Edible wild plant books

troutfisher13111

troutfisher13111

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I just recently picked up "Peterson's Guide to Wild Edible Plants, Eastern Version" and am pleased with its content. It covers a lot of plants, how to prepare them, and poisonous look a likes. However, the book lacks in good color photos. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good book to cross reference with? Preferably with lots of photos. I live in NY if this helps. Thanks.
 
I haven't seen the book but color photos would help. Two problems with wild plants - some like pokeweed ,only some of the plant can be eaten at certain times of the year and cooked a certain way. Also watch out for poisonous look-alikes !
 
The Peterson's field guide covers what parts of the plant can be eaten, and even how to prepare them. The only thing I think it lacks in is color photos. There is a few, but not many.
 
Hey troutfisher,

One alternative is to use Google image search. Type in the binomial (Latin name) and you'll get more colour pictures than you can shake a stick at. I would caution, however, have a book nearby to compare with because sometimes the plant picture that comes up is not the plant it's labelled. :(

Generally speaking, edible plant books do not give you good pictures or descriptions. You must couple them with good ID field books. One exception is Edible Wild Plants- A North American Field Guide, Thomas S. Elias/ Peter A. Dykeman, Sterling Publishing (Outdoor Life), 1990, ISBN# 0-8069-7488-5. I don't know if this is still available, maybe a used book store?

One other thing, I would suggest you don't rely on one edible plant book, even as good as the Peterson series is. With more than one book, you can cross reference the plant to see if there are any surprises. For example, I have one book that says the berries of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia - sp?) are edible and others, that say they're poisonous.:eek:

So if you're going to learn from books, have several. Also a couple of books on poisonous plants is a good idea to make you aware of poisonous look alikes, and most of all, be meticulous in your identification, especially when learning. Many years ago I almost let my daughter (and myself) chow down on some Canada Moonseed (Menispermum canadense) which is a poisonous plant, because of a too casual ID (mistook it for Wild Grapes [Vitis spp.])

Happy foraging!

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Hey troutfisher,

One alternative is to use Google image search. Type in the binomial (Latin name) and you'll get more colour pictures than you can shake a stick at. I would caution, however, have a book nearby to compare with because sometimes the plant picture that comes up is not the plant it's labelled. :(

Generally speaking, edible plant books do not give you good pictures or descriptions. You must couple them with good ID field books. One exception is Edible Wild Plants- A North American Field Guide, Thomas S. Elias/ Peter A. Dykeman, Sterling Publishing (Outdoor Life), 1990, ISBN# 0-8069-7488-5. I don't know if this is still available, maybe a used book store?

One other thing, I would suggest you don't rely on one edible plant book, even as good as the Peterson series is. With more than one book, you can cross reference the plant to see if there are any surprises. For example, I have one book that says the berries of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia - sp?) are edible and others, that say they're poisonous.:eek:

So if you're going to learn from books, have several. Also a couple of books on poisonous plants is a good idea to make you aware of poisonous look alikes, and most of all, be meticulous in your identification, especially when learning. Many years ago I almost let my daughter (and myself) chow down on some Canada Moonseed (Menispermum canadense) which is a poisonous plant, because of a too casual ID (mistook it for Wild Grapes [Vitis spp.])

Happy foraging!

Doc
Click to expand...

Doc, Are there a lot of color pics in "Edible Wild Plants- A North American Field Guide"? I found a copy on-line I can buy. Thanks.
 
troutfisher13111 said:
Doc, Are there a lot of color pics in "Edible Wild Plants- A North American Field Guide"? I found a copy on-line I can buy. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The following pictures should give you an idea. I just picked the pages from random. Pretty well all the plants have at least 1 colour picture (there are a couple of black and white ones) (personally, I need more than this to feel comfortable with an identification, but it's one of the better ones I've seen). Please excuse the picture quality as I am heading out.

tfisher1.jpg

The label, 1, is beside a range map showing you the range of the particular plant - a good feature.
2 is a picture of the fruiting branch.
3 is a picture of the flowering branch
In case you are wondering about the 'X' across the bottom entry text, the plant isn't found in my area and it is just for a quick reference.

Here's another:
tfisher.jpg

Same label numbers apply.

A closeup of the text for the Black Cherry:
tfisher3.jpg


You'll see it's a fairly good description. However, as I mentioned before, no one book does it all. BTW, I have the book clamped together because the spine disintegrated. :(

The plants are also organized in the book by seasons. Overall it's one of the best wild edible books for my (and your) area, IMHO.

I'm sorry the pictures are so crappy, but I don't have time to redo them right now, but I'm sure you get the idea. The washed out areas are my photography, not the book's. Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, feel free.

Doc
 
Kirk D said:
I've got one of that book..., bought it from
http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Wild-P...3775128?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184023480&sr=8-1

It's pretty nice. I've got three of the Peterson's Guide to Wild Edible Plants, Eastern Version books, but, you're right, they have far less pictures.
Click to expand...

I didn't know it was still available. Thanks for the link. I might have to buy another one.

Troutfisher, check out the 11 reader reviews at Amazon. They pretty well agree with what I said. For $12, buy it.

Doc
 
Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide

Very good book. Needs to be in everybody's library.
 
troutfisher13111: Doc, I am gonna stop by Barnes and Noble and see if they carry this title.
Click to expand...

So troutfisher, did they?

Interestingly I came across a mistake (I think) in this book, today. For Black Huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata - page 167) they list a white flower. Every reference I've checked and the pictures on Google Image search say the flowers are reddish. Another reason to have more than one reference.

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
So troutfisher, did they?

Interestingly I came across a mistake (I think) in this book, today. For Black Huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata - page 167) they list a white flower. Every reference I've checked and the pictures on Google Image search say the flowers are reddish. Another reason to have more than one reference.

Doc
Click to expand...

Doc,

Huckleberries are one of those things...growing up, huckleberries were these tiny red tart berries. When I went north, huckleberries were what I grew up calling salal. When I went east the salal were called wild blueberries. My friend from Britain called blueberries, billberries. My friend, Bill, claims that he's not a berry at all but if you talk to his mother, she calls him Will. (Sorry 'bout that last bit). My point, and there is one, is that, if you can, sometimes it's handy to have an experienced local guide AND a good reference book when you first start looking at wild edibles.

I still don't know what those tiny red tart berries actually were.
 
Here's a quote that might shed some light on the huckleberry topic, from Wild Berries of the Pacific Northwest by J.E. Underhill, ISBN 0-919654-06-1. Great pictures and good descriptions, presumably because it was intended more for home canners than as an encyclopedic reference.

"Blueberry, Blue Huckleberry, or just Huckleberry...about a dozen kinds of related shrubs in the genus Vaccinium that all bear some claim to one or more of these names...To make matters more complicated, easterners use the term 'huckleberry' for an entirely unrelated plant."

It goes on to say that the terms huckleberry,blueberry,billberry,whortleberry, and cranberry are typically used interchangeably.
Then again, you don't want to rely on a single field guide...
 
DeadeyeLefty said:
Here's a quote that might shed some light on the huckleberry topic, from Wild Berries of the Pacific Northwest by J.E. Underhill, ISBN 0-919654-06-1. Great pictures and good descriptions, presumably because it was intended more for home canners than as an encyclopedic reference.

"Blueberry, Blue Huckleberry, or just Huckleberry...about a dozen kinds of related shrubs in the genus Vaccinium that all bear some claim to one or more of these names...To make matters more complicated, easterners use the term 'huckleberry' for an entirely unrelated plant."

It goes on to say that the terms huckleberry,blueberry,billberry,whortleberry, and cranberry are typically used interchangeably.
Then again, you don't want to rely on a single field guide...
Click to expand...


Yeah, but what were the little red berries? My gawrsh, what did I put in my mouth...I was only a child...I didn't know any better.

Seriously, though, that's good info.
 
I can guess what it wasn't if that helps ! :barf:

wow, a place where the barf smiley is actually warranted.....
 
DeadeyeLefty said:
I can guess what it wasn't if that helps ! :barf:

wow, a place where the barf smiley is actually warranted.....
Click to expand...

Man, that's funny.

If I ever see Bear Grylls eating the little red berries, I'm having my stomach pumped...I don't care if it has been thirty years since I ate them.
 
task force k said:
When I went east the salal were called wild blueberries. My friend from Britain called blueberries, billberries. My friend, Bill, claims that he's not a berry at all but if you talk to his mother, she calls him Will. (Sorry 'bout that last bit).
Click to expand...

:thumbup: :D :D

KR
 
Okay, I feel better now. I looked it up and the berries that I ate were RED huckleberry.

Heck, it sounds like if you call all wild berries, huckleberries, you'll be right about fifty percent of the time... 25 percent of the time, they'll be poisonous and the person who eats them will die (and they can't complain or tell anybody that you're an idiot), 20 percent of the time they'll be another edible berry, and the other five percent of the time, the person eating them will experience mild gastric distress (and you say, not THOSE huckleberries...I thought you meant those OTHER huckleberries...the ones over there or just tell them they have a rare huckleberry allergy).

The conversation:

What kinds of berries are those?

Huckleberries.

Are they edible?

Probably.
 
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