TM 10-420 



TECHNICAL MANUAL 



EMERGENCY FOOD PLANTS AND POISONOUS PLANTS 

 OF THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 



Section I 



PURPOSE AND SCOPE 



Paragraph 



Purpose 1 



Scope 2 



■ 1. Purpose. — The purpose of this manual is to aid the in- 

 dividual who becomes separated from his unit by illustrating 

 and describing the edible and poisonous plants so that this 

 individual can live off the land. The natives of the Malayan 

 and Polynesian regions use parts of a great many wild plants 

 as food, sometimes to supplement and diversify their daily 

 diet, and sometimes as famine foods in time of scarcity. The 

 parts used include young shoots and leaves of various herbs, 

 shrubs, and trees, various fruits, certain seeds, some flowers 

 and flower buds, and the tubers or starchy bulblike roots of 

 various cultivated and wild plants. Some of these plant 

 parts have a high food value and some are rich in vitamins. 



■ 2. Scope. — a. Region covered. — This manual covers all of' 

 Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, as well as the entire 

 Malay Archipelago including the Malay Peninsula and the 

 Philippines. For all practical purposes it also covers Indo- 

 china, Thailand (Siam) , Burma, and eastern India. 



b. Plants. — The more common plants that occur in reason- 

 able abundance that may be used as food in times of emer- 

 gency are included. The following have been excluded: 



(1) Rare species. 



(2) Plants that are familiar to residents of the temperate 

 regions including maize or Indian corn, sorghum, rice, pine- 

 apple, cabbage, carrot, beet, garden bean, squash, cucumber, 

 egg plant, sweet pepper, and other universally cultivated food 

 plants. 



(3) Familiar fruit trees such as the orange, lime, pomelo 

 (one of the parents of the grapefruit) , lemon, etc. 



