Global Regional Plant Guides

Fennoscandian Arctic, Boreal & Baltic North Plant Survival Guide

A comprehensive survival plant guide for Fennoscandian Arctic, Boreal & Baltic North, covering useful woody materials, land foods, aquatic foods, traditional-use plants and poisonous look-alikes.

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Cover of Fennoscandian Arctic, Boreal & Baltic North Plant Survival Guide

Continent: Europe
USDA-equivalent zones: 1-6
Köppen climate: ET / Dfc / Dfb
Profiles: 20
Regional biome: Tundra, taiga, bog, lake margin and Baltic coast

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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

Siberian spruce

Picea obovata

Useful plants

Stylized form diagram for Siberian spruce

Identify: Sharp four-sided needles on woody pegs; narrow crown; long hanging cones.
Habitat: Moist Siberian taiga, valleys and north-facing slopes.
Season: Year-round.
Field use: Straight poles, roots for careful lashing, dry lower branches and resinous fuel.
Caution: Needles are sharp; root harvest damages living trees.
Look-alikes: Larch has soft clustered needles and drops them in autumn.

polesfueltindercordage

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Scots pine

Pinus sylvestris

Useful plants

Identify: Two blue-green twisted needles per bundle; orange-red upper bark; small cones.
Habitat: Dry sandy forest, continental slopes and Eurasian taiga.
Season: Year-round.
Field use: Straight poles, resin-rich kindling, durable fuel and pitchwood shavings.
Caution: Resinous wood sparks and smokes in enclosed shelters.
Look-alikes: Siberian pine has five needles per bundle.

polesfueltinderresin

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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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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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Common juniper

Juniperus communis

Useful plants

Stylized form diagram for Common juniper

Identify: Stiff sharp needles in whorls of three with one pale band; blue-black berry-like cones.
Habitat: Rocky heaths, boreal openings, mountains and steppe.
Season: Cones late summer through winter; wood year-round.
Field use: Dense aromatic wood for pegs and small tools; mature cones have limited documented culinary use.
Caution: Avoid medicinal use in pregnancy or kidney disease. Oils are concentrated and irritating.
Look-alikes: Crowberry has softer tiny leaves and glossy black fruit.

pegstinderseasoning

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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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Cloudberry

Rubus chamaemorus

Land-based edible plants

Identify: Low unarmed plant with rounded lobed leaves and one amber-orange raspberry-like fruit.
Habitat: Peatland, bog edge and wet tundra.
Season: Mid- to late summer.
Field use: Fully ripe amber fruit is documented food.
Caution: Unripe red fruit is sour and firm; avoid trampling peat.
Look-alikes: Dwarf raspberry species may have more divided 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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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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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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Temperate water lilies

Nymphaea / Nuphar spp.

Water and wetland edible plants

Stylized form diagram for Temperate water lilies

Identify: Round floating leaves with a slit; solitary flowers; thick rhizomes anchored in sediment.
Habitat: Ponds, lakes and slow river backwaters.
Season: Flowers summer; rhizomes year-round.
Field use: Seeds and rhizomes of selected species have documented food use after intensive species-specific processing.
Caution: Raw rhizomes can be bitter or irritating; water quality and correct genus matter. Do not confuse with toxic aquatic aroids.
Look-alikes: Lotus leaves are peltate and rise above water; water lily leaves usually float and are not fully circular.

food seedfood starch

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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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Golden root

Rhodiola rosea and related spp.

Medicinal and traditional-use plants

Identify: Fleshy blue-green leaves on upright stems, yellow flower clusters and thick aromatic rhizome.
Habitat: Cold Eurasian alpine cliffs, streambanks and tundra.
Season: Summer.
Field use: Widely documented traditional-use plant.
Caution: Wild populations are vulnerable to root harvest. No field dosing; may affect mood, sleep and medications.
Look-alikes: Other Rhodiola and Sedum species are similar.

medicine

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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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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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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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