Plantain is high in iron, Vitamins A,K and C. It grows in lawns and fields everywhere. It can be prepared like spinach. I really would cook it as the older leaves are tough.

It's Poke Salat or Sallet, which is a cooked mass of greens.  If they aren't cooked, they are a salad.

To start with, every part of the plant is poisonous but the roods and berries are highly toxic.  And they cannot be made safe to eat.  Nor can any part of the plant be eaten raw.  And the older the plant is, the more toxic it is.

To prepare, and as some people get sick from handling, you may want to wear gloves.  Pick a grocery bag full.  That will make about two servings.  Maybe.  You are going to really cook them down.

Put in a pot and bring to a roiling boil for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how mature the plant was.  The older the plant, the longer you boil.  Dump the water and rinse with cold water.  Dump the cold water.  Add more water and bring to a roiling boil for the same amount of time.  Dump the water and rinse with cold again.  Dump the rinse.  Bring to a roiling boil again for the same amount of time.  Dump the water and rinse with cold.  Dump the cold.  Now, cook it like collards or spinach, add salt or other spices and fatback or bacon.

My favorite way is after the three boils and rinses is to take the greens and fry them in bacon grease.  Dump them and let the grease drain and add the crumbled up bacon.  And salt and pepper to taste.  And eat.

Poke Salat is in the nightshade family, as is the Irish Potato and the tomato.  It's safe if you prepare it correctly and not very if you don't.  Usually, if you eat some raw leaves, you will get stomach cramps and the runs like you wouldn't believe.  You'll be puking and pooping at the same time.  The berries usually kill any children that eat them.  The roots will kill adults.

The Poke Salat Festival was in May in Arab, Alabama, which is just outside Montgomery.

We had Pokeberry right near my house in Springville , CA. And no I was never hard up enough to bother. Three boils just to eat a plant that may not make you puke your guts up. I will pass. I will give you credit Bill. I never had the courage to try it. Right down the hill was my glorious stash of stinging nettles which were delicious (and safe) raw or cooked. Down the river from that were my cattails and a nice fishing hole for small mouth bass. In the field by my house, Blewits. Life was good.

That should be "roots" not "roods".

Better be careful with plantain, it is a pretty good laxative for a lot of people.

It does have very good antiseptic qualities, crush or chew it into a paste and put it on a wound to prevent or fight infection.

Stuff like poke Salat, you have to wonder who was desperate enough for food to figure out a way to prepare it.

This is no longer a wild food but the leaves of the sweet potato are edible when cooked and taste like spinach.  Younger, tender leaves taste better but all of them can be eaten when cooked.  Boil them after washing with just a little sea salt and eat with rice.  And shrimp or crayfish.

Thanks for enlightening us, Bill. I stand corrected. I grew up believing that the Inkberry bush or Poke Salat was always completely poisonous. Only a few years ago did I learn that it could be edible. My old prejudices rule here... I have never felt any desire to eat this plant. Things would have to be pretty bad before I resorted to it, but still this is good info for just such an emergency.

Capsella, or poor man's pepper. Good for when you forget pepper when camping.

If you are not allergic to peanuts, try the ground nut, Apios Americanos (sp?), also called Indian potatoes.  They taste sort of like peanuts but with a texture more like a slightly under cooked turnip. 

They have a rough surface, scrub them with a brush to get all the dirt off.

Sometimes called hopnis.