yellow or remains greenish with a squashlike appearance.
Habitat and Distribution:
Papaya is found in rain forests and semievergreen seasonal forests in tropical regions and in
some temperate regions as well. Look for it in moist areas near clearings and former habitations.
It is also found in open, sunny places in uninhabited jungle areas.
Edible Parts:
The ripe fruit is high in vitamin C. Eat it raw or cock it like squash. Place green fruit in the sun to
make it ripen quickly. Cook the young papaya leaves, flowers, and stems carefully, changing the
water as for taro. CAUTION: Be careful not to get the milky sap from the unripe fruit into your
eyes. It will cause intense pain and temporary--sometimes even permanent--blindness.Other
Uses: Use the milky juice of the unripe fruit to tenderize tough meat. Rub the juice on the meat.

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Persimmon
Diospyros virginiana and other species
Description:
These trees have alternate, dark green, elliptic leaves with entire margins. The flowers are
inconspicuous. The fruits are orange, have a sticky consistency, and have several seeds.
Habitat and Distribution:
The persimmon is a common forest margin tree. It is wide spread in Africa, eastern North
America, and the Far East.
Edible Parts:
The leaves are a good source of vitamin C. The fruits are edible raw or baked. To make tea, dry
the leaves and soak them in hot water. You can eat the roasted seeds. CAUTION: Some persons
are unable to digest persimmon pulp. Unripe persimmons are highly astringent and inedible.
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Pincushion cactus
Mammilaria species
Description:
Members of this cactus group are round, short, barrel-shaped, and without leaves. Sharp spines
cover the entire plant.
Habitat and Distribution:
These cacti are found throughout much of the desert regions of the western United States and
parts of Central America.
Edible Parts:
They are a good source of water in the desert.
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Pine
Pinus species
Description:
Pine trees are easily recognized by their needlelike leaves grouped in bundles. Each bundle may
contain one to five needles, the number varying among species. The tree's odor and sticky sap
provide a simple way to distinguish pines from similar looking trees with needlelike leaves.
Habitat and Distribution:
Pines prefer open, sunny areas. They are found throughout North America, Central America,
much of the Caribbean region, North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and some places in Asia.
Edible Parts:
The seeds of all species are edible. You can collect the young male cones, which grow only in the
spring, as a survival food. Boil or bake the young cones. The bark of young twigs is edible. Peel
off the bark of thin twigs. You can chew the juicy inner bark; it is rich in sugar and vitamins. Eat
the seeds raw or cooked. Green pine needle tea is high in vitamin C. Other Uses : Use the resin to
waterproof articles. Also use it as glue. Collect the resin from the tree. If there is not enough resin
on the tree, cut a notch in the bark so more sap will seep out. Put the resin in a container and heat
it. The hot resin is your glue. Use it as is or add a small amount of ash dust to strengthen it. Use it
immediately. You can use hardened pine resin as an emergency dental filling.
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