The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants

by U.S. Department of the Army

Anyone who has spent serious time outdoors knows that in survival situations, wild plants are often the only sustenance available. The proper identification of these plants can mean the difference between survival and death. This book describes habitat and distribution, physical characteristics, and edible parts of wild plants—the key elements of identification. Hugely important to the book are its color photos. There are over one hundred of them, further simplifying the identification of poisonous and edible plants. No serious outdoors person should ever hit the trail without this book and the knowledge contained within it.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Food, Survival, Cooking, Reference, Health

161 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2009

About the author

The Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Department of the Army is the Federal Government agency within which the United States Army is organized, and it is led by the Secretary of the Army who has statutory authority 10 U.S.C. § 3013 to conduct its affairs and to prescribe regulations for its government, subject to the limits of the law, and the directions of the Secretary of Defense and the President.

The Secretary of the Army is a civilian official appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The highest-ranking military officer in the department is the Chief of Staff of the Army, who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other senior officials of the Department are the Under Secretary of the Army (principal deputy to the Secretary) and the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army (principal deputy to the Chief of Staff.)

The Department of War was originally formed in 1789 as an Executive Department of the United States, and was renamed by the National Security Act of 1947 to the Department of the Army on September 18, 1947. By amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 in 1949, the Department of the Army was transformed to its present-day status.

Reviews

[Mary Codd · Rating 1 out of 5]

Far from complete as claimed in the title, this book describes habitat and distribution, physical characteristics, and edible parts of many wild plants but not in great detail. The photos are poor quality, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to identify plants using them. The book covers the tropics, subtropics, and temperate zones. Since I’m not planning a visit to the tropics or subtropics I wasn’t interested in many of the plants covered. I caught several typos and that made me worry about the accuracy of other information in the book. Sadly, the term “good enough for government work” comes to mind to describe this book. The back cover says that the book was originally created for use by U.S. Army personnel. I sure hope our troops have a better handbook than this one to help them survive in the wild. I would not recommend purchasing this book.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a survival manual of sorts as the US Department of the Army has compiled a guide to edible wild plants from around the world that can be eaten in times of need. The manual starts with an identification section followed by a section on medicinal uses of some of the plants. This is a useful reference book for the outdoorsman, survivalist, or prepper.

[Diann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published by the Department of the Army, this book is intended to help US units anywhere in the world, so there are a lot of plants listed here that won't be found in any specific geographic location.


Many, but not all, of the photos are clear enough to assist in positive identification.


I do like that the write ups warn you about contra-indications, and about any look-alike plants you don't want to touch.


I'm not sure how useful this is in the field -- you are looking at a plant, and do you have to page through every page to see if this edible? But, then again, I'm not sure there's any way around that issue given that a book may be your only resource to hand. What might help would be an index in the back tied into geographic region which could make referencing easier for someone in the field.


Oh. This book is too short to be "complete". Nice to have at hand, but I'd want more.

[Emily Mellow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "complete guide"? This book describes several plants, from several different continents, so that wherever you are in the world you may be able to find something to eat. However, this is one of the least complete guides I've ever seen.
On the other hand (!) there is a lot of useful information. If the title was different, I would say that this was a very good book, and I love that the US Army published it. It's really about survival in harsh climates. As well as edibility of plants, they describe other uses, like building a shelter with certain stalks, or making rope with others. There's not much detail, but it's a good starter book, especially for people who don't know where in the world they will end up ;)

[Captain Packrat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of typos. Many of the illustrations are black & white, crude, and totally useless; some of them look like they were printed on an old dot matrix printer. Some of the information such as binomial and family names is obsolete.

[Salem S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the information is pretty good, but the pictures are less than ideal. I also can't get past the fact that it says Pokeweed is edible. While technically true, this seems like a beginners guide, and Pokeweed can kill or seriously hurt someone who doesn't have a guide on how to prepare it. It gives a warning, but I would have left it out, or put it in the avoid section. Makes me concerned that the other information isn't good.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent guide for beginners that features the most common edible plants and their poisonous twins. Color photos and/or drawings; common and Latin name; description; habitat and distribution; and the edible parts.

The first few pages are dedicated to understanding the parts of the plant (leaf shape/features, stalk shape, root shape), followed by the steps included in the edibility test.

[Kait · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book with a wide range of plants. The cooking/handling instructions and usage examples were generally thorough yet concise. However many of the books images were unclear, with somewhat conspicuous physical descriptions.

[Jenn Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting from an academic point of view. But the quality of the photos/specificity of description did not achieve a level that would make me feel comfortable to reach a positive identification, which the book successfully argues is essential for most safe wild eating.

[Crystal W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I occasionally like to try wild foods, though I am certainly no expert. I enjoyed reading yet another book on wild foods. My one complaint is that "complete" is in the title. It's definitely not.

[Tiff Setzler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is vague, only the bare minimum on the plants. It’s great if you are just looking for an overview of edible plants, and not in-depth information on each plant.

This is not the book if you’re looking for survivor guide information. There is not enough information on each plant to educate yourself on how to eat the plants, what the plant can be eaten with or what else the plant can be used for.

[Tim Potton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth having if you ever thought of what you might eat if things go wrong in the world.
Depends on where you live, but if you live where the plants are listed in this book you will never go hungry. Great book for survivalists, hikers, campers, hunters, fishermen/women, or anyone who wants to have a heads up what to eat in the wild.

[Michelle Smart · Rating 3 out of 5]

My library e-loan refused to load past the 16% mark, which was where the general info stopped and the alphabetical list of plants started. I thoroughly enjoyed the first section, though. It was fascinating to read about foraging from a military, emergency perspective.

[Lizzytish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Put out on the Army. Plants were listed in alphabetical order. However I would have preferred different sections, such as plants in the US. Plants in China, etc. it was interesting. Good photos. Very simple to understand.

There was a weird chemical smell to the pages, however.

[C. Meade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a MUST HAVE for any prepper. One might think this would not apply to urban areas, but that would be a wrong assumption. The potentially life-saving knowledge in this book is suitable for urban, suburban, and rural areas of the country. Highly recommended!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Low quality images — deduct 1-star

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting & informative book. I learned a lot about different plants & what was edible from them.

[Dan T Calica-Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was Ok. Very basic framing skills being taught in this book. I was expecting something more informative.

[Oran Fieldhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think I picked the right flowers to eat no real clue tho

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

You probably never realized, but there are many plants and weeds right in your own yard that are actually edible! In this book each page gives you the name,photo, basic information about each plant, and how to cook the plant and how some plants can also be used as home remedies. Its very easy to use and the photos are clear so you can easily identify the plant. I gave it a 4 because although it tells you to cook certain parts of the plant, it doesn't say for how long and that could end up making someone sick if its their first time. It also fails to mention that plants sprayed with pesticides and chemicals should NOT be eaten by you.

[Samantha Yost · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terribly complete after all...

This is a weird little collection. It includes a lot of plants that you'll only find in exotic overseas locations, but doesn't include some edible plants that are really prevalent in the US, like violets and goutweed. It also doesn't mention toxic lookalikes and in at least one instance that I noticed, it said all pines are safe, when a few species such as the ponderosa pine are actually quite toxic. This was written by the Army, so I imagine it might be more helpful if you're behind enemy lines in the jungle, but less so for the civvie wondering what weeds in her backyard are edible.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting from a survivalist perspective perhaps but since it covers plants from around the world, it takes a lot of picking and choosing to find plants that might grow in one's own region. Good cautionary advice included to help prevent accidental poisoning from unknown plants but I'm concerned that the descriptions mentioned in the book are not detailed enough to ensure that the plant is what you think it is. I would hesitate to use this book only if I wanted to just find edible plants for a snack but in a survivalist situation, it would be better than nothing.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly good pictures and descriptions (with some line drawings), but it covers the whole world and that's not always useful to the backyard gatherer. Also, very clear warnings as to what is poisonous or dangerous. And, heh, they give tips on what you can use for camo and things like rope. Gotta love those Army folks for thinking beyond food. If you're ever behind enemy lines, this is the book to have, lo.

Great layout!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but there were a lot of typos. Also there were two separate plants that had the exact same picture of red fruit. Not really sure which one it belonged to. The pictures were ok, but I don't really see how some of the line drawings would help because they were not very clear.

[Cabracrazy18 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall not a very good book for identifying plants. Some of the information I would even consider questionable. Great for the colored photographs that accompany every plant, but some of them are hard to tell how big the plant is. Not a lot of information on each plant either.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book's positive feature include a detailed picture and description for each plant depicted. I would have felt it had more value, if it depicted our regions wildflowers. This was definitely a good start on this topic.

[Paula Zoran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always interested in new things. Walking along the path I was intrigued by the many plants that flowered. This field guide helped me to see what plants were edible and which were not. The guide was extremely easy to use.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems thorough, but not very well organized.

[Eric Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains many photographs. Also with some description on how to prepare and eat them. It has lists divided by region. Not exhaustive by any means. Also, a lot of useless tropical info.

[Kaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good pictures and descriptions.