Global Regional Plant Guides

Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest Plant Survival Guide

A comprehensive survival plant guide for Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest, covering useful woody materials, land foods, aquatic foods, traditional-use plants and poisonous look-alikes.

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Cover of Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest Plant Survival Guide

Continent: North America
USDA-equivalent zones: 7-9
Köppen climate: Cfb / Cfc
Profiles: 20
Regional biome: Coastal conifer rainforest, estuary and wetland

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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

Western redcedar

Thuja plicata

Useful plants

Stylized form diagram for Western redcedar

Identify: Flat sprays of scale leaves; small upright oval cones; fibrous reddish bark.
Habitat: Pacific coastal rainforest, wet valleys and stream margins.
Season: Year-round.
Field use: Split-resistant wood for boards, shingles, containers and bow-drill boards; prepared inner bark and roots have extensive cordage and basketry uses.
Caution: Never ring-bark living trees. Dust and foliage can irritate sensitive people.
Look-alikes: Yellow-cedar has sharper foliage and rounder cones.

bow drill boardcordagecontainerconstructiontinder

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Douglas-fir

Pseudotsuga menziesii

Useful plants

Identify: Soft single needles; cones with three-pointed bracts; thick furrowed bark on old trees.
Habitat: Western North American dry slopes and temperate forest.
Season: Year-round.
Field use: Excellent structural poles, dense fuel and dry resinous twigs for ignition.
Caution: True fir cones stand upright and lack protruding bracts. Avoid enclosed smoky fires.
Look-alikes: Grand or subalpine fir has flat needles and upright cones.

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Alders

Alnus spp.

Useful plants

Identify: Oval toothed leaves; catkins; woody cone-like female structures persist through winter.
Habitat: Wet thickets, streambanks, avalanche tracks and disturbed forest.
Season: Wood year-round; leaves growing season.
Field use: Straight stems for racks and wattle; seasoned alder burns evenly and is widely used as smoking wood.
Caution: Wet alder smokes heavily; dense thickets can hide unstable banks.
Look-alikes: Birch lacks persistent woody cones.

poleswattlefuelsmoking

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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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Dogwoods

Cornus spp.

Useful plants

Identify: Usually opposite branching; arcuate leaf veins curve toward the tip; clustered flowers and drupes.
Habitat: Forest edge, riparian thicket and mountain slope.
Season: Stems year-round; fruit varies by species.
Field use: Dense straight shoots make excellent arrow shafts, skewers and pegs.
Caution: Fruit edibility varies greatly; some species cause stomach upset. Use as material unless species is confirmed.
Look-alikes: Viburnums may have opposite leaves but different veins and buds.

arrow shaftpegsskewers

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Land edibles

Terrestrial food species

Stinging nettle

Urtica dioica

Land-based edible plants

Stylized form diagram for Stinging nettle

Identify: Opposite sharply toothed leaves; fibrous stems; translucent stinging hairs; green flower clusters.
Habitat: Rich disturbed soil, river terraces, old camps and forest openings.
Season: Young tops spring; fiber later.
Field use: Young tops are documented food after thorough cooking or drying; mature stems yield strong bast fiber.
Caution: Wear gloves; do not eat raw. Internal use can affect medicines and kidney conditions.
Look-alikes: Dead-nettles do not sting and have showier mint-family flowers.

food greencordagefiber

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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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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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Broadleaf and ribwort plantains

Plantago major / P. lanceolata

Land-based edible 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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Wild onions and garlic

Allium spp.

Land-based edible plants

Stylized form diagram for Wild onions and garlic

Identify: Narrow leaves or hollow stems; spherical flower heads; clear onion or garlic odor in leaf and bulb.
Habitat: Meadows, rocky slopes, open woodland and stream terraces.
Season: Spring through fall.
Field use: Leaves, flowers and bulbs of positively identified Allium are documented food and seasoning.
Caution: Every sampled part must smell of onion, but odor is not the only test. Avoid unknown bulbs.
Look-alikes: Death camas lacks onion odor and can be fatal.

food greenfood bulb

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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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Arrowhead / wapato

Sagittaria spp.

Water and wetland edible plants

Stylized form diagram for Arrowhead / wapato

Identify: Arrow-shaped or lance leaves rising from shallow water; three-petaled white flowers in whorls; underground tubers in some species.
Habitat: Shallow ponds, sloughs, marshes and slow streams.
Season: Tubers late summer through winter.
Field use: Tubers of confirmed edible species are documented food after cooking; leaves and flower stalks help locate the bed.
Caution: Never eat raw. Species and tuber production vary. Wetland pathogens and water hemlock are nearby hazards.
Look-alikes: Arrow arum has one large hooded flower and toxic tissues.

food tuber

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Watercress

Nasturtium officinale

Water and wetland edible plants

Identify: Creeping hollow stems; pinnate leaves with a larger rounded terminal leaflet; small white four-petaled flowers.
Habitat: Cold flowing springs and streams, often where nutrient-rich.
Season: Cool seasons.
Field use: Tender tops are documented food and are usually cooked in survival settings.
Caution: Raw watercress can carry liver flukes and sewage pathogens. Avoid downstream of livestock, roads or settlements.
Look-alikes: Water hemlock has divided leaves and umbrella flowers; never rely on habitat alone.

food green

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Traditional-use

Documented traditional medicine

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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Mugworts

Artemisia vulgaris complex

Medicinal and traditional-use plants

Identify: Aromatic deeply lobed leaves, commonly silvery beneath; small inconspicuous flower heads.
Habitat: Disturbed ground, steppe, forest edges and riverbanks.
Season: Summer through fall.
Field use: Documented traditional uses include aromatic smoke and digestive preparations; dry stalks can be tinder.
Caution: Avoid internal use during pregnancy or with seizure disorders. Species identification is difficult.
Look-alikes: Ragweeds lack the silvery underside and have different flowers.

medicinetinder

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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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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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Foxglove

Digitalis purpurea

Poisonous plants

Identify: Tall spike of purple, pink or white tubular flowers with spotted throats; soft wrinkled basal leaves.
Habitat: Roadsides, clearings, old farms and disturbed temperate ground.
Season: Late spring through summer.
Field use: No field medicinal use.
Caution: All parts contain potent cardiac glycosides and can cause life-threatening rhythm disturbances.
Look-alikes: First-year rosettes can resemble comfrey or mullein.

poison

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Yew toxicity profile

Taxus spp.

Poisonous plants

Identify: Flat evergreen needles, reddish bark and red cup-like arils around hard seeds.
Habitat: Temperate and montane forest.
Season: Year-round.
Field use: Material use only by experts; no food or medicine use.
Caution: Needles, bark and seeds contain dangerous taxines. Never burn in a cooking fire.
Look-alikes: Hemlocks and firs have cones and pale bands beneath needles.

poison

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False hellebores

Veratrum spp.

Poisonous plants

Stylized form diagram for False hellebores

Identify: Tall herb with broad strongly pleated leaves around a stout stem and branched greenish flower clusters.
Habitat: Wet meadows, seeps and stream margins in temperate and montane regions.
Season: Spring through summer.
Field use: No food use.
Caution: All parts are poisonous and may cause vomiting, slow heart rate, low blood pressure and collapse.
Look-alikes: Young shoots can resemble wild leek but lack onion odor and have broad pleated leaves.

poison

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