Herbalism – Extremely Important to Get Right (Plants Can Kill)

A well-prepared apocalypse survivor should be thoroughly educated and experienced in herbalism. The healing properties of plants are not only myriad and potentially strong, but they also may be the only form of medicine available once every pharmacy and medicine cabinet has been looted (by violent gangs of thugs who stockpile all drugs in a region and trade them at ruthlessly high rates to those who are unfortunate enough to fall ill after the bombs have fallen).

Ingesting some herbs can be just as dangerous as thugs, however, so the Survivor should be careful. Plants can have multiple, sometimes conflicting, properties when used or prepared in different ways.

For example, Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) purportedly has dozens of effects on people: It has historically been used in a poultice to staunch the flow of blood from wounds (the scientific name Achillea is derived from mythical Achilles, who supposedly carried the plant with him for his soldiers’ wounds (1)), but it can also stimulate circulation and encourage bleeding if ingested. Those are opposite effects, so the Survivor should make sure not to have anything backwards!

Another example: Comfrey (Symphytum officinale), although also very useful as a poultice for flesh wounds and as replacement for toilet paper, has been known to cause kidney or liver failure when ingested (2).

The Survivor should therefore be sure to have positively identified a plant and try it first in small, diluted quantities. Reading as much about these plants as possible before the apocalypse, especially sources by true experts who have personally foraged more than I, would be extremely beneficial.

Plaintain (Plantago major), or Ubiquitous Salad.

The landscape in which the future apocalypse survivor will struggle will most likely be similar to the one in which he or she now lives (albeit looted, deserted, partially destroyed and/or infested with disease, radiation or zombies, of course).Nevertheless, the remains of our suburban sprawls, urban jungles, and semi-rural farmland will still be enticingly full of hidden resources, and survivors will gravitate towards them.

Even after all of the food pantries, garages and tool sheds have been looted and emptied by competing survivors, there will still be valuable resources hidden in these human environments. In fact, even now, you are surrounded by a versatile and almost universally helpful plant every time you step in most backyards or parks!

Image from Wikipedia.

Plaintain (Plantago major being the most common species) is considered a weed, but is edible and packed with medicinal qualities. Extremely ubiquitous, plantains are common in most parts of the United States and Europe. Seriously: just look in the grass at the park or the lines of green in the cracks of the sidewalk, and you’ll see plantains. I always think it is exciting (and will be so much more so for the Survivor) to realize that I am walking through a field of food.

I would only eat the plant (either raw in a salad or cooked) when it is very young and tender–once it gets tough and rigid, it’s much less tasty. Actually, if you’re looking for the tastiest plant, plantain really isn’t the best choice–Samuel Thayer, author of Nature’s Garden, bemoans the fact that so many foragers talk about plantain when there are so many better options out there. But it is everywhere!

A Potato Replacement: Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia)

Arrowhead leaf and flowers. Photo by the National Park Service.

Arrowhead is also sometimes called Indian potato or duck potato because the starchy tuber at the end of its rhizomes (a rhizome is essentially an underground stem) is edible and filling. Native Americans ate it often, and Lewis and Clark equated it to the potato and claimed it fit for trading. If it was good enough for them, it will be good enough for the survivor of the apocalypse to learn to identify and harvest.

The tubers can be baked in the edges of the fire desperately scrapped together by the cold and hungry Survivor, or they can be boiled if the Survivor has a vessel. The tubers can be dried and kept after roasting, making them a valuable long-term food source.

Arrowhead can be found in marsh-like settings, usually places with more permanent marsh conditions (rather than floodplains), although they are found in many parts of the Mississippi River basin.

To harvest them, the Survivor must dig around in the “muck” of the swamp bottom (with your hands or feet) and “hope to see the duck potatoes float to the surface,” according to survivalist Hank Shaw. Check out his blog for a recipe to use them (quickly, before your conventional kitchen is disintegrated in a nuclear explosion).

Identification: Grows in swampy ground or standing water. Leaves are 5-50 cm and are in the shape of an arrowhead. Small flowers with 3 white petals cluster the upper stem, usually 3 per bunch. More on this plant from the USDA.

Image from RAEMS Alberta

 

Image of a tuber from http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Arrowhead

 

 

More on Aronia!

Black Chokeberries are relatively easy to harvest.

I did not do justice on Black Chokeberry in my last post about it. This morning I biked to a strip of Aronia melanocarpa that my friend had discovered, and we discussed all the reasons that it is a fantastic resource to know for surviving an urban apocalypse while we loaded up bags and bags of plump berries.

The berries of Aronia (that’s what grocers and co-ops have started calling the berry, rather than “chokeberry” in an effort to brand it as actually edible and healthy) are bitter but certainly not toxic.

Birds generally don’t like them because of their astringency, and humans tend to avoid them for fear of them being poisonous (and out of general naivete). This means that if you find or plant an Aronia bush, it will most likely remain untouched by competitors!

Black chokeberries are a commonly used decorative plant as well. The strip I encountered was within a heavily landscaped urban plaza, along a bike path near high rise apartments. They grow easily (and can spread through suckers if uncontrolled), so finding them within the city is not too challenging. Being able to identify this plant will thus give you an edge over other survivors in the apocalypse!

The fruit is ready to be harvested in late summer or early fall–the ones I picked this morning were not fully ripened (good for making jam), but will be by September. The berries are full of antioxidants (in fact more-so than almost any other plant) and help prevent conditions like cancer and heart disease. As I’ve pointed out here before, nobody wants to make it through the apocalypse only to die of something like cancer or liver failure.

Harvesting the berries is pleasantly easy, and almost addicting. The berries hang lower than most of the leaves and disconnect from their stems freely. My friend and I picked for about an hour and collected over 25 lbs. They can be eaten raw, canned, cooked in pies, made into juice or all sorts of other things. 

Identifying chokeberries can be tricky, as they look similar to chokecherries, buckthorn and other shrubs—although chokecherries are also edible. The leaves are glabrous (hairless), darker on top than underneath. The buds on the branches are red, and the branches themselves are brownish/reddish and have lots of lenticels (lenticels are the things that look like this). You can distinguish chokeberries from chokecherries by the fact that the berries have many seeds while cherries have a singular pit.

I developed a new appreciation for Aronia melanocarpa today. Harvesting them was so gosh darn easy, and the buckwheat aronia waffles I made for lunch were delicious. This one will be good to know for when the bomb hits.

White or Yellow Sweet Clover (Melitotus alba / M. officinalis)

Plants that will be useful in the future are generally plants that have a knack to spread and survive. We often classify many of these types of aggressive, sturdy plants as weeds. (Perhaps after the apocalypse, we will call them valuable resources or gems).

White and Yellow Sweet Clover are examples of plants classified as “noxious weeds” by the MN DNR but which are actually both edible and medicinally useful. The seed pods can be cooked in a stew (as if they were beans), and are high in protein.  The leaves are edible, and the flowers taste something like vanilla. Many parts of the plant are used as flavoring or seasoning in various recipes.

Like many edible plants, the survivor will want to harvest them fresh and young. Sweet clover contains coumarin (along with other plants like mullein), which adds effects to leaves when they are dried. Coumarin has an anti-clotting effect on one’s blood, but it can also be toxic. Consume carefully and in much moderation.

While flowering, the plant can be used to soothe and soften skin conditions and external ulcers, so the survivor should add it to his or her list of wound-alleviating ointments like plantain.
Where to Find and How to Identify

Sweet clover is valuable to the survivor in part because it is so common. It grows in disturbed areas and along edges, often lining roadways,  ditches and abandoned fields. Which is essentially the landscape of the post-apocalyptic future.

Sweet clover is a biennial plant, flowering in the second year. When flowering, they grow erect, 3-5 feet tall. Leaves are small, split into three leaflets with sharp teeth, and the flowers line the top of the stem. The flowers have a strong aroma.

Common Hop (Humulus lupulus var. pubescens)

Hops!  These will be just as awesome in the post-apocalyptic future as they are now. Hops are both edible and medicinal.  A dye can also be made from the female fruit, and the leaves can be made into a hemp-like fiber.  Can also be planted simply as a decorative shrub. The young leaves and shoots of the hop plant can be eaten, and tea made from the leaves and fruits of hops is said to have positive effects on the digestive system and help alleviate insomnia.

The calming effect of hops may provide a well-deserved reprieve from the stress and anxiety of being one of the last humans alive on the planet.

Hops are also one of the main ingredients required to brew many types of beer, one of pre-apocalyptic civilization’s finest inventions.  This plant should be protected and propagated if any future civilization of humans values happiness and contentedness. I would argue that propagating hops in the future would be more important than at least 75% of other edible plants.  I mean, have you ever had a Surly Furious?

Important Notes on Keeping Happiness Alive:

Hops are perennial herbaceous climbing plants. Leaves have three lobes with serrated edges and alternate veins.  The fruit is about 1/2 -1 inch long, cone-shaped and green, flowering from July to August.  Found near water bodies, in river beds, ditches, canals, runoff areas, and other wet or disturbed areas.  They like full to partial sun. Can grow in sandy, loamy, or clay soils as well as a range of pH’s.  Prefers moist soil but can grow in drier environments. Can tolerate flooding.

Plant seeds in early spring in a cold frame, move to pots in late spring, then plant in summer.

Sources:

http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?latinname=Humulus+lupulus
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/hops–32.html
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedysta:Lestat
http://www.pnacza.pl/graph/ph_ploty_humulus_lupulus_aureus.jpg

Jewelweed (Impatiens compensus)

Jewelweed will be useful to the reader if he or she has previously encountered Poison Ivy or Stinging Nettle, also to be featured later on this blog.  The sap of Jewelweed can soothe the irritation caused to the skin by touching these plants.  The sap can also ease the suffering caused by bug bites or Athlete’s Foot.

As a side note, and perhaps even more importantly, the Jewelweed is also sometimes commonly called “touch-me-not” because the flowers can eject their seedpods somewhat enthusiastically when disturbed.  This mechanism can be quite entertaining for children, and may also provide a depressingly brief yet rare moment of glee for the survivor whose life has become a nightmarish torrent of fear, anxiety and hopelessness.

ID and Other Notes:

2-5 foot tall annual herbacious plant.  The stems are somewhat translucent and fragile.  Leaves are serrated, hairless, ovate, and smooth.  Orange jewelweed has a bright orange flower, usually clustered in groups of 2 or 3 off the upper leaves.  They have 5 petals forming upper and lower ‘lips’.

Found in openings in moist woodlands, floodplains, or at the edges of paths, ditches, or swamps. Prefers partial shade/sun and fertile soil full of organic materials. Prefers wet or moist conditions; can tolerate flooding. The orange flowers can glitter in sunlight and have positive aesthetic effects. Can be planted by cuttings or by seed.

Sources: 

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/or_jewelweed.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jewel_Weed_Impatiens_capensis_Creek_Side_3200px.jpg

Plants are moving north // Apocalypse through Earth-self-immolation approaching

Landscape architects, horticulturalists, gardeners and other plant-types noticed a while ago that the Plant Hardiness zones put forward by the USDA seemed to shifting northward.  Plants that couldn’t survive colder northerly climates suddenly found, for example, southern Minnesota to not be all that bad, as global temperatures rose ever so slightly.  The USDA has officially acknowledged this with their new Plant Hardiness maps.  

Here is a super fun toy by the Washington Post to see if hardiness zones have changed in your area. 

The USDA hasn’t admitted it, but this is clearly a harbinger of global environmental change collapse and impending doom.  Global warming/climate change has altered our atmosphere significantly–temperatures are rising, frequency and intensity of meteorological events are increasing.  It’s only a matter of time before freak tornado attacks,  spontaneous raging fires and either endless ice age-ic winters or infinite burning droughts engulf us.  

If we survive these clearly cumulating climactic climatic catastrophes, though, we will need to take a few things into account.  There may be new plants we need to learn to identify in our regions due to the hardiness zone shift, new species with useful traits. This also might push some of our trusted plants north, however.  The changes in temperature will also increase the growing season, which could mean that it won’t be as nearly impossible to survive a winter filled with slow starvation (and zombies).  Or, perhaps the warmer temperatures will increase the rate at which the zombie virus travels. Maybe we’ll be slammed by a double-whammy end-of-times as our own ecological naivety causes the atmosphere to burn and suffocate us, while meanwhile the zombie virus we foolishly thought we could control rampages across the globe…

Either way, check out the cool map. 

Yellow Wood Sorel (Oxalis stricta)

Survivor’s Notes:

Wood sorel is a common ground cover found in most parts of the Midwest. It especially thrives in degraded habitats, so it should be easy for the wandering survivor to find in deforested areas along power lines, along roadsides, in abandoned gardens, etc.

The leaves of wood sorel are edible and have a sweet to sour taste. They also contain Vitamin C, which may become a rare nutrient for post-apocalyptic survivors once stockpiles of fruit and juice have diminished.

Of Note to Pre-Apocalyptic Plant People:

Herbacious perennial that can get 6 inches to a foot tall. The leaves are trifoliate, heart-shaped, and fold up when in full sunlight. Yellow bell-shaped flowers with five petals emerge from the leaves, sometimes with a red center.

Very common plant found in many habitats, including woodland clearings, mesic black soil prairies, savannas, limestone glades, fields, lawns, edges of paths and driveways, and waste areas.

Full or partial sun. Prefers rich loamy soil, but can tolerate clay, gravel, and sand. Prefers moist to slightly dry conditions. Cannot tolerate hot and dry parts of mid summer and becomes dormant during these conditions.

Wood sorel is very ubiquitous and often not considered in design, although it could be used as a ground cover with some yellow coloring from its flowers. Wood sorel is not often planted; it spreads easily.

Daylilies (Hemerocallis sp.)

Survivor’s Notes: 

Daylilies are a very prevalent plant in urban garden plantings. People (before the apocalypse) love(d) these things.

There are over 60,000 registered cultivars of daylilies. Luckily for the survivor wandering deserted urban areas and spotting these hardy flowers, they can be a food source. The flowers are edible and can be dried and saved for later. Young leaves and tubers can also be eaten.

If harvesting from an urban landscape, however, be sure to avoid plantings near what were once heavy traffic areas where contaminants and runoff would likely be absorbed by the plants.

Daylilies for Pre-Apocalypse Folks:

Most daylillies occur in clumps 1 to 4 feet high. Linear leaves grouped in opposite fans. Flowers generally have three petals and three sepals. Mostly used for colored flowers. Can be used as a perennial flower border, planted in large masses, or as a ground cover on slopes.

Daylilies can grow in many environments, but are often distanced from trees or shrubs that would compete for moisture and sunlight. Best in full sun, can tolerate light shade. Can tolerate most soils but do best in slightly acidic soil high in organic matter. Prefers well-drained but moist environments. Can spread aggressively.

Can be planted almost any time soil can be worked. Dig hole large enough for the roots without bending them.

Wild Plum (Prunus americana)

Survivor’s Notes:

Wild plums are a great source of food for a survivor. They can be found in many habitats, and trees or shrubs often produce hefty amounts of fruit. The plums can be dried and stored, or eaten raw. The Omaha Indians also would use a lotion made from the bark and roots of wild plum on abrasions to help healing.

 

 

Of Note to Pre-Apocalyptic Plum-Growers:

Large shrub or small tree with thorny branches and a broad crown, blooming in mid spring. Usually forms thickets. Alternate, oval leaves with dark green upper side and pale under side. Small white flowers occur singly or in clusters. Fruits are spherical, about 1 inch in diameter, and reddish-purple.

Common in oak woodlands and savannas and lower elevation grassland prairies, as well as riverbanks and along roadsides. Can tolerate shade. Coarse to medium, but not fine soils. Requires well-drained soil. Winter hardy but intolerant to flood or fire. Ornamental/decorative and fruit-producing.

Easy to plant from seed or transplant, but not from cuttings. If propagating from cuttings, material should be taken from healthy, moderately vigorous stock plants and grown in full sunlight.

Gooseberry (Ribes sp.)

Survivor’s Notes:

Gooseberry may look like an intimidating plant and not a safe food source with its spiny fruit, but it can be a healthy and tasty snack for the casual zombie fleer.

The fruit should be harvested when fully mature, but before it ripens. Gooseberry is a great fruit to make jam (if the survivor has appropriate canning materials with them) and store for the long, cold, hopeless nuclear winter.

Prickly Gooseberry (Ribes cynobasti) is one species found in the Midwest, details on which are listed below.

Prickly Gooseberry and the Landscape Architect:

Shrub, anywhere from 2-10 feet high.

Thorny leaves and branches. Leaves are scalloped with five distinctive lobes. Fruits are greenish with vertical stripes. Tubes of flowers hang from each fruit. Gooseberries can be found in rocky and wooded areas, slopes, and borders, as well as limestone bluffs. Half to full sun. Grows best in soil with a pH of 5.5 to 7. Cannot survive in very dry environments.
Flowers bloom in very early spring and can be harmed by late-winter freezes. Hardy, very productive. Also used as ornamental tree or shrub. Addition of comport or other organic materials helps plants settle when planted. Can be propagated from cuttings or through mound layering. Plant at least 4 feet apart.

Common Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)

Survivor’s Notes:

Common chokecherry can provide the survivor with a food source through its fruit. The small berries are bitter but edible. They can be dried and stored for later use, or eaten raw. If the survivor has an established base of operations with no fear of invading zombies, he or she could even attempt to ferment the cherries into chokecherry wine. The pits of the cherries are poisonous, however, and should be avoided.

The bark and leaves of chokecherries have been used medicinally as well, and a tincture of chokecherry could help alleviate suffering from fever, pneumonia, sore throat or gastrointestinal problems. It can also be used as a rinse on burns and open sores. If using as a salve, the plant should not be boiled–the medicinal properties can be boiled away.

Of Note to Pre-Apocalyptic Landscape Architects:

Tree or shrub, less than 30 feet tall. Leaves are alternate, serrated, oval in shape, and glabrous, growing 1 to 4 inches long and 2-3 inches wide. There are two small glands on the petiole at the base of the leaf. Young trees are marked by horizontal lenticels on their bark, which grow into grooves in maturity. The fruit are small, dark red cherries. Also grows cylindrical clusters of white flowers in spring.

Grows abundantly in many habitats and communities. Grows in USDA hardiness zones 2 through 7. Prefers full sun–not an understory shrub. Occurs in wide range of soil types including both silt and sandy loam, a range of acidity/alkalinity, and depth. Does not do well in poorly drained or clay soils. Can withstand dry and moist soils but cannot withstand frequent flooding or poorly drained soil. Well adapted to fire disturbance–can spread from rhizomes, and seeds germinate better when heated. Grows quickly to mature size and has white flowers in the spring. Attracts birds and can produce a fragrance like almonds. Can be used as noise barrier and does well in urban areas. Seeds can be placed ½ inch deep, but should be pre-chilled for 3 months prior. Saplings are intolerant of weed competition.

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)

Survivor’s Notes:

Despite the fact that stinging nettle can cause skin irritation upon contact with its hairy leaves and stems, this plant can be useful both as a food source and as a medicinal herb. Nettles can often be found in pastures, fields, overgrown yards, waste dumps, roadsides, floodplains, ditches, and along roads, so they should be easily locatable in an overgrowing, abandoned world of the future.

The leaves of stinging nettle can be eaten, and taste somewhat like spinach. Be sure to either soak the leaves in water or cook them before touching them with bare hands or eating them, in order to remove the stinging chemicals.
The leaves are best eaten when young and tender, but if collected anytime between June and September, they can be used for medicinal purposes. As an herb, nettle is an astringent tonic, and can have positive effects in cases of hemorrhages, nosebleeds, diarrhea, dysentery, and fevers. In case you are unfortunately suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or eczema while surviving in the future, nettles can help with those conditions as well.

Of Note to Pre-Apocalyptic Landscape Architect Types:

Leaves grow oppositely on vertical stem, and are serrated with a pointed tip. Leaves and stems are hairy. Flowers are small and brown or green. Grows 1 to 2m tall. Moist fields, forests, or shorelines. Full to partial sun. Prefers moist, rich environments. Does not thrive in phosphorous-deprived soils; prefers nitrogen rich soil. Prefers damp environments. Cannot tolerate saline environments. Often considered a weed, but can be useful in a garden. Nettles make good companion plants to many vegetables including broccoli, tomatoes, mints and other herbs. Can thrive in areas rich in poultry droppings. Cuttings can be used as compost activator (with high nitrogen content). Can be propagated by seed, cuttings, or root division.

Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

Survivor’s Notes:

Black chokeberry is helpful as a food source.  The berries, although astringent in taste, are edible.  In addition, they are a common food source for wildlife in late fall, and the survivor can use the shurbs as a lure for squirrels or birds (thus providing even more food).

Black chokeberries have also been shown to provide a defense against colon cancer.  (Nobody wants to survive a global epidemic of contagious disease, only to die of colon cancer).

Of Note to Pre-Apocalyptic Landscape Architects:

Alternate, finely serrated leaves. Black berries in late fall, each containing many seeds. Red buds on winter twigs. Often found near rivers, in moist woods, or on bluffs or hillsides. Full to partial sun. Thrives in a variety of sites, including moist clay and dry, alkaline sand/rocky soil. Prefers moist, well-drained soil. No serious insect threats. Continuous moisture can cause fruit to rot, spreading disease. Establishes quickly, good fall foliage, winter berries. Plant sparingly; strong tendency to sucker and colonize nearby areas.