| Why learn about wild plants just to go backpacking? | | | | be used so easily to make rope or twine. In the |
| Of course it is interesting for some of us, but beyond | | | | California desert I peeled yucca leaves into strips and |
| that, a little knowledge of plants can save your life. This | | | | braided them into a rope in a matter of thirty minutes. |
| isn't just about the edible ones. Food is actually a low | | | | With two men pulling hard on either end, we couldn't |
| priority in most wilderness emergencies. However, | | | | break it. This is one of the better plants for making |
| there are many other important uses for the plants out | | | | ropes as well as finer string (separate out the finest |
| there. | | | | fibers). |
| Useful Wild Plants | | | | Yucca can also provide needle and thread for |
| Cattails: The cattail is one of the most useful wild | | | | emergency repairs. Cut the tip of a yucca leaf from |
| plants in the wilderness. Swampy or wet areas | | | | the inside, an inch down and about halfway through. |
| throughout the northern hemisphere have cattail plants, | | | | Bend it back, and you'll be able to peel some fibers out |
| and once you identified them, you'll never forget them. | | | | of the leaf, which stay attached to the "needle" or tip |
| While they have five edible parts, cattails are much | | | | of the leaf. I've pulled out two-foot long strands of |
| more than food plants. Their long flat leaves have | | | | fibers this way, and sewn up clothing with them. |
| been used for centuries to make baskets and | | | | Milkweeds: Several parts are edible with proper |
| food-serving trays. You can weave them into mats | | | | preparation, and some people apply the white sap to |
| for sleeping on, and even make crude clothing out of | | | | warts to get rid of them. The really useful part of the |
| them. | | | | milkweed, however, is the seed fluff. It is even more |
| The "fluff" of the cattail seed head that makes it one | | | | flammable than cattail fluff, so you can use it for |
| of the first wild plants you should learn about. The old | | | | starting fires from sparks. |
| fluffy seed heads often cling to the tops of the stalks | | | | It is a great insulater, too, even looking something like |
| year-round. Put a spark to these and it they can burst | | | | goose down. Fill bread bags with milkweed down and |
| into flame. This can be a life-saver if you don't have | | | | these "mittens" will keep your hands very warm. Insert |
| matches. Stuff your jacket full of cattail fluff and you'll | | | | your hands and tie the bags around your wrist or tuck |
| turn it into a winter coat, possibly saving you from the | | | | it into your sleeves. |
| number one killer in the wilderness: hypothermia. | | | | Some other useful wild plants? The bark the white |
| Some have also reported using cattail as an insect | | | | birch tree burns better than paper, even when wet. |
| repellent. Just keep a smudgy fire going by burning the | | | | Pop sap blisters on fir trees (young ones) and you can |
| seed fluff. This may not be any more effective than | | | | use the sap as an antiseptic dressing for small cuts. |
| any smoky fire would be, but it's so simple to collect | | | | Smear the juice from crushed wild garlic and onion on |
| and burn cattail fluff that it is worth remembering. | | | | yourself as an insect repellent. There are endless |
| Yuccas: Sword-like leaves with sharply pointed ends | | | | ways to use wild plants, so why not learn and practice |
| make these easy plants to recognize. Few plants can | | | | a few? |