Old Man's beard as a tinder

[Toddy]

Not sure, I do know it's not the American trumpet one. This one blooms and looks like the common one, just that it's incredibly long, and it's green in Winter.

 

[Karpatsky Forest]

Mugwort leaves and flourish. Gather it in bunches and hang it to dry for later if you need it, but since the plant is tall and waves around in any breeze, there's usually enough dry leaves to make into a rolled ball to catch a spark.
It's one of the traditional hearth herbs.

Scraped birch bark is another one that really just needs roughed up a little to catch a spark, and once that's in the bark takes readily enough.

Strange things that folks don't expect work really well. Any of the linarias for instance, crumpled up flax stems, or the dried off clumps of old lobelias. They form light airy balls with lots of edges, and fibres, that catch and flare up readily enough.
Stuff a roll of birch bark, or make a tinder bundle, easy enough to keep tidy in a pocket.

M

Thanks for the above suggestions. I came across a whole pile of dry ferns in a gully this morning, rumpled some up, and got my fero rod out. First spark and they lit immediately. That'll be another one to add to my list.

 

[Toddy]

You need something to carry that spark into an ember though. Somethings, like flax for instance, burn so quick and fast that they're ash in seconds. It needs to burn long enough to catch is what I'm trying to say.

M