How can I identify edible berries/fruit in the wide and avoid the poisonous varieties? Is there a general guideline that can be followed or is each plant specific?
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Eating berries and mushrooms is not recommended since there is no general pattern to identify poisonous ones (unless you're an expert on that topic). Even having a book with pictures of edible berries can be tricky as some poisonous ones are disguised as their edible counterparts. Plants, on the other hand, should not be edible if the sap is milky. Milky sap often means poison. Take, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia which can look like cacti and trick you. So check the sap. With insects it's easier. Not eating the flashy coloured, smelly or slow unwary moving ones is the rule of thumb here. |
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As other answers say, don't just try it. A good negative indicator is if it irritates your skin. I've read that particularly with berries, if you crush some and rub some of the juice on a patch of skin and let it sit for a while, some berries will cause irritation, which is a good indicator not to eat them! |
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It is plant specific AFAIK. But i heard somwhere, that if you taste poisoned berries or fruit it will taste strange - because of evolution - whoever can detect poisonous berry by taste will not eat it and will live longer :-) |
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In general, worldwide this is very hard to predict unless you're an expert in the subject (and therefore likely wouldn't be looking for advice on this page!) There are some clues, like plants with milky sap tend to be poisonous - but applying these in a general context is almost always a bad idea since your life can depend on it. The best you can do is to read up, get a good book etc. that focuses around the area you're hiking to - get one as specific as you can, with good, clear descriptions and pictures. This will enable you to have at least some degree of confidence - though obviously unless you're 100% sure I wouldn't risk it. |
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Of course, everything depends on risk. If you've been lost for four or five days and you're starving, assuming non-bitter, non-burning = okay may seem more reasonable. However, if I'm found on the brink of starvation, I generally don't want the response personnel to also have to deal with whatever I may have poisoned myself with. Seems a lot like doubling down on death. |
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The best advice is not to unless you are very, very sure. Having said that, and just for fun, assuming you are in a chronic survival situation with no choice, this article describes how to test if a plant is edible. |
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