Original Article:
https://practicalselfreliance.com/poisonous-berries/
By Ashley Adamant
Poisonous Berries can cause intense symptoms, and some can even be fatal. Learn these common toxic berries and fruits to avoid when out foraging wild edible plants.
Toxic Berries of Bittersweet Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara)
Every summer I spend countless hours foraging wild edible berries in the woods and fields around my home, and at this point, I know most of them like old friends.
There are plenty of poisonous berries or potentially toxic fruits growing nearby too, but up until now, I’ve not spent much time learning to identify those species. In truth, it’s just as important to know how to identify toxic berries and fruit as it is to know the edible ones.
I’ve started this as a list of poisonous berries I’ve come across, both in the wild and discussed online. I’ll keep adding to it as I find new species common to the US, especially those that have edible look-alikes.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but more of a starting point in the discussion. If you know of any common species that I’ve missed, please do leave me a note in the comments and I’ll work on adding them.
Eventually, I’d love for the list to be as comprehensive as possible.
While everything listed here is toxic to some degree, they may not all be berries from a purely technical standpoint. Poisonous fruit or poisonous seeds might be a better title, but you get the idea.
(As always, never attempt to consume wild plants without being 100% sure of your identification, both ruling out the potential toxic look likes and positively IDing the plant. I’ve listed as many as I can find, but this isn’t an exhaustive list. Just because you don’t see it below doesn’t mean it’s edible…)
Toxic Berries of Bittersweet Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara)
Every summer I spend countless hours foraging wild edible berries in the woods and fields around my home, and at this point, I know most of them like old friends.
There are plenty of poisonous berries or potentially toxic fruits growing nearby too, but up until now, I’ve not spent much time learning to identify those species. In truth, it’s just as important to know how to identify toxic berries and fruit as it is to know the edible ones.
I’ve started this as a list of poisonous berries I’ve come across, both in the wild and discussed online. I’ll keep adding to it as I find new species common to the US, especially those that have edible look-alikes.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but more of a starting point in the discussion. If you know of any common species that I’ve missed, please do leave me a note in the comments and I’ll work on adding them.
Eventually, I’d love for the list to be as comprehensive as possible.
While everything listed here is toxic to some degree, they may not all be berries from a purely technical standpoint. Poisonous fruit or poisonous seeds might be a better title, but you get the idea.
(As always, never attempt to consume wild plants without being 100% sure of your identification, both ruling out the potential toxic look likes and positively IDing the plant. I’ve listed as many as I can find, but this isn’t an exhaustive list. Just because you don’t see it below doesn’t mean it’s edible…)
