Global Regional Plant Guides

Canadian Boreal Shield & Peatlands Plant Survival Guide

A comprehensive survival plant guide for Canadian Boreal Shield & Peatlands, covering useful woody materials, land foods, aquatic foods, traditional-use plants and poisonous look-alikes.

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Cover of Canadian Boreal Shield & Peatlands Plant Survival Guide

Continent: North America
USDA-equivalent zones: 2-4
Köppen climate: Dfc / Dfb
Profiles: 20
Regional biome: Boreal Shield forest, lakes, muskeg and peatland

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Useful plants · 5 Land edibles · 5 Aquatic edibles · 3 Traditional-use · 3 Poisonous look-alikes · 4

Useful plants

Wood, fibre, shelter and craft

Black spruce

Picea mariana

Useful plants

Identify: Narrow spire crown; short four-sided blue-green needles; small dark persistent cones.
Habitat: Muskeg, peatland, cold flats and thin rocky soils of North America.
Season: Year-round.
Field use: Small straight poles, resinous dry twigs, roots for lashings and dependable fuel. Lower dead branches often remain sheltered and dry.
Caution: Shallow roots make windthrow common. Resinous smoke needs ventilation.
Look-alikes: White spruce has longer needles and larger cones and favors better-drained sites.

polesfueltindercordageresin

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Jack pine

Pinus banksiana

Useful plants

Identify: Two short twisted needles; irregular crown; strongly curved cones that persist on branches.
Habitat: Dry Boreal Shield ridges, burns and exposed bedrock.
Season: Year-round.
Field use: Resin-rich kindling, quick fuel and light poles.
Caution: Dead pine can drop limbs without warning; sparks travel.
Look-alikes: Lodgepole pine usually has straighter cones and longer needles.

polesfueltinder

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Paper and white birches

Betula papyrifera / B. pendula group

Useful plants

Stylized form diagram for Paper and white birches

Identify: White to pale peeling bark with dark horizontal lenticels; toothed leaves; hanging catkins.
Habitat: Boreal and cool temperate forest, burns, river terraces and mountain slopes.
Season: Bark and wood year-round; sap in spring; leaves summer.
Field use: Loose dead bark is exceptional tinder and a short-term waterproof sheet. Wood carves cleanly for utensils and burns hot when dry; straight shoots can become light arrow shafts.
Caution: Never girdle living trees. Birch bark flame spreads fast. Birch polypore and chaga are fungi, not part of this plant profile.
Look-alikes: Aspen bark is smooth and does not peel in paper sheets; alders retain woody cone-like catkins.

tindercontainercarvingfuelarrow shaft

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Trembling aspen

Populus tremuloides / P. tremula

Useful plants

Stylized form diagram for Trembling aspen

Identify: Round finely toothed leaves on flattened stalks that tremble; smooth pale bark.
Habitat: Burns, clearings, boreal forest and mountain valleys.
Season: Leaves spring-fall; wood year-round.
Field use: Light carving wood, quick fuel and one of the best soft hearth-board woods for friction fire when dry.
Caution: Standing dead stems often rot internally. Test poles before loading.
Look-alikes: Birch leaves are more pointed and bark peels.

bow drill boardcarvingfuelpoles

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Willows

Salix spp.

Useful plants

Identify: Alternate narrow to oval leaves; flexible twigs; catkins; many species root along wet ground.
Habitat: Riverbanks, lake margins, floodplains, tundra valleys and moist forest.
Season: Twigs year-round; leaves and catkins in the growing season.
Field use: Flexible rods for baskets, fish traps, wattle, arrow shafts and repair splints. Dry punky willow and softer species can serve bow-drill hearth boards; denser pieces make spindles. Bark has documented salicylate-related traditional use.
Caution: Species identification is difficult. Do not self-dose bark with aspirin allergy, bleeding risk, kidney disease, pregnancy, or in children with viral illness.
Look-alikes: Alders have cone-like female catkins; some dogwoods have opposite leaves.

arrow shaftbow drill boardbasketrycordagemedicine

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Land edibles

Terrestrial food species

Lingonberry

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Land-based edible plants

Identify: Low evergreen shrub; leathery oval leaves with pale dots beneath; bright red berries with a crown.
Habitat: Boreal forest, tundra heath, alpine ground and bog hummocks.
Season: Late summer through winter.
Field use: Ripe berries are documented food and often persist after frost; suitable fresh, cooked or dried.
Caution: Confirm woody evergreen leaves and fruit crown; avoid animal-contaminated patches.
Look-alikes: Bearberry has netted leaf veins and mealier fruit.

food fruit

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Bilberry / bog blueberry group

Vaccinium myrtillus / V. uliginosum

Land-based edible plants

Stylized form diagram for Bilberry / bog blueberry group

Identify: Low woody shrub; blue to blue-black berries with a crown; leaves alternate and small.
Habitat: Boreal, montane and tundra heath.
Season: Mid- to late summer.
Field use: Ripe berries are documented food and can be dried or cooked.
Caution: Color alone is not enough; confirm woody stem and Vaccinium fruit crown.
Look-alikes: Black-berried herbs lack woody stems; crowberry has needle-like leaves.

food fruit

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Crowberry

Empetrum nigrum

Land-based edible plants

Identify: Creeping evergreen mat with tiny grooved needle-like leaves and shiny black berries.
Habitat: Arctic and alpine heath, bog margins and windswept coasts.
Season: Late summer through winter.
Field use: Ripe berries are documented food, mild and water-rich.
Caution: Low fruit gathers grit and animal contamination.
Look-alikes: Juniper has stiff needles in whorls and blue waxy cones.

food fruit

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Wild roses

Rosa spp.

Land-based edible plants

Identify: Prickly stems; compound toothed leaves; five-petaled flowers; red to orange hips.
Habitat: Open woods, thickets, prairie, dunes and mountain slopes.
Season: Hips late summer through winter.
Field use: Fleshy hip walls are documented food after the irritating hairs and seeds are removed; good for simmering or drying.
Caution: Internal hairs irritate skin and mouth. Avoid sprayed or moldy fruit.
Look-alikes: Hawthorn has simple lobed leaves and woody thorns.

food fruitcordage

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Fireweed

Chamerion angustifolium

Land-based edible plants

Identify: Tall colonies; narrow alternate leaves; magenta four-petaled flowers; long silky-seeded capsules.
Habitat: Burns, avalanche tracks, river gravel and disturbed northern ground.
Season: Young shoots spring; flowers summer.
Field use: Young shoots and leaves are documented food after correct identification and cooking; dry stalks yield light fiber and tinder.
Caution: Older plants become tough. Very young shoots can be confused with other herbs.
Look-alikes: Purple loosestrife has opposite leaves and dense flower spikes.

food greenfibertinder

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Aquatic edibles

Water-margin food species

Cattails

Typha spp.

Water and wetland edible plants

Identify: Tall flat strap leaves; dense brown cylindrical female flower spike below a narrower male section.
Habitat: Marshes, pond edges, slow channels and wet ditches.
Season: Shoots spring; pollen early summer; rhizomes year-round where lawful.
Field use: Documented food parts include young inner shoots, pollen and processed rhizome starch. Leaves make mats, baskets and thatch; seed down can bulk tinder.
Caution: Water can concentrate sewage, metals and parasites. Raw rhizome requires correct processing; avoid contaminated marshes.
Look-alikes: Yellow flag iris has sword leaves and showy flowers but no brown cattail head.

food shootfood starchbasketrythatchtinder

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Wild rice

Zizania spp.

Water and wetland edible plants

Identify: Tall aquatic annual grass; open branching flower head with separate male and female sections; long dark grains.
Habitat: Shallow lakes, slow rivers and marshes in North America.
Season: Late summer to early fall.
Field use: Mature grains are documented food and can be parched, winnowed and cooked.
Caution: Harvest rights and methods are culturally and legally regulated. Avoid moldy grain and polluted water.
Look-alikes: Common reed has feathery panicles but no long dark grain.

food grainthatch

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Broad pondweeds

Potamogeton spp.

Water and wetland edible plants

Stylized form diagram for Broad pondweeds

Identify: Submerged or floating leaves with parallel veins; small flower spikes rise above water; flexible stems.
Habitat: Lakes, ponds and slow rivers across temperate and cold regions.
Season: Growing season.
Field use: Tubers, young shoots or seeds of some species have documented food use; beds shelter fish and invertebrates.
Caution: Species identification and water quality are essential. Avoid stagnant, cyanobacteria-rich or polluted water.
Look-alikes: Water smartweed has jointed stems and pink flower spikes.

food aquatic

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Traditional-use

Documented traditional medicine

Labrador tea

Rhododendron groenlandicum / R. tomentosum

Medicinal and traditional-use plants

Identify: Evergreen rolled-edge leaves with rusty-woolly undersides; white terminal flower clusters.
Habitat: Bogs, wet taiga and muskeg.
Season: Leaves year-round.
Field use: Culturally important documented beverage and traditional-use plant in northern regions.
Caution: Strong or repeated infusions can cause illness; bog rosemary is a dangerous look-alike.
Look-alikes: Bog rosemary leaves are narrower and pale rather than rusty beneath.

medicinebeverage

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Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

Medicinal and traditional-use plants

Identify: Aromatic finely divided leaves; flat clusters of small white to pink flower heads.
Habitat: Dry openings, trails, grassland, shore gravel and disturbed soil.
Season: Summer through fall.
Field use: Documented traditional external uses include washes and aromatic preparations; dry flower heads make light tinder.
Caution: Possible allergy, pregnancy and anticoagulant concerns. Not a substitute for wound cleaning or medical care.
Look-alikes: Poison hemlock is much taller with hollow purple-spotted stems and true umbels.

medicinetinder

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Broadleaf and ribwort plantains

Plantago major / P. lanceolata

Medicinal and traditional-use plants

Stylized form diagram for Broadleaf and ribwort plantains

Identify: Basal rosette with strong parallel ribs; leafless spikes of tiny flowers and seeds.
Habitat: Trails, camps, meadows and disturbed soil.
Season: Spring through fall.
Field use: Young leaves and seeds are documented food; clean leaves have traditional external use on minor irritation.
Caution: Do not put dirty leaves on open wounds. Seeds swell with water and can obstruct if taken dry in quantity.
Look-alikes: Docks have netted veins; plantain ribs run from the base.

food greenmedicine

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Poisonous look-alikes

Do not eat — verify before harvest

Water hemlocks

Cicuta spp.

Poisonous plants

Stylized form diagram for Water hemlocks

Identify: Wetland perennial with divided leaves, white umbrella flower clusters and thick chambered rootstocks.
Habitat: Marshes, wet meadows, stream edges and ditches across the northern hemisphere.
Season: Spring through fall.
Field use: No survival use. Make wetland root gathering a prohibited activity unless a qualified botanist is present.
Caution: Extremely poisonous; small amounts, especially roots, can cause violent seizures and death.
Look-alikes: Angelica, cow parsnip and other Apiaceae can look similar. Never taste to decide.

poison

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Bog rosemary

Andromeda polifolia

Poisonous plants

Identify: Low evergreen bog shrub with narrow rolled-edge leaves pale beneath and pink urn-shaped flowers.
Habitat: Sphagnum bogs and peat hummocks.
Season: Year-round leaves; flowers early summer.
Field use: No food or tea use.
Caution: Contains grayanotoxin-type compounds and may cause vomiting, dizziness and heart effects.
Look-alikes: Labrador tea leaves are broader and rusty-woolly beneath.

poison

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Baneberries

Actaea spp.

Poisonous plants

Identify: Woodland herb with divided leaves, white flower clusters and red, white or black berries on stout stalks.
Habitat: Moist temperate and boreal forest.
Season: Fruit late summer.
Field use: No food use.
Caution: Berries and roots are poisonous and can affect the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems.
Look-alikes: Edible Vaccinium berries grow on woody shrubs with simple leaves.

poison

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Monkshoods

Aconitum spp.

Poisonous plants

Identify: Deeply divided palmate leaves; blue, purple, yellow or white hood-shaped flowers.
Habitat: Moist mountain meadows, streambanks and cool forest.
Season: Summer.
Field use: No food or field medicinal use.
Caution: All parts contain potent aconitine-type alkaloids; ingestion can cause fatal heart and nerve effects.
Look-alikes: Larkspurs have a rear spur and are also toxic.

poison

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