Is there any way to know if a plant is safe eat?

Question

Other than the common vegetables and fruits, is there any way to know if a plant with or without fruits/vegetables is safe to eat?

Answer 1

Never ever taste an unknown plant unless you have someone with you who is an expert in plant identification.  Some plants can be deadly in even the smallest amounts like hemlock.  Hemlock looks like parsnips (which are edible) but is deadly poisonous.  Just a half an inch of hemlock may result in death within a few hours.  As the previous post stated, some plants have edible parts but other parts are poisonous.  Things like  potatos and tomatos are edible but the plant itself is poisonous (they are in the nightshade family).

There is no sure way to safely "test" an unknow plant to see if its safe other than lab testing or a positive ID from an expert.

Be Careful!

Answer 2

Here is a link for the toxicity of common houseplants, If you could be more specific as to what kind of plant you want to eat, I could find out more.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/factsheets/031....

Answer 3

There are books on edible and poisonous plants available and probably web sites as well.  Interestingly some plants have edible parts and other parts that are poisonous.  Check with your library or a bookstore.

The best rule is don't eat something unless you are sure it is safe!

Answer 4

Let someone else eat it first and watch and see what happens.  If they don't go into convulsions it's safe.

Answer 5

Websites are great, but if you are in a survival situation, you often won't have that option.  

I saw this on Survivorman. First you cut open the fruit, and touch it to your skin.  Give it thirty minutes and see if it welts up or otherwise reacts badly.  Then if that's OK, touch it to your tongue.  Give it a good 30 minutes and see if anything bad happens.  If not, eat a little bit and then give it some more time.  If all seems well, proceed with caution.