# Survival > Foraging & Wild Edibles >  ID small leafy sprouts

## a.martin.damico

Found these in the yard they look edible and I nibbled a tiny bit to test for a reaction and no negative reactions. They seem maybe they have some silicates in the leaves but tasted pretty good. I know these kind of small greens can be very tough to ID with out flowers or other IDable structures, but maybe someone is familiar with the growing habit and young leaf structure/arrangement. Thanks guys.
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## Rick

Alex - I'm going to guess by your IP that the plants in question are in Colorado. I wonder if that is a chickweed or in that family? If you take it to your county extension office this should be able to identify it for you.

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## crashdive123

Staten Island I believe.

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## Rick

Staten Island, Colorado. Tomato, tomahto. By the way, never put anything in your mouth you are not 100% sure of. Some stuff like Amanita ocreata are really really unforgiving.

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## LowKey

That could be anything from Lobelia to lettuce, though it kinda looks like the mache in my garden - but don't bet on it enough to put it in your mouth.
Let it grow out a bit before eating more of it.

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## a.martin.damico

Will do, thanks for all the input everyone. I'll keep an eye on it and try to ID it again when it's more mature.

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## JohnLeePettimore

I remember a "survival" class at a 6th-grade camp I went to.  The guy who taught it, who looked like a young Mark Twain, btw, gave advice on eating wild plants.

1.  Take a tiny pinch.  If it burns your tongue, spit it out, and move on.
2.  If it doesn't burn, chew and swallow only the tiny pinch.  Wait 24 hours.
3.  If you aren't ill after 24 hours, take a bite, chew, and swallow.  Wait another 24 hours.
4.  If you still aren't ill after 24 hours, it should be okay.

Of course, this is if you're lost.  Even then, you don't really need food immediately anyway, so you might be better off just waiting.

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## Rick

The universal edibility test. As I understand it, the test was devised for use by downed pilots in foreign lands not for those of us that have no clue what "that stuff" is that is growing outside our back door. There are some things that are not forgiving.

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## JohnLeePettimore

> The universal edibility test. As I understand it, the test was devised for use by downed pilots in foreign lands not for those of us that have no clue what "that stuff" is that is growing outside our back door. There are some things that are not forgiving.


Oh, yeah.  I wasn't suggesting doing that in this case.  Just trying to impress everyone with my vast store of knowledge.

On things not being forgiving, it would be a bummer to try that on something that ended up being similar to poison ivy.  And there are some things that pack a poison punch.  I read somewhere that it takes something like 1/300,000 of a gram of poison from the Arrow Poison frog to kill you.  There may be plants with that strength of stuff, too.  A good reason to avoid the Amazon jungle, and just watch it on the Discovery channel.

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## #1WVBonBonQueen

Looks a lot like our Sheep Sorrel here in WV.
Not sure, can't tell, do the bigger leaves sort of look like an arrow? But don't eat until you are 100% sure.

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## Rick

I suppose in Australia that has meaning.

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## Alan R McDaniel Jr

Be wary identifying green leafy substances.  

Alan

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## crashdive123

> All of you can judge the things direct or indirect


Very insightful first post.  I can barely contain my anticipation waiting for your second.

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## madmax

Maybe it's some kinda Zen thing.  Like, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?".

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## kyratshooter

Wax on, wax off...?

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## Aklogcabin

My beautiful wife regularly chews me out because I sample different berries on bushes of plants that I am trying to identify. Hey its what I do.

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## Rick

We had a member that always kept a piece of whatever he sampled for the paramedics.

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## LowKey

That's become a running joke at our house. 
"What's for supper?"
"This thing I found in the freezer."
"Should we leave a note for the paramedics 'This is what we ate?'"

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## madmax

We were on the way to a Pot and Machete Challenge and one of the guys saw something in the water that he ID'd as water lettuce,  He was pretty good with Florida flora and fauna.  When he picked off a leaf and ate it.  I followed his example.  Bad move.  It contains calcium oxalate crystals.  Burn baby burn.  He moved before I could get him back.

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