Drinking liquid from plants

[Toddy]

Joel's recent post
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=12516
brought this topic to mind.

We're fortunate that we have so much water that it's rarely a problem to find some, usually the problem is making sure it's not contaminated.
However, if the liquid is coming directly from a plant, presumably it's already filtered/safe to drink.....but which plant?

Grapes can grow outside in the South of England, but do they grow wild here in the UK? The only ones I've seen in Scotland grow in greenhouses with the rootstock outside the only real climbers of any size I know here are ivy, honeysuckle, columbine and clematis; I don't think any of them give potable liquid.
Among the trees, birch and sycamore I know and have used.

Any others? Is the flow only seasonal? If birch is sitting wet you can get liquid even in Winter just from root pressure, but what about others?

What about sweetpollens too? I've always delighted in the tiny droplets of sap on the fuchsia flowers...but are they really safe to recommend to anyone else?

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[martin]

Water can sometimes be found in the hollow sections in Japanese Knotweed . There isn't a lot but it tastes ok.

 

[match]

Hmm - a difficult one. Scotland doesn't tend to have a large amount of fruit-bearing trees in the wild any more - although you can get some liquid from the obvious ones - apples, crabapples, rowan etc. I guess that blackberries and raspberries would also be a good source of liquid, less so the smaller berries like bilberries/blaeberries etc. I hae seen grapes growing outside in central Scotland, but they weren't cropping anything worth eating or probably even juicing.

In the highlands a lot of marshland heathers and mosses are quite absorbent and hold a lot of water, but then thats usually because its raining every other day anyway

I think that the abundance of water in this area means that none of the plants or animals have evolved to keep stores of water for emergencies.

 

[Templar]

Hi all,

During my stint with the jungle warfare school we were advised to never get water from vines, (granted we are talking about the tropics here) because of the reaction your body gets from the sap just under the bark, most vines in that enviroment are milky alkalai and will burn you quite badly, instead we would use and teach the students to collect water via an "Indian" well or a solar still (condensation bag), just let the tree and sun do all the work, only problem is, some times it takes a bit longer than you might want (24 Hrs) but the water is safe and you get about 600 - 700 ml of water at a time, but you have to move the bag each time coz you tend to kill the foliage when you do it,
as for water from fruit you have got to be really careful too, coz if you dont have enough fluids you will end up dehydrating your self coz if you eat too much fruit that is high in sucrose (plant sugars) it will give you the runs coz your body will reject it, and your body will use up valuable fluids to break down the sugars.

If you're out walking and feeling a little thirsty or have a dry mouth try sucking on a small pebble or a button, here in oz we suck on young green She-oak apples, they are a rough little pine cone looking thing, you scrape off the outer skin an' pop it in yer' trap and suck on it, they are quite tart so your saliver glands start to work thus relieving the symptoms of thirst, im guessing there may be something similar in Europe?

Karl

 

[Keith_Beef]

If you're out walking and feeling a little thirsty or have a dry mouth try sucking on a small pebble or a button, here in oz we suck on young green She-oak apples, they are a rough little pine cone looking thing, you scrape off the outer skin an' pop it in yer' trap and suck on it, they are quite tart so your saliver glands start to work thus relieving the symptoms of thirst, im guessing there may be something similar in Europe?

The small pebble works for stimulating salivation, as will chewing a slightly acidic leaf or bark.

But it doesn't really get to the point of finding a safe source of water.


K.

 

[david1]

Water can sometimes be found in the hollow sections in Japanese Knotweed . There isn't a lot but it tastes ok.

I would say this is a big No to going any where near this stuff.
part of my reason

"The ease with which the plant can spread and the damage that it can cause to ecosystems" is totaly what the rest of this site is about.

I have spent sometime trying to get rid of this weed. Its not to hard if you live on site and next door is not just feeding your problems but out in the woods where people can help it spread its all most imposible to keep in check.

but if its a life or death fill your boots

David

 

[Templar]

Hi all,

Keith, point taken.

It is only supposed to be a stop gap while you are trying the other methods I mentioned, earlier in the same post, other wise we can start to look in sink holes in the rocks or hollows in the forks of trees, perhaps try digging up water from the bends in a dry river bed, (I do live in the driest continent on earth), perhaps waiting until close to night fall and day break to follow the native finches to water, as they only travel a couple of thousand metres from reliable water and always travel from tree to tree in short bounds on the way away from water and straight and low on the way to, perhaps squeeze the fluids from prickly pear fronds in small amounts, as it'll give you the runs if you have too much, yes there are a number of methods of finding drinking water, some are emergency sources and some are every day bushmans tricks to living in a given enviroment , but you still need to have the "tricks" to take your mind off mild thirst while you look for a better source of fluids to either keep you alive or just quench your thirst on a sunday walk through the woods on a hot day.

My appologies if I sound like I'm being argumentitive, that was not my intent, I only wished to point out some aids to thirst control...

Karl

 

[Keith_Beef]

My appologies if I sound like I'm being argumentitive, that was not my intent, I only wished to point out some aids to thirst control...

I think I was the one being argumentative.
It's like feeling cold, tired, lonely, when out:
What can't be cured, must be endured.

Just handle being thirsty, until you get a drink.

If you need the extra help from a pebble, then go for it.

I think I've read here, that the term of "bushcraft" isn't about survivalism, but rather about being comfortable (both physically and mentally) in the bush.


K.

 

[Toddy]

Finding water, and tholing thirst isn't the issue; we've got *loads* of water, my front garden has a burn through it when it rains I've got newts under every plant pot, and even the moggie has webbed feet (joke) but knowing that the water I'm drinking from the wild is clean enough can be problematical.
The plant water struck me as an interesting alternative to the chemicals for clean drinking water, especially after reading the thread on the grapevines.
So, trees apart, our best bet is the dreaded knotweed, which if it wasn't so horridly invasive is really good stuff. It feeds animals, (called donkey hay) us (like rhubarb) lots of juice.
Fruits in season are excellent, but the consensus seems to be that there's nothing else native to Scotland that'll do. Oh well, interesting though. Thanks folks.

Cheers,
Toddy