edible fruit Archives - The Cargo Cult Café

Sulphur Cinquefoil: Edible & Medicinal

March 23, 2016 by Mike 3 Comments

Sulphur Cinquefoil, Potentilla recta, also known as Rough-fruited Cinquefoil or Five Fingers. The flowers will remind you of strawberries and this plant does produce fruit but it isn’t widely used by foragers. The fruit is said to be edible raw or cooked and “the unripe fruit is almost as pleasant as the fully ripe fruit.” Medicinally cinquefoils have been used as an astringent, tonic, and febrifuge (fever reducer). It was used for fevers, diarrhea, dysentery, passive hemorrhages and a decoction of the root was gargled for ulcerations of the throat and mouth.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry

Sulphur Cinquefoil Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1991-1992

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 29

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 435

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 240-241

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Adam’s Needle: Edible, Medicinal, Cautions & Other Uses

June 18, 2015 by Mike 5 Comments

Adam’s Needle, Yucca Filamentosa, is one of the most useful plants to know for wilderness survival. It’s edible, medicinal and has been used as a fish poison, soap, cordage, needle and thread and as a fire starter.

Adam’s Needle Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Culpeper, M.D., Nicholas. Culpeper Color Herbal. Ed. David Potterton. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1983. Print. pg. 205

Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 22-23, 257-258

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 25

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 606-607

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 334-335

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 20-21, 170-171

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Mayapple: Poison, Edible, Medicinal & Other Uses

February 6, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, is a plant that can both help and hurt you. The fruit is only edible when ripe otherwise it can rip your stomach to pieces. Most of the plant is considered poisonous with a few reported cases of fatalities. Medicinally, it has been used to expel worms, as a purgative meaning strong laxative, for rheumatism, as an emetic and finally it was used as an insecticide.

Mayapple Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.

Culpeper, M.D., Nicholas. Culpeper Color Herbal. Ed. David Potterton. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1983. Print. pg. 119

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1528-1532

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 44

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 93, 126-127

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 420

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 354-355

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 20-21

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.