Betcha thought I was done! Well, from the time of the Revolutions (French and American) to today, plants have played an important part in developing weaponry, armor, and the equipment of the standard modern army. This is a HUGE article, yes. Sorry about that.

Miscellaneous Weaponry

A simple fragmentary improvised explosive device can be made by drilling a small hole in a coconut, extracting the water and then filling the coconut with gunpowder. A primer is then added, the hole filled and when the coconut bomb explodes it will send scraps of coconut flying everywhere, injuring and possibly killing whatever is nearby the explosion epicenter.

Cayenne: These peppers are the basis for pepper spray and any grocery market can supply someone with it.

Knife Handles/Martial Arts Weapons

Cocobolo, Dalbergia retusa: Origin: Pacific seaboard of Central America from Mexico to Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua. This is probably the most popular wood for fine knife handles and gun grips.

Courbaril (Jatoba) Hymenaea courbaril handles

Ebony Diospyros It's been used in handmade knife handles for centuries, with dependable, uniform results and longevity.

Apple, once cured, makes very fine knife handles, with close grain, with a reddish brown color, and is used in golf club heads. There are other fruitwoods and nutwoods that are suitable for fine custom knife handles

The colors and patterns of Desert Ironwood can be wild and beautiful, straight grained, or demure. Some of it has an almost chatoyant (cat's eye) effect in the figure. In custom knives, it's probably the second most common handle material, next to Cocobolo.

Palm, Black Borassus flabellifer knife handles Myanmar, India, and southeast Asia.

Alder: Wood: Arrows, spikes.

Eugenia: Used for handles and gunstock in India.

Modern martial arts: Cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa) comes from Central America. The heartwood ranges from a bright orange-yellow to purplish-red and deepens upon exposure. This hard and heavy wood accepts a wide range of finishes. Its uses include: Nunchaku, Bo Staff and Tonfa. This wood is probably the most popular wood to make martials arts weapons with and is a wood most martial artists are well familiar with.

GUNS

Walnut: The reason why it’s the most popularly used for gun stocks is that it doesn’t shatter.

Sloe/Bird Cherry: Wood was used for rifle butts.

Australian Blackwood Acacia gun stocks.

Gunpowders:

Charcoal for gunpowder: Alder Buckthorn (has porous wood used to make blackpowder), Alder, Beech and Douglas Fir woods. Hornbeam: From China to Europe, also known as ironwood, its charcoal burns hot enough to smelt iron. The wood was then turned into a high quality charcoal, much valued as gun powder for its property of igniting very reliably and easily.

Imbuyia or Imbuya Southern Brazil Phoebe porosa rifle butts and gun stocks.

Alder Buckthorn: Euro. The wood has been used in the past for making high quality charcoal and it was often specially cultivated as a coppice for this purpose. Its excellent slow and reliably burning qualities were put to use in making fuses and gunpowder. Ash wood has also been used for making charcoal, especially for color-manufacturers, but also for the gun powder industry.

Early Bomb Formulas from the Orient

1st Formula

• Sulfur (14 oz.)
• Wo huang ('nest yellow', perhaps nodular sulfur) (7 oz.)
• Saltpeter (40 oz.)
• Hemp roots (1 oz.)
• Dried lacquer (1 oz.)
• Arsenic (1 oz.)
• White lead (lead carbonate) (1 oz.)
• Bamboo roots (1 oz.)
• Minium (lead tetroxide) (1 oz.)
• Yellow wax (0.5 oz.)
• Clear oil (0.1 oz.)
• Tung oil (0.5 oz.)
• Pine resin (14 oz.)
• Thick oil (0.1 oz.)

Total weight = 82.2 oz.

2nd Formula

Inner ball

• Sulphur (20 oz.)
• Saltpetre (40 oz.)
• Coarse charcoal powder (5 oz.)
• Pitch (2.5 oz.)
• Dried lacquer (pounded to powder) (2.5 oz.)
• Bamboo roots (1.1 oz.)
• Hemp roots, cut into shreds (1.1 oz.)
• Tung oil (2.5 oz.)
• Lesser oil (possibly an edible oil) (2.5 oz.)
• Wax (2.5 oz.)

Total weight of inner ball = 79.7 oz. Outer coating

• Paper (12.5 oz.)
• Hemp (fibre) (10 oz.)
• Minium (1.1 oz)
• Charcoal powder (8 oz.)
• Pitch (2.5 oz)
• Yellow wax (2.5 oz)

Total weight of outer coating = 36.6 oz. Total weight = 116.3 oz.

3rd Formula

Inner ball

• Sulphur (15 oz.)
• Saltpetre (30 oz.)
• Aconite (aconitum fischeri) (5 oz.)
• Croton oil (croton tiglium) (5 oz.)
• Wolfsbane (aconitum ferox or lycoctonum) (5 oz.)
• Tung oil (5 oz.)
• Lesser oil (2.5 oz.)
• Charcoal powder (5 oz.)
• Pitch (5 oz.)
• Arsenic (2 oz.)
• Yellow wax (1 oz.)
• Bamboo roots (1.1 oz.)
• Hemp roots (1.1 oz.)

Total weight of inner ball = 77.7 oz. Outer coating

• Old paper (12.5 oz.)
• Hemp (stalk) skin fibre (10 oz.)
• Pitch (2.5 oz.)
• Yellow wax (2.5 oz.)
• Minium (1.1 oz.)
• Charcoal (8 oz.)

Total weight of outer coating = 36.6 oz.

Total weight = 114.3 oz.

Around the Revolutionary War Era

Neat Facts

The famous Revolutionary War frigate, USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” was made of White oak.

Some authors have stated incorrectly that cochineal insects were used to dye the red coats of uniforms worn by British soldiers during the Revolutionary War; however, the crimson dye used for the red coats came from the roots of the Eurasian madder plant (Rubia tinctorium). The dye was seen in the first French Flags and madder-red pants of French soldiers until WWI.

Survival Foods

In Prussia Frederick the Great sent a load of potatoes to staving peasants in Kolberg who refused to eat them. Frederick did not accept this and later sent an armed soldier who eventually convinced the people of Kolberg of the potato’s virtues.

A man called Parmentier, after being fed potatoes in a German prison in the Seven Years War, convinced Louis XVI of their delights. This was to such great effect that Louis convinced his wife to wear potato flowers around his court.

It has also been documented that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington’s’ troops survived for a period of 12 days at Valley Forge on slippery elm porridge.

New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus): Leaves were used during the Revolutionary War as a substitute for regular tea.

War Healers

Common folklore held that Agrimony could cure musket wounds, In France and later throughout Europe it was an active ingredient in arquebusade water, which was used to treat wounds inflicted by an arquebus, a small gun operated by a matchlock mechanism dating to the 15th century.

Salad Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba): The species name sanguisorba or "blood-drink" alludes to its traditional use to stop internal hemorrhaging. Whether it can actually perform this chore is not at all likely; nevertheless, soldiers would drink a tea made from Salad Burnet before going into battle, in the belief that if they were wounded, they would not be so likely to bleed to death.

Slippery Elm: The Osage and other tribes applied bark poultices to extract thorns and gunshot balls. Surgeons during the American Revolution used bark poultices as their primary treatment for gunshot wounds, and a soldier, separated from his company, survived for ten days in the wilderness on slippery elm and sassafras barks.

Wars during the 1800s

Facts

When European, especially Russian, supplies of Cannabis sativa became scarce during the Napoleonic Wars after 1800, Manila hemp, sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and jute were all used as substitutes. Wars not only made supplies more difficult, but there were many more Royal Navy vessels and the number of sea-days greatly increased, amplifying demand probably three-fold in Britain between 1795 and 1815. This happened again in the Crimean War of 1854-56 and in the Second World War, but by this time sisal and synthetics were more widely used. Manila hemp production was encouraged by the Spanish, in the Philippines, rather late in the day, and abacá only became a significant export commodity after the American occupation in 1901.

The cigarette was invented in Spain and became popular; during the Crimean War, Turkish soldiers wrapped shredded tobacco with cannon fuse paper, which burned evenly.

The indigo plant became the focus of a battle between dyers, The Europeans and the Native indigo farmers of India around 1861.

French soldiers fighting in the Algerian conflicts of the 1840s spiked their wine with wormwood extract (ostensibly to ward off fevers), and on their return to France their acquired taste was satisfied by absinthe, which contained a variety of essential oils including that of wormwood. Absinthe’s popularity with the soldiers spread.

The Nso’ Warriors of Africa in the 19th century used passiflora vines wrapped around the right arm during celebrations to denote a warrior who killed an enemy in combat.

Angostura bitters, from the angostura tree, were originally invented by a German doctor, Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, Surgeon-General in Simon Bolivar's army in Venezuela. As of 1820 he tried to find a medicine to improve appetite and digestive well-being of the soldiers.

In the Napoleonic war of 1812, Russian soldiers put allspice in their boots to keep their feet warm and the resultant improvement in odors is carried into today’s cosmetic industries, where pimento oil is usually associated with men’s toiletries (especially products with the word ‘spice’ on the label).

The opium poppy was one of the main reasons for England's war with China in 1839. The East India Company faced a problem: for centuries the opium poppy was cultivated in India and processed in Bengal. But the East India Company realized the opium poppy's addictive properties would certainly diminish their unskilled labor force in India so why not sell it to the Chinese instead?

However, China did not want any "foreign mud." Opium was already heavily used in China as a recreational drug. The Imperial Chinese court banned its use and importation, but large quantities were still being smuggled into the country. In 1839, the Qing Emperor, Tao Kwang, ordered his minister Lin Tse-hsü to take action. Lin petitioned Queen Victoria for help; but he was ignored. The East India Company instead auctioned off its opium poppy crop to “country firms,” independent merchants who hired ships and ran the contraband into Canton, which was the only port in which “barbarian” ships were permitted.

This illegal trade was supported by the hong merchants, who were a monopolistic group that had no support from the Chinese government in dealing with foreigners. They handed out vast sums to stop government officials from asking inconvenient questions and in so doing presented upon their countrymen a most destructive habit. Their cooperation made the opium trade possible. They had a large network similar to the organized crime of some of our own great cities. While the opium trade grew by leaps and bounds, the difficulties of doing business in China increased.

In reaction, the Emperor instructed the confiscation of 20,000 barrels of opium and detained some foreign traders. The highhanded and insulting regulations laid down by the hongs were intolerable and England, with Waterloo behind her, felt war was the answer. England sent several man-o-wars to escort some of the opium poppy ships putting in at Canton. The Chinese fired on these ships. The man-o-wars returned the fire and the war was on.

Thus began the First Opium War, launched by the biggest, richest and perhaps most aggressive drug cartel the world has ever known, the British Empire. It lasted three years. The Chinese were defeated. They were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. At the peace table China ceded Hong Kong to England, paid a large settlement, and opened up five treaty ports to trade with the west. Opium poppy was never mentioned in the peace treaty, so it was still contraband and the illegal traffic continued until 1908.

Peace didn't last. The Second Opium War began and ended in 1856 over western demands that opium markets be expanded. The Chinese were again defeated. In 1858, by the Treaty of Tientsin, opium importation to China was formally legalized. God-fearing British traders claimed that the hard-working Chinese were entitled to "a harmless luxury;" the opium trade in less-respectable hands would be taken over by "desperadoes, pirates, and marauders". Soon opium poured into China in unprecedented quantities. By the end of the nineteenth century, it is estimated that over a quarter of the adult male Chinese population were addicted. Not all Englishmen approved of England's action in regards to China. Many people, including Gladstone, spoke out against it.

It is said Turkish warriors always went into battle intoxicated on opium and nothing could stop them.

The finest chocolate confectionery, containing pure chocolate liquor, with its remarkable nutritional constituents, is also the most nourishing; in the South African War and World Wars I and II, solid chocolate was issued as standard rations for the troops and given by Queen Victoria as a Christmas gift to all her fighting men.

During the War of 1812, when food was scarce, British soldiers fed their horses on slippery elm bark.

Civil War

Facts

The walnut husk was used to dye uniforms during the Civil War in the United States.

Confederate soldiers were referred to as “butternuts” because their brown drab uniforms were often dyed from the green husks of these trees.

There was an advantage of Honeylocust's stout thorns, including Civil War soldiers who reportedly used them to keep their uniforms together when metal pins were scarce.

Survival:

Chicory was a coffee sub during Civil War; later, when WWII disrupted shipping, most US coffee was from roasted chicory roots.

During the Civil War sassafras tea became popular.

Potatoes: Potatoes were sent to the prisons and the front lines during the Civil War. By eating potato skins, the soldiers were able to get adequate supplies of vitamin C.

A beverage made with blueberries was an important staple for Civil War Soldiers.

Healers:

Ceanothus: During the American Civil War the decoction was used by the soldiers for "ague cake" or malarial splenitis.

Mullien used by Civil War soldiers to treat respiratory infections.

Yarrow came to the New World with English redcoats and swept across America with cavalry and pioneers. It was important in the Civil War when blockaded Southern hospitals resorted to yarrow and another ancient anticoagulant, pot marigold petals, as dressings.

Later, during the Civil war, hypericum would be collected and placed upon the wounds of soldiers; it was even made in to a wine to steady their nerves before battle.

Dogwood: Root-bark tea or tincture widely used for malaria and diarrhea throughout South during the Civil War

Civil War: A substitute for quinine was a tincture of dogwood, willow and yellow poplar bark. The common jimson weed (Stamonium, maypop root (Passeflora incarnata) and the poppy were used for pain relief both internally and locally. Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and yellow jasmine controlled nerves in fever. Queen's-root (Stillingia) was used for blood loss. Common alder was used to make salves for ulcers and wounds. And slippery elm bark was used for poultices. Blackberry liquor aided the many cases of dysentery.

Morphinism became rampant in the USA after its extensive use by injured soldiers on both sides of the Civil War.

Civil War medicines like mandrake and quassia chips vie for shelf space with cannonballs and mortars from the same conflict.

Civil War doctors even used calendula preparations to clean and treat sores, burns and minor battle wounds.

Chives: Gen. Ulysses Grant knew about this ancient energy booster and used it to keep his Civil War soldiers ready for war. He once wrote, "I will not move my troops until the chives arrive."

World War I and II

Facts

The original "Lone Pine" was a sole survivor of a group of trees that had been cut down by Turkish soldiers who had used the timber and branches to cover their trenches during the battle. The tree was obliterated as a result of the battle; however, pine cones that had remained attached to the cut branches over the trenches were retrieved by two Australian soldiers and brought home to Australia. The resultant seedlings were found to be Turkish Pines, sometimes regarded as a subspecies of Pinus halepensis (Aleppo Pine), but usually classified as a distinct species, Pinus brutia. At the Lone Pine Cemetery in Gallipoli, a solitary pine was planted in the 1920s to symbolize the original Lone Pine. This tree was inspected in 1987 by an Australian botanist and confirmed to be a Stone Pine (Pinus pinea).

World War I, in which the U.S. fought from 1917–1918, played a large part in addicting a generation of men. General John J. Pershing said that tobacco was "as indispensable (to the soldiers) as the daily ration (of food,)" and as a result soldiers were provided with all the free cigarettes they could smoke. Between 1910 and 1920, per capita consumption of cigarettes increased from 94 per year to 419 per year. In 1919, medical student Alton Ochsner was called in to observe lung cancer surgery because, he was told, he would probably never see a case of lung cancer again. He didn’t see another case for 17 years, but then he saw eight cases in six months. All of those men were smokers who had picked up the habit in World War I.

Ceiba pentandra: "Until lately, kapok fibre has been used chiefly for stuffing pillows, cushions, etc., and during the war for life-saving waistcoats and similar articles. Recently, it has been employed for mixing with other fine fibres for textile purposes."

Macmillan, First World War. His kapok was the fuzz on the Ceiba tree. Prisoners-of-war in Japanese hands in Thailand, 1942–45, used the ceiba wood to make clogs and wooden soles of sandals for which it served very well.

Nettles (Urtica spp): During the First World War, when cotton was in short supply: thousands of kilograms of nettles were collected by Germans to make uniforms for the soldiers. It is estimated that Germans harvested over two thousand tons of wild nettles during the World Wars.

Cloth made from Nettle fiber was employed in many articles of army clothing. Forty kilograms were calculated to provide enough stuff for one shirt. In 1917 two captured German overalls, marked with the dates 1915 and 1916 respectively, were found to be woven of a mixed fiber consisting of 85 per cent of the common Stinging Nettle and 15 per cent of Ramie, the fiber of the Rhea, (Boehmeria nivea), a tropical member of the Nettle family, which is used in the manufacture of gas-mantles and is also valuable for making artificial silk and was largely employed in war-time in the making of gas-masks.

German army orders dated in March, April and May of 1918 give a good insight into the extent to which use was made of cloth woven from Nettle fiber. In these orders, Nettle is described as the only efficient cotton substitute.

In World War II, Britain imported stinging nettle for its dark-green dye to use as camouflage, such as camouflage nets. The chlorophyll was extracted for medicine.

Osage Orange wood was used to dye uniforms a khaki color in World War I.

The Candalilla plant of Big Bend and New Mexico has a waxy covering on its fruit that was used to waterproof canvas tents for World War I.

Leaflets were distributed around the time of the Coventry bombing full of information on possible gas attacks which included the warning ‘If You Smell Geraniums — You’re dead!’

Horse Chestnut: During the First World War in England, Horse Chestnuts were gathered by schoolchildren to help make ammunition. It was used for the production of acetone (of which there was a great shortage during the War) which, in turn, was needed for the production of cordite, the smokeless powder used as propellant in small arms ammunition and artillery. Cordite is a mixture of the explosives guncotton (65 per cent), nitroglycerine (30 per cent) and petroleum jelly (5 per cent), gelatinized with the aid of acetone before being worked into threads for use.

Guaiacum: During World War I and II it was extensively harvested for use in the ship-building industry because the wood, which does not split easily, is self-lubricating due to its high resin content. The wood is very durable, and was in high demand for constructing bearing sleeves to support ship propellor shafts

Himalayan Spruce: During World War II the wood was found to be a good substitute for making aircrafts and gliders like the Sitka spruce of western countries.

A giant puffball mushroom was found in England. It was photographed and labeled “Hitler’s Secret Weapon!” to help raise war funds as propaganda.

The Douglasfir was crucial to American soldiers in World War II, being used for everything from GIs' foot lockers to portable huts and even the rails of stretchers that carried many a soldier from battle.

Walnut: During World War II, airplane pistons were cleaned with a "nut shell" blaster and this idea was carried into the auto industry; manufacturers used shells to deburr precision gears. Ground shell products are also used to clean jet engines, as additives to drilling mud for oil drilling operations, as filler in dynamite, as a nonslip agent in automobile tires, as an air-pressured propellant to strip paints, as a filter agent for scrubbers in smokestacks, and as a flourlike carrying agent in various insecticides.

World War II Paratroopers used different colored parachutes to indicate what they contained in the drop and agarita, a shrub from Texas, produced the yellow.

The mandrake plant found new use in World War II when its derivative scopolamine became the infamous truth serum used in espionage.

The linden tree formed the plywood skin of the Mosquito fighters during World War II.

In World War II, Biuki Gasa was the first of two Solomon Islanders to reach the shipwrecked John F. Kennedy and the crew of his PT-109. He would suggest for lack of paper, delivering a message inscribed on a coconut by dugout canoe. This coconut was later kept on president's desk. It is now in the John. F. Kennedy presidential library, and is perhaps one of, if not the most notable coconut in the world today.

Milkweed floss was used throughout WWII to stuff life preserver jackets.

Luffa was an important crop before the Second World War because of its use as a biological filter. Before World War II, 60 percent of the vegetable sponge imported into the United States was used in filters of marine steam and diesel engines; linings for army helmets.

During World War II, the Chinese used tung oil from a tree for motor fuel. It tended to gum up the engines, so they processed it to make it compatible with gasoline. The mixture worked fine.

Quassia chips. Used to create a disinfectant rinse for bathing the pigeons used in WWII.

During WWII the US Navy experimented with the Tabebuia species for the construction of ball bearings.

Interest in growing sunn hemp was renewed during World War II, as Crotalaria juncea was added to the list of critical war materials in 1942 because of its potential use as cordage fiber, especially for Marine Oakum.

Survival

The potatoes' popularity continued to rise throughout Europe. It became an important crop in wartime as it grew underground it could not be destroyed by pillaging armies.

In the Second World War in Britain it became an important staple of the British diet as it was easy to grow and very versatile.

ANZAC Biscuits: WWI, With no refrigeration in the merchant ships, These biscuits were sent to soldiers by various women of Australia. The ingredients they used were: rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup or treacle, bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water. All these items did not readily spoil. At first the biscuits were called Soldiers’ Biscuits, but after the landing on Gallipoli, they were renamed ANZAC Biscuits. As the war drew on, many groups like the CWA (Country Women’s Association), church groups, schools and other women’s organisations devoted a great deal of time to the making of ANZAC biscuits. To ensure that the biscuits remained crisp, they were packed in used tins, such as Billy Tea tins.

During the WWI, baobab fruit pulp was used by Europeans as a leavening agent for bread.

During World War I rhubarb leaves were recommended as a substitute for other veggies that the war made unavailable. Apparently there were cases of acute poisoning and even some deaths.

During World War I, young Hawthorn leaves were used as a substitute for tea and tobacco and the seeds were ground and used instead of coffee.

In the same way that British children were given time off school, during the war, to collect rosehips from the hedgerows as an important source of vitamin C, German children were given special holidays during the two world wars to collect the Beechmast as an important source of domestic oil.

During World War II, Japanese knotweed leaves were used as a substitute for tobacco.

During World War II in the United States Rosa canina was planted in victory gardens for their Vitamin C rich rosehips, and can still be found growing throughout the United States, including roadsides, and in wet, sandy areas up and down coastlines.

During World War II, soldiers in Europe smoked coltsfoot as a substitute for tobacco.

During World War II most fruits rich in vitamin C, such as oranges, became almost impossible to obtain in the United Kingdom. Since blackcurrant berries are a rich source of vitamin C and blackcurrant plants are suitable for growing in the UK climate, blackcurrant cultivation was encouraged by the British government. Soon, the yield of the nation's crop increased significantly. From 1942 on almost the entire British blackcurrant crop was made into blackcurrant syrup (or cordial) and distributed to the nation's children free, giving rise to the lasting popularity of blackcurrant flavorings in Britain.

Healers

A tincture of valerian was employed in World War I and II to treat shell shock and nervous stress. Valerian was also used to soothe nerves of civilians exposed to air raids.

In WWI Lily-of-the-valley was used to treat victims of mustard gas.

Irish moss or caragheenin was used during World War I as a soothing demulcent for soldiers that had been gassed

Sphagnum Moss: Was used for bandages in WWI battlefield hospitals.

Oil of Thyme was used during World War I to treat infection and to help relieve pain.

During WWI, shepherd’s purse was used by British medics to slow bleeding from wounds.

During the First World War when modern antiseptics were depleted, the public was asked to gather up garden lavender so the oil could be used to dress war wounds.

Garlic poultices have been used on wounds since Roman antiquity. During WWI, European soldiers put garlic on wounds and garlic poultices were used in WWII to prevent infection. In 1916, the British government issued a general plea to the public to supply garlic for wartime needs. The Russian government also turned to this remedy in WWII and garlic became known as “Russian Penicillin” at this time.

Coconut water is produced by a 5 month old nut, about 2 cups of crystal clear, cool sweet (invert sugars and sucrose) liquid, so pure and sterile that during World War II, it was used in emergencies instead of sterile glucose solution, and put directly into a patient's veins.

Bilberries were supposedly given to WWII pilots to improve their eyesight. Anecdotal evidence exists that Britain 's Royal Air Force recognized bilberry's ability to improve microvascular blood flow and used it to improve the night vision of Britain fighter pilots during battle.

Balsam of Peru has been used in medicine for healing wounds and skin diseases. During World War II it was used in field dressings for quick applications of a protective covering to the surface of wounds.

The world supply of cultivated quinine trees in Asia (especially in Indonesia and Java) was captured by Japan in 1942, and Germany captured the quinine reserves in Amsterdam, so Allied forces had to use emergency measures during World War II.

Before the fall of the Philippines, the U.S. managed to escape with four million seeds, which were germinated back in Maryland and then transplanted in Costa Rica and other Latin American countries, but initial hopes were low that any of this would be in time for the war effort. Roughly 60,000 U.S. troops died in Africa and the South Pacific from malaria. This stimulated the development of synthetic but unpleasant substitutes (Paludrin, Maloprim, Fansidar, and Aralen) in 1944 for use by Allied troops in tropical climates, although a Smithsonian botanist named Raymond Fosberg was able to secure millions of pounds of Cinchona bark in 1943 and 1944 for the Allies from forests and plantations in northern South America.

Tea Tree Oil, from Australian Aborigines, used by British soldiers as an antiseptic for wounds during WWII, beneficial in healing infected wounds, skin inflammations, carbuncles and pus-filled infections;.

World War II soldiers were taught by the native Polynesian people to eat the noni fruit in order to sustain strength.

During World War II, Rosemary and Juniper berries were burned in French hospitals to kill germs.

During World War II, Russian soldiers applied onions to battle wounds as an antiseptic.

After the Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War 2, a South African aloe was used on large scale for the healing of burns and wounds by the Japanese.

Other Wars of the 1900s

The Gran Chaco War fought in South America from 1928–1935 was heavily influenced by the Quebracho trees, which helped fund a tannin industry for the local Paraguayan settlers. Bolivia decided that they wanted to take the area for (nonexistent) oil and the settlers fought back. Not only were Quebracho used to reinforce structures by the Paraguayans, but the Bolivian infantry often could not force their way past the Quebracho trees and caused them to waste precious supplies. Eventually the oil prospectors determined the supposed oil wasn’t there after all. The war was disastrous for both sides: Bolivia and Paraguay lost more than 100,000 soldiers. In 1935, Paraguay would eventually claim victory over Bolivia, thus firmly establishing the Chaco Boreal as a part of Paraguay.

Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War, American soldiers used Patchouli to mask the smell of the graves of enemy soldiers killed in combat.

During the twenty years of the Vietnam War, the stem of Alocasia odora has been used in Vietnam for the treatment of wounds.

During the Vietnam War, for Steve Arnold fighting with the North, Rosa Canina was dried and then smoked with tobacco to produce mild hallucinogenic effects and abnormal dreams.

San qi (Panax notoginseng), Chinese soldiers carried it with them for many centuries. was used during the war by American pilots to stop bleeding It is the largest ingredient in 云南白药 (Yunnan Bai Yao), a famous hemostatic proprietary herbal remedy that was notably carried by the Viet Cong to deal with wounds during the Vietnam war.

Tienchi Ginseng: Was used extensively by Northern Vietnemese during war to speed recovery rates from gunshot wounds.

Sweet wormwood: Chinese military scientists developed the drug from the plant in the 1970s to treat Chinese soldiers suffering from malaria in Vietnam.

Most Recent Wars

If the Cold War accelerated, the U.S. Government planned to stock pile Aloe Vera Ointment in every bomb shelter in the United States. Today research is being performed; aloe may be lifesaving when applied to severe battle wounds to keep patient alive until surgery.

Roseroot (Sedum): During the cold war, Russian elite used to use extracts of this herb for top ranking military personnel, KGB special agents and athletes to fight fatigue and stress, increase attention span, improve memory and concentration, and relieve anxiety.

Sea buckthorn is heavily cultivated in East Germany and the Soviet Union, where it was treasured during the Cold War for its nutrients, especially vitamin C. Rumor has it that Genghis Khan used these berries to make his warriors and horses strong for battle.

The Indian army used aloe vera to help combat the harsh conditions on the Siachen glacier, the cold battlefield caught between troops fighting over Kashmir.

Dactylifera trivia: In the 1991 Gulf War, surrendering Iraqi soldiers climbed from their bunkers offering dates in exchange for water.

War Healers

The aloe vera plant could give trauma victims such as soldiers the fluid needed to stay alive until they can get a blood transfusion, a study suggests.

Welsh and Tree Onions: The juice of the onion was used to heal gunshot wounds.

Moss: When dry, it was thought to be mildly antiseptic and, indeed, it has been shown that many mosses, including Sphagnum, contain antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Sphagnum was, therefore, well suited for use as a packing material for wounds, absorbing lost blood and fluids, as well as providing a degree of infection – resistance. This practice has had a lengthy history, as, when cotton dressings were becoming scarce during the Napoleonic wars, Highland soldiers instigated the use of Sphagnum dressings in the army and it was also used as the basis for wound dressings as recently as the World Wars. In fact, it is estimated that Sphagnum dressing production during World War I was around half a million kilos per month. Sphagnum used as surgical dressing by both sides of the Civil War and Germans and British during WWI.

Neat Miscellaneous

Many Royal Navy ships are named after plants, shrubs, and trees.

Before the First World War, it was common for mounted regiments to receive large vats of root ginger before public ceremonies, which were peeled and cut into suppositories for the horses. The burning sensation made the horses hold their tails up; this practice is called Figging or feaguing.

In the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, The guide attributes the zombie outbreaks described to a virus known as "Solanum". It is said to be neither water-borne nor airborne; the only means by which to become infected is through direct fluid contact, in which case the virus is 100% communicable with a 100% mortality rate. Solanum converts the brain of human victims into a specialized organ that needs no oxygen, water, or food to survive, and it renders body tissues toxic, significantly slowing the decomposition rate.

The Durian, with its delectable flavor and nauseating smell, is registered as a deadly weapon in Vietnam due to the inch-long spikes covering its surface

Spinach: The water drained off of spinach after cooking makes good match paper. It was used as touch paper for fireworks of the 18th and 19th century.

Chile peppers yield capsaicin, used to make pepper spray.

Hemp: The Republic of America became a big hemp producer in order to help out with all the European Wars and expanding naval fleets.

Symbolism

In the south of France, Wild Thyme is a symbol of extreme Republicanism, tufts of it being sent with the summons to a Republican meeting.

Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose) When Kozaks or other soldiers went off to battle, their young women promised to plant a kalyna bush on their grave should they die. Very many songs are about the kalyna growing on a grave, with birds coming to eat her berries and bringing news from home to the soldier lying underneath. And it was up to the woman to plant the kalyna, unless he died in battle, in which case his comrades planted it.

Leaping from the 1600-1700s to the first half of this century, the kalyna's symbolism carried it from representing home to a dying soldier, to representing Ukraine and its freedom. "In the meadow the chervona kalyna bent / bowed down. Our famed Ukraine has become sad. We will pick up the chervona kalyna, we will make Ukraine happy again." The anthem of Ukrainian soldiers of World War I, "Oy, u luzi chervona kalyna," clearly shows the connection. The plant with the red berries even became their emblem.

The Great Baobab: The Shai warriors were said to have fired their last bullets into this tree to declare the Kantamanso War over on 26th August, 1826. it was alleged that bullets used consisted of beads, beans, millet rice, salt, black potions and talismans on locally prepared gunpowder/ the big tree displays the “bumps” or “hunches” as “wounds” caused by the bullets to this day. This giant baobab is situated just north of the entrance to the great Dodowa Forest.

"Green grow the lilacs, all sparkling with dew.
I'm lonely, my darling, since parting with you,
And by the next meeting, I hope to prove true
And change the green lilacs to the red, white, & blue."

The ballad became the basis of a bit of urban folklore that trumped up an etymological origin to the word "Gringo." Purportedly, during the Spanish-American War, so many Spanish-speaking soldiers overheard American soldiers singing "Green grow the lilacs" that they began calling Americans "Gringos."

The Edelweiss was established 1907 as the sign of the Austrian-Hungarian alpine troops by Emperor Franz Joseph I. These original 3 Regiments wore their edelweiss on the collar of their uniform. During World War I (1915) the Edelweiss was granted to the German alpine troops, for their bravery. Today it's still the insignia of the Austrian, Polish, and German alpine troops.

Edelweiss was a badge of Edelweiss Pirates (Edelweisspiraten)—the anti-Nazi youth groups in Third Reich. It was worn on the clothes (eg. a blouse or a suit).

The Edelweiss flower was the symbol of Wehrmacht Gebirgsjäger, or mountain troops, worn as a metal pin on the left side of the mountain cap, on the band of the service dress cap, and as a patch on the right sleeve.

The rank insignia of Swiss generals has Edelweiss signs instead of stars. A Korpskommandant for example (equivalent to a Lieutenant General in other countries) wears three Edelweiss signs on his collar instead of three stars.

Markings on Japanese war rifles and swords included a chrysanthemum with 16 petals (the symbol of the Japanese Emperor), and was usually stamped on the receiver of rifles manufactured for the Imperial Japanese Army, indicating that the rifle belonged to the Emperor.

Ginkgo Biloba is extracted from the leaves of the Maidenhair Tree, something of a biological curiosity in itself, as it is widely reported to be one of the oldest existing plant species, with fossils being found that date back 250 million years. The name 'maidenhair' comes from the similarity in the shape of the leaves to that of the maidenhair fern. It is known as the 'Bearer of Hope' for the people of Hiroshima in Japan, where a Maidenhair Tree that was situated less than a kilometer from the nuclear explosion in 1945 survived intact, seemingly unharmed and unaffected by the blast. After the bombing on August 6th all the plants were examined and surprisingly the Ginkgo tree budded without significant changes in its structure. After the war the temple that had been destroyed was rebuilt around the tree which survived in Hiroshima after the World War II.

“This is the 'Peace' rose, which was christened by the Pacific Rose Society exhibition in Pasadena on the day Berlin fell. We hope the 'Peace' rose will influence men's thoughts for everlasting world Peace.”
—Provided to forty nine delegations of the United Nations with a single bloom, 1945.

The Peace rose was introduced in 1945 to commemorate the end of World War II. “Madame Antoine Meilland” was the grower's mother. It is how her husband, the grower's father, addressed letters to her from the front in WWI. During WWII cuttings of the new rose were sent via train from the Meilland home to friends in Germany, Italy, Hungary, and the United States. Meilland's hope was that at least one bundle of cuttings would arrive safely in case something happened to their gardens and stock. The cuttings sent to Hungary were intercepted and thrown out along with the mail on the same train, but the other three made it safely.

War protesters of the time used Patchouli on themselves, to demonstrate that "We are all one race; we are the same as the enemy soldiers".

The carnation was used as the symbol of the non-violent Portuguese Revolution in 1974. Soldiers were seen with carnations stuck into the barrels of their rifles.

Flowers of Remembrance

The French had a special tradition for the aster flower. This flower would be placed on the grave of a French soldier, as a tribute to his bravery and valor.

Peonies: In the USA it was customary to decorate the graves of Civil War veterans with these splendid red blooms.

Helichrysum Sanguineum, Red Everlasting: It is a symbol for the Israeli Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for the Israeli Fallen Soldiers and the Victims of Terrorism) and is worn on ceremonies on the white shirt. It is known there as "Blood of the Maccabees" (Hebrew: םיבכמה םד, Dam Hamakabim). Its name comes from a legend saying that in every spot one grows, a drop of blood has been spilled on the earth. This is where its significance in the Yom Hazikaron ceremonies comes, to remind the people that a lot of blood was spilled to allow them to live on the land of Israel.

Rosemary has been used as a symbol for remembrance during war commemorations in Europe.

The United Kingdom developed a list of flowers that were supposed to be used in remembrance of soldiers from specific regions.

ENGLAND

Bedfordshire: Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera)

Berkshire: Summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum)

Birmingham: Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Bristol: Maltese-cross (Lychnis chalcedonica)

Buckinghamshire: Chiltern gentian (Gentianella germanica)

Cambridgeshire: Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris)

Cheshire: Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis)

Cornwall/Kernow: Cornish heath (Erica vagans)

Cumberland: Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia palustris)

Derbyshire: Jacob's ladder (Polemonium caeruleum)

Devon: Primrose (Primula vulgaris)

Dorset: Dorset heath (Erica ciliaris)

County Durham: Spring gentian (Gentiana verna)

Essex: Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

Gloucestershire: Wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus)

Hampshire: Dog-rose (Rosa canina)

Herefordshire: Mistletoe (Viscum album)

Hertfordshire: Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris)

Huntingdonshire: Water-violet (Hottonia palustris)

Isles of Scilly: Thrift (Armeria maritima)

Isle of Wight: Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis)

Kent: Hop (Humulus lupulus)

Lancashire: Red rose (Rosa species)

Leeds: Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)

Leicestershire: Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Lincolnshire: Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana)

Liverpool: Sea-holly (Eryngium maritimum)

London: Rosebay willowherb (Epilobium angustifolium)

Manchester: Common cotton-grass (Eriophorum angustifolium)

Middlesex: Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa)

Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus)

Norfolk: Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)

Northamptonshire: Cowslip (Primula veris)

Northumberland: Bloody crane's-bill (Geranium sanguineum)

Nottingham: Nottingham catchfly (Silene nutans)

Nottinghamshire: Autumn crocus (Crocus nudiflorus)

Oxfordshire: Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)

Rutland: Clustered bellflower (Campanula glomerata)

Sheffield: Wood crane's-bill (Geranium sylvaticum)

Shropshire: Round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)

Somerset: Cheddar pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus)

Staffordshire: Heather (Calluna vulgaris)

Suffolk: Oxlip (Primula elatior)

Surrey: Cowslip (Primula veris)

Sussex: Round-headed rampion (Phyteuma orbiculare)

Warwickshire: Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)

Westmoreland: Alpine forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris)

Wiltshire Burnt orchid (Orchis ustulata)

Worcestershire: Cowslip (Primula veris)

Yorkshire: Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Isle of Man: Fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica)

NORTHERN IRELAND

Antrim: Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Armagh: Cowbane (Cicuta virosa)

Belfast: Gorse (Ulex europaeus)

Derry: Purple saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia)

Down: Spring squill (Scilla verna)

Fermanagh: Globeflower (Trollius europaeus)

Tyrone: Bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia)

SCOTLAND

Aberdeenshire: Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

Angus/Forfarshire: Alpine catchfly (Lychnis alpina)

Argyllshire: Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Ayrshire: Green-winged orchid (Orchis morio)

Banffshire: Dark-red helleborine (Epipactis atrorubens)

Berwickshire: Rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium)

Buteshire: Thrift (Armeria maritima)

Caithness: Scots primrose (Primula scotica)

Clackmannanshire: Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium)

Cromartyshire: Spring cinquefoil (Potentilla tabernaemontani)

Dumfriesshire: Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Dunbartonshire: Lesser water-plantain (Baldellia ranunculoides)

East Lothian/Haddingtonshire: Viper's-bugloss (Echium vulgare)

Edinburgh: Sticky catchfly (Lychnis viscaria)

Fife: Coralroot orchid (Corallorrhiza trifida)

Glasgow: Broom (Cytisus scoparius)

Inverness-shire: Twinflower (Linnaea borealis)

Kinross-shire: Holy-grass (Hierochloe odorata)

Kirkcudbrightshire: Bog-rosemary (Andromeda polifolia)

Lanarkshire: Dune helleborine (Epipactis leptochila)

Morayshire: One-flowered wintergreen (Moneses uniflora)

Nairnshire: Chickweed wintergreen (Trientalis europaea)

Orkney: Alpine bearberry (Arctostaphylos alpinus)

Peebles-shire: Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus)

Perthshire: Alpine gentian (Gentiana nivalis)

Renfrewshire: Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)

Ross-shire: Bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum)

Roxburghshire: Maiden pink (Dianthus deltoides)

Selkirkshire: Mountain pansy (Viola lutea)

Shetland: Shetland mouse-ear (Cerastium nigrescens)

Stirlingshire: Scottish dock (Rumex aquaticus)

Sutherland: Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia palustris)

West Lothian/Linlithgowshire: Common spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

Western Isles: Hebridean spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii subspecies hebridensis)

Wigtownshire: Yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus)

WALES

Anglesey/Sir Fon: Spotted rock-rose (Tuberaria guttata)

Brecknockshire/Sir Frycheiniog: Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis)

Caernarvonshire/Sir Gaernarfon: Snowdon lily (Lloydia serotina)

Cardiff/Caerdydd: Wild leek (Allium ampeloprasum)

Cardiganshire/Ceredigion: Bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia)

Carmarthenshire/Sir Gaerfyddin: Whorled caraway (Carum verticillatum)

Denbighshire/Sir Ddinbych: Limestone woundwort (Stachys alpina)

Flintshire/Sir Fflint: Bell Heather (Erica cinerea)

Glamorgan/Morgannwg: Yellow Whitlow-grass (Draba aizoides)

Merioneth/Merionnydd: Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica)

Monmouthshire/Sir Fynwy: Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Montgomeryshire/Sir Drefaldwyn: Spiked speedwell (Veronica spicata)

Pembrokeshire/Sir Benfro: Thrift (Armeria maritima)

Radnorshire/Sir Faesyfed: Radnor lily (Gagea bohemica).

GAMING

This big list of factoids is here to make campaigns more realistic… add flair and color to wars and battles that may or may not actually be useful. As always, if you know of a really cool detail that I missed, add it into the column’s forum and let everyone know about it.

Up Next: Fungi and other Non-plants – The Low-Down