IDing plants

Regenerative Subsistence Flora Food & Medicine
#1

hey folks, does anyone know a really user-friendly site to use to ID stuff?

Unfortunately I don’t have my camera cord with me, so can’t upload a photo of what I just found, but it’s a shrub, with soft, non-glossy opposite leaves that are basically ovals with the outer end being pointy. the red berries are glossy, and in pairs, also opposite. and by that, I mean that on either side is two berries growing from one little stem. I also saw some that looked basically the same, but the berries were orange, and the leaves a little smaller, and a lighter green. oh, and the berries are about a centimeter wide each. oh, last thing, they were growing in Spokane, WA, fairly dry soil, lots of Ponderosa Pine around.

#2

Maybe Utah honeysuckle (lonicera utahensis)?

#3

wow heyvictor, I think you’re right. and now i’m really tempted to taste it, but can’t find any info about lookalikes. Know any? should i assume that even one little berry could fuck me up if we’re wrong?

#4

I can’t really think of any look-alikes but I don’t know much about non-natives and ornamental plants. They aren’t what I would call spectacularly flavorful. I’d much rather eat huckleberries, or even saskatoons.

This is an interesting plant resource.
http://plants.usda.gov/checklist.html

A really good field guide that would also include much of what you find in your area is Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia by Parrish, Coupe, & Lloyd. Published by Lone Pine.

#5

yeah, i pretty much just really like to know what i CAN eat, and prefer first-hand experience, it helps me remember better.

This is an interesting plant resource. http://plants.usda.gov/checklist.html

i think i tried that one, and it didn’t have options like “opposite leaves” or other characteristics that could be known from a visual examination that i wanted.

A really good field guide that would also include much of what you find in your area is [i]Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia [/i] by Parrish, Coupe, & Lloyd. Published by Lone Pine.

cool, i’m just visiting the eastside right now, but i’ll try to find that for while i’m here. thanks!

#6

OOh, the east side is where it’s at. Forget about that soggy, mildewy, monochrome west side.

#7

heh, today was the least amount of tasty food i’ve found on a walk in a long time, and the first day i’d foraged outside of that soggy, mildewy, monochrome west side. :wink: of course, i’m also a bit less familiar with the flora on this side. i think i’m going to Lake Couer d’Alene tomorrow, maybe i’ll find some nice stuff over there.

#8

Up here in South central BC we are having one of the best berry years anyone can remember. The huckleberries are awesome and the saskatoons have been really heavy too. Looks like the choke cherries will also be good. Even the oregon grapes are loaded.

hmm. must mean sumthin’

I guess the bears 'll be fat

#9

Cool, I’ve been looking forward to having access to good Saskatoon harvesting, was thinking of making Saskatoon wine.

#10

The description you give seems like the Redberries we have here in southern california. I can’t find any like that which USDA thinks are in washington but this one grows as far north as southern oregon. Does it look similar at all?
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RHIL

#11

[quote=“formlessness, post:10, topic:1014”]The description you give seems like the Redberries we have here in southern california. I can’t find any like that which USDA thinks are in washington but this one grows as far north as southern oregon. Does it look similar at all?
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RHIL[/quote]

no, i’m about 99.99% sure it was the Twinberry/Utah Honeysuckle. I tasted one, and it was exactly as horrible as all the descriptions for it.