Walking around a local park yesterday, I realized this series is nearing its logical end. Everywhere I look, plants are dying back. Birds, squirrels and other small mammals are fattening up or storing supplies for winter. Soon almost nothing will be left from Summer's abundance but bare branches and rustling leaves. (Above: View from the Catskills by wide eyed lib)
Here's how I envision the remaining entries in this series. Next Saturday I'll be visiting my CSA farm, so my next post will very likely be about that. The following 2 weeks will cover remaining Fall goodies like grapes and hawthorn berries, and then the final week will be a summary of previously covered items that will likely be available for winter foraging.
I haven't yet decided if I'll continue the series next Spring. Certainly it will no longer be a weekly series, since I've already covered so many of the best and tastiest plants. I'll probably write occasional diaries featuring plants I missed the first time around as well as any new discoveries. We'll see...
Covered: yew, hackberry & wintergreen
Today's first plant is the yew, actually a closely related group of species in the Taxus genus, 5 of which are found in the U.S. and Canada and 3 of which are native. Yew trees as a group have short, flat, evergreen needles rarely exceeding an inch in length. They can grow up to 130 feet in height, but you'll just as often see them trimmed into 4 foot hedges. Yew bark is generally quite scaly and brownish-grey with rusty patches where the bark has recently flaked off. In early Spring yews produce inconspicuous, cream-colored, flower-like male cones that release great quantities of pollen. The female cones begin as dark green bullets with light green caps but after pollination develop bright red berry-like structures around them called arils. The arils have a gooey, sticky interior and are great fun to toss at your friends if you're 6 and they're dressed in their Sunday best. Not that I would know anything about that... (Left: Canadian Yew Bark by wide eyed lib)
Yew wood is flexible, allowing it to bend a long way before breaking. This enables it to survive in places with heavy snowfall. English archers took advantage of this property early on and fashioned their bows and arrows out of yew wood. Not only did the flexibility of the wood increase the distance and speed of arrow flight, but the wood also contains various taxanes, alkaloids that slows heart activity. If the initial blow and subsequent blood loss didn't kill you, the taxanes just might. Celtic peoples also used yew sap as arrow poison.
The individual species are best distinguished by where they're found, but with almost 400 cultivars available to gardeners and landscapers, it's hardly a foolproof process. The Canadian yew is native to an area from Manitoba to Labrador in the north and ranging as far south as North Carolina. The Japanese yew is naturalized diagonally from Massachusetts to Kentucky but is also a favorite of landscapers everywhere. The Pacific yew is native from Alaska to California and as far east as Montana. The English yew, also known as the European or common yew, is naturalized to a small area of the northeast as well as Washington state, while the native Florida yew is found only in a small area along the Apalachicola River in Florida. The Florida yew is an endangered species, so if you stumble across one, be sure to check with local laws before doing anything more than admiring it. The other species, however, thrive just about anywhere that isn't too dry, from sunny hills to shady bogs. (Right: Canadian Yew Needles by wide eyed lib)
The aril of the female cone is the only edible part of the yew, and it's edible on all species. The hard green seed inside is, however, quite poisonous-- like the rest of the plant. As few as fifty needles can kill a person. I always eat the arils carefully, mushing them against the roof of my mouth with my tongue to avoid swallowing or even scraping the seeds. However, Plants for a Future says that swallowing whole, intact seeds isn't dangerous because they pass through human digestive systems unscathed. Still, that's not an experiment I care to conduct on myself or anyone I know.
All the caution is worth it, though. Yew arils are delicious, fruity and sweet with a mucilaginous texture. Although they make a yummy trail snack and are plentiful enough in some areas to be gathered in great quantity, they unfortunately don't have many culinary uses. Separating the fruit from the seeds by hand creates a huge oozing mess, and using a food mill is ill-advised because the hard coating on the seeds might be damaged, contaminating the fruit with possibly dangerous quantities of taxanes. (Left: Yew Female Cone with Aril by wide eyed lib)
Like many toxic substances, the taxanes in yew trees have medicinal uses. Native Americans used yew twigs and needles in very small quantities for their sedative properties. Modern medicine originally created chemotherapy drugs from naturally derived taxanes, much to the detriment of the population of the Pacific yew. These days taxanes are produced synthetically, and the Pacific yew is no longer under threat. Because yew parts are so toxic and many other plants with sedative properties are available, this is not a plant I personally would ever consider using medicinally.
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Today's next group of plants are the hackberries, a group of between 60 and 70 tree species in the genus Celtis. They're found in all U.S. states other than Alaska and Hawaii, and most of the eastern Canadian provinces. (The Plants database claims that no Celtis species grow in Maine, but I doubt that's true.) They're generally short trees with smooth grey bark that's sometimes a bit warty and reddish twigs with brown spots. Hackberry leaves are bright green and asymmetrical with one half of each leaf generally being fuller than the other. Their uneven shape reminds me of a filled pastry bag. In Spring hackberry trees produce tiny whitish-green flowers just as the leaves are unfurling. The berries develop soon after and reach full size (1/4 to 3/8 of an inch in diameter) by mid-Summer, although they stubbornly remain green for at least a month. When ripe, the berries (technically drupes) hang singly on long stalks and are orangey-brown to purple in color with a thin, dry flesh covering a large, round seed. I previewed hackberries back in July, so you can see Summer foliage and unripe fruit here. (Right: Common Hackberry Bark by wide eyed lib)
The most easily distinguishable characteristic of hackberry trees, at least in the northeast, is how messy they look. Their leaves are attacked by jumping plant lice, which create "nipples" (I swear that's what they're called) on the underside of the leaves that start off light green and later turn brown and a separate joint attack by a mildew fungus and a mite that causes deformed clusters of twigs called witches' brooms. Seemingly unfazed by the attacks, hackberries keep going year after year.
Of the 6 native and 1 introduced species of hackberry, by far the most common is the aptly named common hackberry (C. occidentalis), which is found everywhere except along the West Coast. The West Coast and the South are both home to sugarberry (C. laevigata), the second most common species. I can't recall ever seeing a sugarberry tree, but according to the Wikipedia link above: "Sugarberry has narrower leaves which are smoother above. The species can also be distinguished by habitat: where the ranges overlap, Common Hackberry occurs primarily in upland areas, whereas Sugarberry occurs mainly in bottomland areas." All of the species look pretty similar and all have edible berries. (Above Left: Common Hackberry Leaves by wide eyed lib. The brown spots are the way the lice nipples appear from the front.)
Thin-skinned and dry as the fruit may be, it's deemed delicious by anyone who tries it. Many people say it has a flavor reminiscent of dates, but Steve Brill likens it to M&Ms and I agree. There's almost a chocolate flavor, and the little crunch as a tooth breaks through thin flesh reminds me of that candy's shell. They're best in flavor shortly after they turn orange, perhaps when they still have a little green on them. Very soon after they fully ripen, they dry out and crack and their delicious flavor is lost. If you get a tasteless one, that's likely the problem. (Right: Hackberry Drupes by wide eyed lib)
I've tried to gather enough berries to experiment with cooking them, but I simply can't resist eating them. Steve Brill has made a fruit sauce by simmering ripe berries in a small amount of water, crushing the fruit a bit with a potato masher and then straining out the seeds. I bet it tasted delicious. I'll try again next year, but even if they only remain a trail nibble, you won't hear me complain. The pits are harmless if swallowed and have even been ground with the fruit to create a flavoring. According to Wikipedia, the leaves of the Chinese hackberry (C. sinensis) are used, in combination with other leaves, in the Korean tea called gamro cha. I haven't read anything about the leaves of other species being used for tea.
Medicinal uses seem almost as thin as the fruit itself, but an extract from the bark has been used to treat sore throats and VD, and an extract from the wood has been used for jaundice.
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Our final plants for today are the wintergreens, a group of herbs in the heath family, Ericaceae, that also includes blueberries (covered here) and cranberries. While there are between 170 and 180 species in wintergreen's Gaultheria genus, not all of them are considered wintergreens. Six species that are considered wintergreens are native to the U.S. and Canada, and one species or other grows in all Southern Canadian provinces and most U.S. states other than Hawaii, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and a stripe in the center of the country from North Dakota to Texas. The species I'm most familiar with is the eastern teaberry (G. procumbens), so that's the species this entry will primarily focus on. (Left: Young Eastern Teaberry by wide eyed lib)
The eastern teaberry is a low growing plant that rarely exceeds 6 inches in height. It's found in moist woods from Manitoba to Alabama and all points east. It begins in early Summer as a basal rosette with dark green, leathery, shiny leaves with tiny teeth. It grows upward on a spindly woody stem with a cluster of larger leaves up to 2 inches long by half an inch wide at the top and smaller leaves beneath. The result is a slightly top heavy appearance. Each stem appears to be an individual plant but is connected to every other plant in a particular stand via underground perennial stems. By mid-Summer eastern teaberry has developed tiny bell-shaped, dangling white flowers beneath the leaf axils that greatly resemble blueberry flowers. These are replaced with small berries that are generally between 1/4 and 3/8 of an inch in diameter that start off white and gradually turn pink or bright red. The plant's leaves and berries persist over winter before being crowded out by competing plants the following Spring. Warning: In some states, including Illinois, eastern teaberry is considered endangered and threatened. Make sure you know its local status and your local laws before foraging this plant.
The easiest way to identify any wintergreen is by smell. Crush the leaves, flowers or berries and inhale deeply. That woodsy, spicy, minty scent is oil of wintergreen, which is created by a range of unrelated plants (including black birch, discussed here). The function of oil of wintergreen seems to be to attract beneficial insects and repel predatory insects. (In fact, it's used in some natural insect repellants including my favorite, Natrapel.) Because many people also find it an attractive scent, it's been used in perfumes, mouthwash, toothpaste and, perhaps most famously, wintergreen Lifesavers. Although there are other small plants that resemble wintergreen, none of them have wintergreen's distinctive scent, which makes identification foolproof. (Below: Eastern Teaberry in Flower by aleynad_album, courtesy of Photobucket. Also note the edible leaves of nasturtium (Tropaeolum species) above and to the right.)
Other wintergreen species in North America include:
• creeping snowberry (G. hispidula though Wikipedia has it as G. hispida), which has much smaller leaves along creeping stems. The fruits are also quite small and can be white, pink or a combination. It's found in New England, the mid-Atlantic states, around the Great Lakes and in all southern Canadian provinces.
• alpine spicy wintergreen (G. humifusa) with leaves that are between eastern teaberry and creeping snowberry in size, but are more pointy and heart-shaped. Its berries are cranberry red and have a 5 pointed crown on the blossom end. It grows from Alberta to New Mexico and most points west.
• salal (G. shallon) with leaves similar to eastern teaberry except they're a little larger and have more prominent veins. The flowers and berries grow on long racemes that are taller than the leaves, and the berries greatly resemble blueberries when ripe.
Regardless of species, you can use the leaves, flowers and berries in the same ways. The flowers and berries can be eaten as is, but most of the leaves are tough and best chewed but not swallowed. A large number of crushed leaves steeped in a small amount of hot (but not boiling) water will yield a terrific tea, made even better by adding some crushed berries or flowers. But for maximum flavor extraction, you have to add or make some alcohol because the compounds involved are alcohol soluble. You can experiment with making your own alcoholic beverage by putting crushed leaves in a non-reactive bowl (I like to put a small non-reactive plate in the bowl to keep the wintergreen submerged) then topping loosely and letting it sit for 2-3 days until bubbles form. The bubbles are the actions of wild yeasts that are eating the sugars in the wintergreen and producing alcohol. If at any point your mixture starts to smell funky, though, you'll have to dump it.
You can speed up the process and ensure success by adding wine yeast and a bit of sugar, or you can cut to the chase and put 2 cups of crushed leaves and berries in about a liter of decent vodka, shaking every couple of days and decanting after 2 weeks. The end result can be sweetened to make an aperitif or quaffed as is to warm up a cold winter's night. These liquids can be used in small amounts to flavor baked goods or even poured over ice cream. The berries and flowers can also be added to salads (including fruit salads) or used in baked goods, pancakes or muffins. A few go a long way, and overcooking them destroys their flavor. You can also make a jam with the berries, but for best results add raw pureed berries just before you put your chosen pectin or agar thickened mixture in jars. (Right: Eastern Teaberry with Berries by fatamorgana2121, courtesy of Photobucket)
Wintergreen has natural warming and soothing qualities that make it terrific when you're feeling under the weather. The berries are very high in Vitamin C and have been used to treat scurvy. Oil of wintergreen has long been used in massage oils because of its warming properties and used externally it works wonders on all kinds of muscles aches. Methyl salicylate, one of the primary compounds in oil of wintergreen, is closely related to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and shares some of aspirin's anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. However, anyone allergic to aspirin should probably also avoid wintergreen (and black birch, for that matter). Caution: While normal amounts of leaves, berries, flowers and teas or alcoholic concoctions made from them are completely safe, commercially available oil of wintergreen is a highly concentrated substance that should NEVER be taken internally.
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I hope you've enjoyed this foray into fruits that are just about everywhere yet somehow still exotic and mysterious. Perhaps you'll be motivated to give 1 or 2 of them a try. (After properly identifying them, of course!)
See you next Sunday!
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If you're interested in foraging and missed the earlier diaries in the series, you can click here for the previous 29 installments. As always, please feel free to post photos in the comments and I'll do my best to help identify what you've found. (And if you find any errors, let me know.)
Here are some helpful foraging resources:
"Wildman" Steve Brill's site covers many edibles and includes nice drawings.
"Green" Deane Jordan's site is quite comprehensive and has color photos and stories about many plants.
Green Deane's foraging how-to clips on youtube each cover a single plant in reassuring detail.
Linda Runyon's site features only a few plants but has great deals on her dvd, wild cards and books (check out the package deals in particular).
Steve Brill's book, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places is my primary foraging guide. (Read reviews here, but if you're feeling generous, please buy from Steve's website.)
Linda Runyon's book The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide contains especially detailed information about nutritional content and how to store and preserve wild foods.
Samuel Thayer’s book The Forager's Harvest is perhaps the finest resource out there for the 32 plants covered. The color photos and detailed harvest and preparation information are top-notch.
Steve Brill also offers guided foraging tours in NYC-area parks. Details and contact info are on his website.
Finally, the USDA plants database is a great place to look up info on all sorts of plants.
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