Native Plants
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Thursday - May 15, 2008
From: Clearfield, PA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Edible Plants
Title: Edible fruits and plants in Pennsylvania
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Can you give me a list of edible berries and plants that someone might find if they were hiking through the forest of Pennsylvania?ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants doesn't even know ALL the edible native plants in Pennsylvania, but there are books that can give you a listing of the best ones. For instance, Edible Wild Plants of Pennsylvania and Neighboring States by F. J. Medve and others; Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America by M. L. Fernald and others; and Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America by L. Peterson all are excellent references. These books provide you with means to identify the plants, habitat and distribution, which parts are edible, how to prepare the plant, poisonous plants to avoid, etc. Here, also, is a page of foraging and ethnobotany links from Foraging.com.Just to give you an idea of the great variety of edible native plants you can find, below is a partial list of trees and shrubs only that grow in Pennsylvania that bear edible fruit. There are many more herbaceous plants as well that are edible.
A cautionary note: Be sure you know what plant you're about to eat! There are look-alike plants that can give very unpleasant, even dangerous, results if eaten.
Carya alba (mockernut hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud) (edible flowers)
Celtis occidentalis (common hackberry)
Diospyros virginiana (common persimmon)
Prunus americana (American plum)
Prunus angustifolia (Chickasaw plum)
Prunus pensylvanica (pin cherry)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Prunus virginiana (chokecherry)
Corylus americana (American hazelnut)
Gaylussacia dumosa (dwarf huckleberry)
Mahonia repens (creeping barberry)
For the next 3 genera, use the "Narrow Your Search" option to limit the species to Pennsylvania.
Ribes spp. (currants and gooseberries)
Rubus spp. (blackberries, raspberries, dewberries)
Vaccinium spp. (cranberries, blueberries, huckleberries)
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If I plant this at home with tomato plants will it...
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Fruit or nut trees for land in North Carolina
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June 26, 2008 - I was given a Citrus Mitis plant. It has beautiful white flowers and delicious looking tiny oranges.everyone in my office is asking if they're edible?
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Edibility of non-native garlic sprouts from Brancburg, NJ
March 12, 2013 - I have regular garlic in my refrigerator. It had sprouts growing out of it so I put it in a cup of water. Now that the stems are large enough to put in food, my question is.. Is that part of the garl...
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