Wild Edible Plants, Part 1

There are many Temperate edible plants in addition to those illustrated, including wild forms of cultivated plants such as currents and gooseberries. In The Next few Post I will be covering as many edible plants that I can find, I will add pictures of each plant so that you may easily identify them.

I hope that you are able to try at least a few of the plants that I go over here, some are extremely tasteful and fun to try.

Please REMEMBER that although one part of a plant may be edible another part could be poisonous. Test leaves, stems, roots and fruits separately. And get as much information as possible before going out and just eating whatever you find.

So, lets start with some of the basic edible plants that may be pretty well known.

FRUITS


Wild Blackberries

Wild Raspberries

Evergreen Huckleberries

Wild Dewberries

Wild purple grapes

Red Huckleberries

It's always important to be certain of what you're gathering before you eat it, but this is especially true when it comes to wild berries. Some, like wild blackberries, are readily identified and hard to mistake for anything but equally-delicious wild raspberries and dewberries. Huckleberries and Blueberries are also pretty easy to identify.  Others, like wild grapes and rose hips, can be tricky to identify correctly and have toxic lookalikes.





Black Huckleberries

Rose Hips

Wild Strawberries

Wild strawberries are hard to spot but easy to identify. The plants grow in widespread patches low on the ground and have small white flowers. The berries themselves look like miniaturized versions of supermarket strawberries, but are far sweeter and more flavorful. You may not find more than a handful, but they are well worth the time spent.
If you are ever in the UK, Currents and Gooseberries found in woods, scrubs, and waste places are medium sized (about 4.9 foot tall) and are usually bushy shrubs, with toothed leaves


Black Currents

Red Currents

resembling those of a maple, small greenish-white to purple five-petal flowers and red, purplish black or yellow berries. Ripe currents are edible raw, cook gooseberries. Currents where outlawed here in the US in the 20th century. But you may find some still lingering around in different areas.


Red Gooseberries

Gooseberry bush



wild yellow Chickasaw plum

wild red plum

Plums exist in many varieties in scrub and woodland in virtually all temperate areas. Small shrubs or trees, similar to wild cherries, their fruits are larger, downy, blackish-purple, red or yellow; some are too tart to be edible raw.






ROOTS, LEAVES AND STEMS

Horseradish

Horseradish grow to 20 inches in a damp waste place with large, long stalked, wavy-edged oval leaves and clusters of tiny white flowers. Chop up the hot tasting root and add it to stews, the young leaves are edible when boiled.

Common Evening primrose

Common Evening Primrose is a tall plant of drier open areas, leafy, hairy, with spear shaped, crinkly-margin leaves and sometimes reddish flower-stalks topped with large yellow, four petal flowers. The roots are edible boiled, changing the water to ease their pungency. Peel young leaves and treat likewise. The plants overwinter as rosettes.

Lime or Basswood

Limes or Basswoods are tall trees, up to 85 foot high, which like damp woods, with large, heart shaped, toothed leaves and clusters of scented yellow flowers. Young leaves and unopened leaf buds are edible raw, the flowers can be used in tea.



Hops

Hops are climbing plants of woody and scrubby places that have long twisted stems, toothed leaves, deeply cut into three lobes, and green, cone shaped female flowers. Peel, slice and boil the young shoots, brew up the flowers.

Thistle

Thistles have spiny, often ridged stems, oblong or spear-shaped, prickly, deep-cut leaves and large bush like heads of purplish flowers. Remove prickles and boil young leaves. Peel tender shoots and eat raw or boiled. Roots of younger, stemless plants can be cooked and the base of each flower head contains a nutritious nut which can be eaten raw.

Saxifrages grow to 3 foot, usually much less, often liking open,

Saxifrages

rocky country, up into mountains. Most have rounded tapering or long-stalked leaves arcing from the base, often reddish stems and clusters of five petal flowers, usually white. Leaves are edible raw or cooked.

Great Burnet

Great Burnet reaches 2 foot, found in damper, grassy places, with toothed, spade shaped leaflets in opposite pairs and oblong heads of tiny, deep red flowers. Eat the tasty young leaves raw or boiled.

Redleg or Lady's Thumb reaches 2 foot. With reddish mature

Lady's Thumb

stems, narrow, spear shaped, usually dark-spotted leaves and spikes of tiny pink flowers. Often common on waste ground. Young leaves are edible raw or cooked like spinach.

Wild Rhubarb

Wild Rhubarb found in open grassy places and margins from southern Europe to China, resembles cultivated rhubarb, but its leaves are more ragged and dissected. The large flower stalks are edible boiled, other parts are NOT EDIBLE, ONLY EAT THE STALKS.



Bladder Campion

Bladder Campion grows to 18 inches in grassy places, is gray green, with pointed oval stalkless leaves, cluster of white flowers with a swollen balloon like base. Boil the young leaves for 10 minutes.

Field Pennycress

Field Pennycress grows to 18 inches in open grassy places, with broad, toothed, spear shaped clasping the stem, a head of tiny white flowers and distinctive, notched, coin like seed pods. Leaves are edible raw or boiled.

Red Clover



plain clover

Clovers are abundant in grassy areas, recognized by theirdistinctive trefoil leaflets and
dense rounded heads of small
flowers, ranging from white to greenish cream to even shades of red. Leaves are edible raw but better boiled. (everyone should know what a clover looks like)

Stork's Bill

Stork's Bill reaching 1 foot, found in open grassy areas is hairy, often pungent, with fern like, twice cut leaves and heads of tiny, five petal pinkish to white flowers whose fruits form a long, twisting "bill'' Eat leaves raw or boiled.



Burdocks

Burdocks, medium to large, bushy plans of open waste areas, have floppy oval leaves, often arching stems and many purplish thistle like flower heads that develop into clinging burs. Eat leaves and peeled stalks raw or boiled. Boil pitch of peeled root. Change the water a few times to remove bitterness.

Violets are small flowers found in many areas, including damp and

Wild purple Violets

wooded ones. Veined, crinkly, often heart shaped leaves rise on long stalks  with flowers in
shades of blue-violet, yellow or white, made up of five unequal petals. Cook young leaves. Violets are rich in vitamins A and C.

Wild White and Purple Violets



Corn Salad or Lambs Lettuce

Corn Salad or Lamb's Lettuce grows to 4-8 inches in bare rocky and grassy places. Well-branched, with oblong, stalkless leaves and clusters of tiny lilac bluish flowers; its leaves are edible raw or cooked like spinach. A particularly useful plant to know because it grows from late winter on towards summer.

Ox-Eyed Daisy

Ox-eye daisies often common in open areas, average about 3 foot tall, with narrow dark green, lobed leaves, the lower ones rounded, and large white and yellow daisy like flowers. Overwinters as a rosette. Eat young leaves, the lighter green ones, raw.

Cuckoo Flower or Lady's Smock  Found mostly in the UK, and grows on a damp ground up to

Lady's Smock or Cuckoo Flower

20 inches, with many small leaflets in opposite pairs, roundish on the basal ones which form a rosette, and clusters of lilac or white, four petal flowers. Young leaves are tasty raw, older leaves are a little peppery.

Brooklime

     






Brooklime    grows in shallow water and swamps. Its creeping to upright stems carry pairs of thick, oval, toothed leaves, from the stalk bases of which spring 3-10 inches spikes of four petal blue flowers with two prominent stamens. Eat young shoots before flowering and leaves after. Slightly bitter, eat like a watercress.





Thanks for Reading, Please bookmark this blog/page for future reference, We will be posting more about Wild Edibles over the next week or so. There is a lot of things that we still have to talk about and show, so stay tuned. And don't forget to visit my YouTube Channel for other great tips and videos, http://www.youtube.com/user/ruffsurvival. Thanks again, please feel free to leave any questions or comments below!!

Eric from Ruff Survival