such an informative article. Very vital especially to a camper.

Another good one is Jewelweed. Quite common in the woods I like to visit. You can cut off the stem and use the juices to ease the itching of poison ivy, and even better, if you’re quick enough, counteract and stop poison ivy from getting on you in the first place. It is said that you find jewelweed where you find poison ivy, but some debate that. The jewelweeds with spotted orange flowers (touch-me-nots) are best, as opposed to yellow. My favorite topical “stuff” is tannin due to it’s versatility, but this flower can actually stop ivy from working it’s black magic on you.

No, man, thank you for the good article. I was just hoping to help expand it. I have a question for you, though. Wild Lettuce. Just how dangerous is it for you? I know you can use it as a sedative or some other kind of high, but how much is too much? Been thinking about experimenting, but I’m not a fan of putting myself in unneeded danger.

I dunno how to get the url for the specific picture, so I’m sending the URL for my whole album on FB. I want to know if my top picture is Yellow Sorrel. I am aware that you probably can’t make a 100% positive ID, but I value your opinion highly. http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.164939980196013.32039.100000400361032 If you can take a look at that, that would be awesome, thanks.

Oh cool. Yeah, I tried half a “heart”, and my stupid brain being the way it is, started making me feel like I was exhibiting some symptoms if . . . I dunno But yeah, by now, I’m certain it wasn’t poisonous. Tasted just like an apple peel! I love it. I got the idea to look for that specific plant from a PDF book by 7Summits.

Wonderful website and articles…thank you! I am amazed and delighted to find out that so many of the plants growing in my wooded field, which I can positively identify, are edible! I can’t wait to go out foraging for sumac berries and sprouts, cattails, dandelions, and daylillies! I only wish that you had pictures and articles on all 50 of the edible plants, as I am sure that I have many many more of them as well.

I use Jewelweed all the time as a topical treatment for poison ivy and mosquito bites. Just break open the stem and rub the juice inside on the affected area. You can also make a spray by placing the stems and leaves in a blender with a little water, then strain into a spray bottle. Keep it in the refridgerator to keep it fresh. Adding a little alcohol to the mixture will help to sustain the mixture longer as well, and may also help to dry up the rash. I heard someone suggest once freezing this concoction into icecubes and storing them in the freezer for use in colder seasons when Jewelweed is not growing, though I think I would be curious to know if it loses some of its effectiveness this way.

Thank you again

Thanks Sandy. I plan on covering most, if not all, of these plants in future articles so stay tuned. And great tips on making a jewelweed spray! I’ll be sure to try that.

Hi, This is a wonderful article and a great place to learn. I would like to however, add just a couple thoughts. Catnip is from the mint family and makes a wonderful tea. It’s soothig, cooling and relaxing. Catmint/nip can be nibbled as a trail food. AND the good part of catmint/nip is it’s a calmative. Just what we might need when times are the most stressful.

Plantain is a great one to get to know, it’s known as an antitoxin and works great on stings, boils, poison ivy, etc. Certain indian tribes used it to draw out thorns and splinters in the food so powerful is it’s “drawing” effects. If you’re hiking out, become familiar with plantain…so that next time you get into a batch of poison ivy or get stung…simply macerate a few leaves of plantain and leave it on the affected area, when it dries out, do it again…even chewing it up and leaving it moist and applying it, if nothing else is available, will work. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the pain and itch subside. AND it’s a great wild edible…even the dried seeds.

Don’t forget Chickweed, is an awesome wild edible and pretty much the bane of nearly everyone’s back yard. It’s small, and sneaky when in your yard, but don’t kill it…get even and eat it. Full of nutrients and easily identifiable and certainly abundant nearly everywhere in the US.

Well, I hope I didn’t come off as a smarty pants…but I’m working on a Master Herbalist program in my spare time and just wanted to help out…Thanks for listening
Willow

Nice Master in herbalist. I’m trying to come up with a name for my edible botanical baking Co. Lost for words, names have all ready been taken it there just to stuffy. Any ideas?

This is one of the best sites describing wild edibles I’ve seen so far. Thanks for your efforts. Foraging is to me a fascinating endeavor and I am surprised more people don’t take advantage of what is free top quality nutrients.

Although you have listed mustard, I think garlic mustard deserves a special mention. It is invasive and incredibly abundant where I live in the Chicago suburbs. And it is a remarkably delicious wild edible, very easy to identify. Land cress is also very common in my area and quite tasty. Mulberries could be had by the tanker truck full for any so inclined, and there are also lots of wild raspberries in certain forest preserves.

One of my favorites are May Apples – very delicious with a uniquely tart flavor but also potentially toxic if consumed when not completely ripe. The rest of the plant is also poisonous. Probably one that, along with Pokeweed, is best avoided by novices.

At any rate, I hope you will be able to provide more great in depth articles on these wonderful wild edibles. Thanks again!

Plaintain should be added to the medicinal list. Cures infections…especially spider bites. Saved me surgery twice. If I had to choose one plant to eat and heal…this would sin hands down. Nice to know it is EVERYWHERE too!

The jewel weed never helped my poison….Not sure why so I scrub with salt and wash with dish detergent. Anything that is a degreaser with get rid of the oil. If I would wash with it as soon as I touch it but that never happens. LOL.

That’s how I usually get rid of poison ivy, since I can’t even find jewelweed where I live, no matter how hard I look.

Everyone loves it when individuals come together and
share ideas. Great site, keep it up!

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Thank you so much for the AWESOME information!

I have found that if you can memorize around a dozen edibles in your area by each season and terrain it is not such an over whelming task. You should be able to picture the plant in your head with no doubt as there are lots of poisonus plants that look similar to edibles. There are great books out there by region. I have the Field guide to edible wild plants/ Eastern North America by Lee Allen Peterson. If I have any doubt about what a plant looks like I also look it up on line for as many photos as I can find to be sure I am right.
I am in CT and though it is a bit early in the season, I have been able to pick chickweed and just today steamed day lilies for lunch.

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