Introduction and objective:
The aim of the study is to present a selection of wild plants growing in the temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere that can be foraged as food, but also exhibit antipyretic and antiviral properties. Edible plants that can be used for medicinal purposes in field conditions were described, with an emphasis on plants that provide raw materials available year-round, or for most of the growing season.

Review methods:
The plants were selected through an analysis of textbooks on pharmacognosy, herbalism, and wild edible plants. A search of the PubMed and Google Scholar databases was subsequently conducted, using the Latin names of the selected plants and the terms ‘antipyretic’ and ‘antiviral’ as keywords. Publications from 2020–2025 were primarily considered. Articles were selected individually, initially by the content of abstracts and then by the full texts. Ultimately, 50 references indicating the potential use of selected plants in the treatment of fever and viral upper respiratory tract infections were presented.

Brief description of the state of knowledge:
The effects of medicinal plants originate from the presence of flavonoids, saponins, tannins, and alkaloids, which can influence inflammatory processes, tissue health, or inhibit infections. Plants high in salicin (willow, meadowsweet, violet), plants rich in vitamin C (pine family, rose), and plants containing flavonoids (linden, raspberry, St. John‘s wort, elderberry) are presented. Harvest times, methods of processing them for food and medicinal purposes, safety precautions, and additional characteristics of these plants were described.

Summary:
Using wild plants as a food source increases the chances of survival in crisis situations, and taking into account their medicinal potential may prove very useful in field conditions and the lack of pharmaceutical supplies.