Good tinder for fire can be obtained by scraping the fuzz from the bottom sides of palm leaves. A particular quality of burning bamboo will clear most animals away from your camp site. Generally anything you see monkeys eat you can eat. A good jungle rule is to avoid all plants with a clear sap or a sweet taste. Green cashew nuts cause a similar rash to poison ivy.
Most ferns growing along swift streams are edible.
The number of poisonous plants is not great and few are common in the jungle. A tasty jungle food is 'breadfruit'. The Mamey is a jungle peach and is edible raw or cooked. If one knows the Sandbox, the Manzanillo, the Cowitch and the Strychnos, one is unlikely to eat a poisonous plant in the jungle. The mosquito is a person's worse enemy in the jungle.