AY Honor Edible Wild Plants Answer Key used by North American Division
Skill Level
2
Year
1970
Version
22.11.2024
Approval authority
North American Division
Introduction
There are at least three approaches to finding edible wild plants in your area. The first is to look through a list of edible wild plants that should be available in your area, and then go out and try to find some of them. The second approach is to go out and identify what plants are around you, determine their identity, and then find out if they are edible by looking them up in a good field guide (not by tasting them!). The third approach is to take a class, with field trips, on the subject. Having friends interested in it is helpful too. You tend to build on what each one finds out.
Because a surprising number of plants are edible, the second approach is far more likely to yield successful results. I cannot tell you how long I struggled with the first approach, searching for the likes of Jerusalem Artichokes or Groundnuts without success, all the while overlooking Hazels, Sarsaparilla, and Bunchberry. All my field guides indicated that Jerusalem Artichokes and Groundnuts should both grow in my area, but it was years before I ever saw either. I did manage to find more than 15 edible plants using the first technique, but it was indeed a struggle. Sometime later I began trying to identify every plant I saw - only a few at a time of course. I found myself entering information into this online key - and when I got a hit, I would recognize that plant as one that I had seen in an edible wild plant field guide, but had not been looking for. I soon learned that many - perhaps half - of the plants in my yard are edible. Of course I also found many that are not edible, and several that are poisonous (just so you don't go around thinking that since many plants are edible, it's harmless to eat something you have not identified - it is not.)
By attempting to identify the plants I had found rather than trying to find the plants I had identified, I found many, many more edible plants in a much shorter time (and several inedible and poisonous plants as well). It has made me a better Pathfinder.
If you opt to use the second approach, I urge you to review the requirements for the Flowers, Flowers - Advanced, Seeds, and Seeds - Advanced honors as well. You can meet many requirements of all these honors at the same time.
Also in some plants one part is edible and another part is poisonous. A grocery store example of this is cherries. The fruit is very good, but the seeds contain cyanide which is deadly if you eat enough. The leaves are likewise poisonous and have been known to kill cattle. Just because one part of a plant is edible does not mean that the whole plant is good to eat, and just because a plant is listed as edible does not mean that it is not poisonous.
Some plants are edible only in certain stages of growth. Some examples are: Bracken fern is not edible after the fiddle head stage. Nettles can cause kidney problems in some people if they are mature (seed growing on the stalk). Yucca stalk (Hesperoyucca whipplei ) gets too many bitter saponins to be palatable as it matures into a flower head. Be careful.
1
Several wild edible plants are presented here. I have included the plants with which I am most familiar, meaning that most of them are available in the Eastern United States, though we are in the process of adding more plants from the Western U.S. To make this section more universal, please add plants from your own area. This should be done by creating a separate page for the plant and including it thusly:
{{:Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/New Plant}}
Save the page, and then click on the red link you just made to create the new page (or let someone else do that - just knowing which plant to include is a great help). If you choose to add content to the new page, please use the EWP template to maintain uniformity. See the discussion page of the EWP template for its usage, or look at an existing page that uses it (which would be all of the ones below).
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Amaranth
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Lepidium virginicum
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Bladder Campion
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Cattail
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Chicory
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Clover
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Dandelion
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Day Lily
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Evening Primrose
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Goldenrod
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Greenbriar
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Jerusalem Artichoke
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Milkweed
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Pickerelweed
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Plantain
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Sheep Sorrel
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Strawberry
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Wild Carrot
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Wild Garlic
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Wild Onion
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Wintergreen
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Wood Sorrel
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Cereus repandus
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Berberis
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Ferocactus cylindraceus
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Prunus virginiana
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Cylindropuntia
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Malus coronaria
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Vitis vinifera
2
Trees typically have a single trunk and grow taller than shrubs (which often have multiple trunks). Some species can be classified as either depending on growing conditions.
Trees
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Acorn
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Beech Nuts
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Cherry
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Hickory Nuts
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Maple Syrup
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Persimmon
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Pine Nuts
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Pine Needles
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Sassafras
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Sumac
Shrubs
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Autumn Olive
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Blackberry
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Blueberry
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Cranberry
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Gooseberry
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Rose
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Serviceberry
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Spicebush
3
Fruits and Berries
See above on Apple cactus, Barberry, Barrel cactus, Blackberry, Blueberry, Bunch berry, Cascara, Cherry, Chokecherry, Cholla, Coffeeberry, Crab apple, Cranberry, Currant, Date palm, Desert apricot, Elderberry, Fan palm, Fire thorn, Gooseberry, Grape, Ground cherry, Hackberry, Hawthorne, Holly leaf Cherry, Indian plum, Lemonade berry, Manzanita, Mulberry, Oregon Grape, Organ pipe, Partridgeberry, Passion fruit, Pawpaw, Persimmon, Pin Cherry, Prickly pear, Raspberry, Rose hips, Saguaro cactus, Salal, Serviceberry, Sour Cherry, Squawbush, Strawberry, Sugarbush, Thimbleberry, Toyon, and Wintergreen.
Also see this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki as having edible fruit.
Beverages
See above on Chicory, Dandelion, Goldenrod, Lemon aid berry, Mint, Nettle, Pine needle, Pineapple weed, Sassafras, Sheep Sorrel, Sumac, Wintergreen, and Wood Sorrel
Also see this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki as suitable for making beverages.
Salad Plants
See above on Chickweed, Dandelion, Greenbriar, Lambs' quarters, Miner's lettuce, Plantain, Purslane, Sheep Sorrel, Violet, Wood Sorrel Also see this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki as suitable salad ingredients.
Greens
See above on Amaranth, Dandelion, Dock, Filaree, Fireweed, Lambsquarters, Mallow, Milkweed, Plantain, Russian thistle, Stinging Nettle, Wood Nettle.
Also see this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki as suitable for making potherbs.
Tubers or Roots
See above on Brodiaea, Burdock, Camas, Carrot, Cattail, Dandelion, Evening Primrose, Garlic, Jerusalem Artichoke, Lomatium, Onion, Sassafras, Salsify, and Yampah Also see this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki as having edible roots or tubers.
4
4a
Any of the greens and tubers may be prepared by boiling.
Also see the this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki that can be prepared by boiling
4b
See the this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki that can be prepared by frying
Cattail Pollen Pancakes
Collect cattail pollen and mix with flour for pancakes. The best results are with replacing 1/4 and 1/2 of the flour with cattail pollen. This will add nutrition and a bright yellow color to your pancakes.
Cattails are in the pollen stage for about 2 weeks to a month. The season starts the end of April in the southern areas of the USA and ends in July in Canada or in high elevations.
A good cattail pollen harvester can be made with an empty 3 liter pop bottle by making a 1.5 - 2 inch hole just below the curved part of the bottle on the cap end of the bottle. Put the cap on and insert the pollen laden cattail flower head through the hole you made. Tap the cattail stem to release the pollen into the pop bottle. More pollen will be ready to harvest in a day or two. 2 liter pop bottles work too, but the pollen tends to get stuck in the neck of the bottle when emptying it. After emptying the pollen, sift the fiber and bugs out.
Clover Pancakes
Collect about one gallon of clover flowers and let them dry for two weeks (or dry them in the oven at 250°F for 30 minutes and then let them sit overnight). Once they are dry, grind them to powder using a mortar and pestle to make a fine flour. This will produce about a cup of flour. Mix this half-and-half with wheat flour and make pancakes.
Fritters
- Dandelion flower heads can be dipped in batter and fried to make fritters.
- Elderberry flower heads can be dipped in batter and fried to make fritters. Caution: Plant stems and leaves contain cyanide.
- Milkweed flowers can also be battered and fried, but they must be dipped in boiling water for one minute first.
- Black Locust flowers also make excellent fritters.
4c
See above for Acorns, Agave, Beechnuts, Chicory, Dandelion, Pickerel weed, Pine nuts, Soap root and Yucca.
Also see the this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki that can be prepared by roasting.
4d
See the this category for a list of all the plants that have been tagged in this Wiki that can be prepared by baking, and this category for a list of plants that have been tagged as suitable for making flour.
Pie
Delicious pies can be made from blackberries or blueberries. Wild cherries are not really large enough for this, but if you find them in quantity, you might make a go of it.
Bread
Try baking bread by mixing wheat flour with any of the various "wild" flours made from clover, acorn, cattail pollen, or cattail roots.
5
This is a highly regional requirement valid only where common milkweed or day lily grow wild abundantly. Rather than outright waiving the requirement if you live in a region where these plants do not grow, consider replacing the requirement with something roughly equivalent (i.e., do you know of a plant that grows in your area having four edible parts? Cattail? Dandelion?)
Milkweed
The parts of a milkweed plant that are edible are the leaves, stems, shoots, flowers, and pods. The pods must be collected while they are young, and the flowers are not in season for very long. There are many edible wild plant authors who claim that milkweed must be boiled in multiple changes of water to eliminate its bitterness. However, Samuel Thayer in his book Forager's harvest & decisively puts this notion to bed, and traces it to the writings of Euell Gibbons. Most authors simply parrot what Gibbons wrote. Thayer suggests that milkweeds reputation was gained because it was confused with dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) which is bitter. Milkweed is not bitter, even when raw (though it is best to boil it for a few minutes). If it is bitter, it is not milkweed and should not be eaten. Do not waste time and energy boiling it in multiple changes of water.
Day Lily
See requirement #1 for information on preparing the shoots, buds, flowers, and tubers.
6
- Cattail
- Greenbriars
- Kudzu
- Jack-in-the-pulpit (You might get some hell fire preaching in your mouth if you try this one.) Someone who knows from experience exactly how to do it please detail out your fail safe way how you do it. There is a lot of misinformation in edible plant books on this plant.
7
7a
Many plants with edible parts also have poisonous parts. The list below, though not exhaustive, features plants with poisonous parts (even though some may also feature edible parts).
- Buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae) - buckthorns
- Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) - buttercups, larkspur, baneberry, monkshood
- Carrot/parsley family (Apiaceae) - Water hemlock, Poison hemlock or fool's parsley
- Daisy family (Asteraceae/Compositae) (other than: Asters, Balsam root, Burdock, Chamomile, Chicory, Dandelion, Golden rod, Jerusalem artichoke, Oxeye daisy, Pineappleweed, Prickly lettuce, Salsify, Sow thistle, Thistle, Wild lettuce, Wild sun flower, etc.) - white snake root
- Dogbane/milkweed family (Apocynaceae) - dogbane, butterfly weed
- Legume family (Fabaceae) - Goat's rue, indigo, locust (seed pods), Lupine, Rattlebox
- Horsechestnut family (Hippocastanaceae) - horse chestnut
- Iris family (Iridaceae) - all are poisonous
- Lily family (Liliaceae)(other than: Avalanche lily, Camas, Day lily, Desert lily, Dogtooth violet, Indian cucumber, Leek, Tiger lily, Wild garlic, Wild onion, Yellow bells, etc.) - False Hellebore, Fly Poison, Star of Bethlehem, Deathcamas
- Mushrooms - many (not in the plant kingdom)
- Nightshade family (Solanaceae) - nightshade, tomato (leaves), potato (leaves)
- Poison Sumac/Oak/Ivy family (Rhus/Toxicodendron/Anacardiaceae) - poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac
- Rose family (Rosaceae) (other than: Apples, Pears, Hawthorn, Blackberry, Raspberry, Rose hips, etc. fruits) - cherry (leaves, seeds, bark)
- Soapwort family (Caryophyllaceae) - soapwort
- Grape family (Vitaceae) - Virginia creeper
- Yew family (Taxaceae) - yew
7b
The field guide above lists poisonous look-alikes, but you should research each plant you plan to eat.
7c
Various sorrels (wood sorrel, sheep sorrel, etc), skunk cabbage, and even rhubarb are edible when eaten in small quantities, but consuming them in quantity can lead to kidney stones.
Note that we recommend that the instructor not use pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) as a legitimate answer to this requirement. Pokeweed leaves are commonly eaten in the southern United States, even though all parts contain toxins at all stages of growth (though in varying amounts). The toxicity increases as the plants mature, but we strongly recommend that these not be eaten at any stage of growth, because pokeweed poisoning can be fatal.
7d
8
It's not actually enough to know that a plant is edible - you also must know what part of the plant is edible, and at what stage of its growth it is edible. Also Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) are toxic until they are ripe.
References
Further Reading
- Forager's Harvest, by Samuel Thayer
- Nature's Garden, by Samuel Thayer
- Dining on the Wilds, by Miriam Darnall-Kramer, and John Goude
- A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants, A Peterson Field Guide by Lee Allen Peterson
