Berries growing in the forest can be edible or poisonous. Accordingly, the first of them are not harmful to health, but only useful, since they contain many natural vitamins, while poisonous ones can be dangerous not only to health, but also to life. Let's consider what kind of berries there are in the forest: edible berries and poisonous berries, how to distinguish useful forest berries from dangerous ones.
- white snowberry (tasseled), with white round berries.
- fruits of euonymus warty orange color, have a black dot. The berries hang on a long grassy thread.
- Elderberry is a herbaceous, stinking elderberry, the fruits of which are spherical in shape and purple-black in color. In case of elderberry poisoning, the head begins to feel dizzy and hurt, weakness appears, a sore throat is felt, abdominal pain occurs, a feeling of nausea and vomiting appears. Mucous membranes may become stained blue. They are flattened laterally.
- The fruits of hemlock mottled are red, juicy, and pea-sized.
Berry raven eye
A completely poisonous plant is crow's eye, especially the bluish-black shiny berries, causing nausea, vomiting, cramps, pain, upset stomach, paralysis.
The bright red, shiny berries of the bittersweet nightshade, which have an elongated shape and sweet taste, cause rashes and inflammation of the skin. The berries of arum, bryonia, akucuba, datura and holly, mistletoe, euonymus, gorse, castor bean, yew, privet, and wild grapes are poisonous.
Poisonous berries in the forest include wolf's bast, or wolfberry, wolf's ivy, common wolfberry, bittersweet nightshade and black nightshade. Bittersweet nightshade berries are red and ovoid, while black nightshade berries can be green or black. Black nightshade berries can be eaten, but only when they are absolutely ripe, since unripe fruits contain some toxic compounds that are completely destroyed during the ripening process of the berries. The berries can be used as a filling for pies.
Belladonna berry
The poisonous berry is belladonna. Its fruits have a shiny black blue color, the shape of the berry is flattened, spherical, the size of a cherry. M perennial herbaceous plant with a green or purple stem, branched at the top, up to 1-2 meters high. This plant can cause severe poisoning, sometimes even fatal.
Many people enjoy hiking in the forest. They are often accompanied by picking berries. A fun activity, but you just need to be careful in the process, because not everything that can be found is edible. And in order to avoid troubles that can manifest themselves in stomach upset or poisoning, it is worth knowing what berries grow in the forest, and which of them is edible.
Red and scarlet
Thanks to their color, they are the easiest to see, so the story should start with them. So, what berries grow in the forest that are red and are also edible?
The first thing to note is lingonberries, which are rich in carbohydrates, carotene and pectin. This sweet and sour wild berry grows on shrubs - low-growing evergreen perennials. The fruits are shiny, resembling small red balls (up to 0.8 cm in diameter). They ripen in late summer and early autumn.
Drupe is a herbaceous plant with a maximum height of 30 centimeters. A characteristic feature is long shoots spread along the ground. The berry is a fairly large aggregate drupe of 4 fruits with large seeds inside. Drupes ripen in mid-to-late summer, and their taste is reminiscent of a juicy pomegranate.
Viburnum is a small scarlet drupe berry that grows in “groups” on a leaf tree. It is impossible not to recognize her. It is better to collect viburnum after the first frost. Before them, it does not have a sweet, but a sour-bitter taste.
Orange
What berries grow in the forest and have this pleasant shade? Cloudberries, of course. It grows on herbaceous semi-shrub plants up to 30 cm high. The fruit is a composite drupe, up to 1.5 centimeters in diameter. It could have been confused with raspberries, if not for the soft orange hue and tart-sweet taste. They are collected in July-August.
Rowan fruits are another edible berry in the forest. They grow in bunches (like viburnum) on tall trees, sometimes reaching 10 meters in height. The fruits are dense, small, up to 1 cm in diameter. They taste juicy, but are bitter, which is why they are not eaten just like that - they are made into jam, compotes, or poured with honey or sugar.
When talking about what berries grow in the forest, one cannot help but mention sea buckthorn. It is a large bush, rather like a tree, with bright orange fruits that grow very interestingly. Looking at the photo below, you can see that the fruits literally stuck to the branch (in fact, hence the name). So you won’t be able to confuse them with anything else.
Blue shades
Perhaps the most beautiful “berry” color. And not rare. Everyone knows the amazing blueberry. It is blue on the outside, but if you crush it, it will turn purple, and when you remove the skin, you can see that the flesh is green. The berry grows on a branched subshrub, the height of which is usually 30-50 cm (maximum 1 m). It can easily be confused with blueberries (more on that a little later). But lighter stems and a broken receptacle distinguish it. Blueberries also have a sour, sugary taste.
What about blueberries? In fact, it can be distinguished from blueberries not only by the characteristics noted above. Of course, these are similar wild berries. Blueberries are still darker and purple inside. By the way, you can conduct a test right in the forest: stain your hand with berry juice, then try to wash it off. Didn't work, dark purple shade stayed on the skin? So it's blueberries.
Honeysuckle is a wild berry that has a “blueberry” color but an elongated shape. It resembles a bell - even the “bottom” is flat. The taste is unique - it has sweetness, bitterness, and a little sourish tint. But the most important thing is that blue honeysuckle contains a complex of minerals and vitamins. It also ripens early - in early June.
Black
In nature, this shade does not exist in its pure manifestation. But there are a lot of things that are close in color. For example, blackberries. The berry grows on semi-shrubs, the stems of which are covered with sharp thorns - so it’s worth taking thick gloves when picking. The fruits are almost black, but are actually dark purple. There is a light coating that is easy to remove. Blackberries are an interesting berry. She first grows up to her regular sizes(up to 2 cm), and then acquires a shade - from green to red, then to brown, and then to rich dark purple.
Bird cherry and buckthorn are another almost black berries. They are often confused. The berries are small, round, and grow on trees. But bird cherry fruits grow in “groups”, on pink branches. From the outside it seems that the tree is decorated with long dark earrings. But buckthorn grows rarely - 5-7 berries on branches densely covered with leaves. Bird cherry has a pleasant sweetish-astringent taste. Buckthorn is sour-bitter and inodorous. It is used in medicine and added to alcoholic tinctures.
And, of course, we can’t help but mention currants. Large berries grow on shrubs with lobed leaves. Currants are not only black, but also red and white. But the sweetest are the black berries.
Other forest representatives
These are strawberries - many go to the forest just for this sweet berry. It grows in sunny meadows, in the grass. Due to its resemblance to the famous berry, loved by many with cream, it was nicknamed “forest strawberry”.
Many people willingly go to coniferous sphagnum forests for cranberries. Absolutely all its types are edible. The spherical red berries are rich in vitamin C. Its amount is comparable to that contained in grapefruit, lemon and orange. Cranberries also contain vitamins K, B, PP and many other substances needed by the body. Perhaps this is the most useful swamp-forest berry.
Crowberry is an interesting delicacy. It grows on low-growing shrubs, the leaves of which are more like pine needles. When viewed from a distance, it may appear to be a juniper. But no - this is a bush with edible berries. They are sour, and there is practically no pulp in them. There's juice inside! Hence the name. Recommended for removing radionuclides from the body and preparing delicious jelly.
What can't you eat?
There are also plenty of poisonous berries. We talked above about blue honeysuckle - and so, there is also a red one, growing on large bushes. Its berries are round and poisonous, like the fruits of the wolf's bast. Only these are even more dangerous. They look like sea buckthorn - only red and round, they also cling to a branch. You can't even touch them - the poison is too strong and can quickly penetrate the skin.
Crow's eye is a berry very similar to blueberries. But he still can’t be confused with her. Because it grows very unusually: one (!) berry on a stem, surrounded by four large leaves. However, in the above photo everything is visible.
And finally - the spicate crow. The currant-like berries are hidden under large, jagged leaves with an unpleasant, bright aroma. You should not touch the crow's berries, as well as the plant itself - its juice can cause ulcers and even blisters to appear on the skin. And getting inside will cause severe vomiting and suffocation (fortunately, passing).
So you should take a close look at what you want to put in the basket. The list of wild berries (both edible and poisonous) is very large, but the most striking representatives in every sense of the word were presented above.
The forest always attracts people with its beauty. It served people as shelter, gave food, and protected them from dangers. Today, people no longer need to protect the forest. He comes under his roof to recharge himself with energy and stock up on vitamins, which are given in abundance by the riches of the forest. A plant with edible fruits can be found in any corner of the green area.
However, the forest can be fraught with many dangers. This refers not only to wild animals, but also which can be quite difficult to distinguish from medicinal or simply edible ones. It is important to know them in person in order to reduce the risk of error to a minimum. Forest berries are found in sufficient quantities in nature. A plant with edible fruits - the names and special characteristics of the most common berries in our latitudes are presented below - you need to be able to distinguish.
Blackberries - wild berries
A plant with edible fruits (there are wild and cultivated plantings) can often be confused with poisonous ones. However, the same cannot be said about blackberries. This shrub is known even to children thanks to its special fruits. Outwardly, they are very similar to raspberries, but they differ in color and are slightly larger in size. The color of blackberries is black, with a bluish bloom that cannot be confused with other berries. Blackberries ripen between August and September.
The distribution area of this shrub is quite large. It prefers places on river banks, fields and water meadows, which are found in abundance throughout European Russia, Western Siberia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Dogwood
The berries of this plant, common in Russia, Crimea and the Caucasus, have long been famous for their beneficial properties. Therefore in in this case There is no question about which berries to avoid and which ones to eat. Forest thickets of dogwood (a plant with edible fruits of this berry also grows successfully in garden plots) especially delight those who during the season collect whole buckets of a unique product for fresh consumption and for packing for the winter. Its juicy fruits reach three centimeters in size and have a cylindrical pear-shaped or oval shape. These sweet and sour tart fruits of red, yellow or ruby color cannot be confused with any others. The ripening process of berries occurs from August to October. The astringent taste of fully ripe fruits is slightly reduced compared to unripe ones.
Cranberry
This low shrub with dark green leaves prefers to grow in swamps, so it can almost always be found in the forest or tundra zone of Russia. Cranberries - what are they? Forest. A plant with edible fruits, so beloved in the Russian outback, almost always grows only in the wild. When you come to the forest, you can safely eat cranberries, because it is not at all difficult to distinguish these healthy berries from other forest plants. First of all, these colors are not hidden under the leaves, so it will be quite easy to notice and find them. The fruits ripen in September, but you don't have to rush to pick these berries. They have the ability to be preserved under the snow, and many connoisseurs claim that overwintered berries are much sweeter. Autumn berries are firmer, unlike those that can be found immediately after the snow melts. The only drawback of picking berries in the spring is that long-term storage is impossible.
Black elderberry
This plant was able to spread widely in our latitudes, namely throughout the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and also in the Caucasus. After all, it is in these regions that the fertile lands are ideal for this shrub. Ideal conditions For black elderberry are deciduous forests, although sometimes it can be found mixed with coniferous forests. You need to look for black elderberry bushes on the edges or in the undergrowth.
There are several varieties of elderberries, so it is important to know exactly what can be collected, which berries are wild? The plant with edible elderberry fruits is not much different from those species that should be avoided. The main difference between the healthy black elderberry and its close relative, the red elderberry, is the color of the fruit. Berries poisonous plant have a rich red color, while the edible fruits are black with a purple tint, with juicy red-violet flesh.
Black elderberry berries are very small, but they are collected in large clusters. Their ripening period is August and September, but they remain on the branches until the leaves fall.
Cloudberry
This type of plant is herbaceous. Its favorite place to grow is peat bogs and swampy forests, so cloudberries can be found in the forests of Russia, Siberia and the Far East.
How to distinguish it from many other forest fruits? This is a prefabricated drupe, which after ripening becomes amber-yellow. At the beginning of the ripening period, cloudberries may have a reddish color. There are many fans of the sour-spicy, wine-like taste of these berries.
Cowberry
Next to cloudberry berries you can often find other forest berries, a plant with edible fruits - lingonberries. This evergreen shrub with branched stems has small sizes, but its thickets can stretch for several kilometers.
The fruits of this plant are small, round in shape and painted in a bright, rich red color. Like most forest plants, they ripen in August and September.
Most often, lingonberries can be found in spruce trees, although they are also found in deciduous trees, and even in the tundra. Its distribution area is almost the entire territory of Russia.
Turn
In the Caucasus and Western Siberia you can find other unique forest fruits. A plant with edible fruits, its name is thorn, or blackthorn. Its dense, thorny, impenetrable thickets can be found in ravines, on forest edges, near rivers and along roads.
Blackthorn berries are quite small. They have a round shape and are classified as single-druped plants. The color of the fruit is dark blue, with a waxy coating. The tart-sour berries of the sloe ripen quite late - in August and September, and they remain on the branches until spring. After the first frost, sloe berries lose their astringency. Blackthorn is highly prolific.
Blueberries - favorite forest berries
A plant with edible fruits, blueberries, are considered originally Russian. The fact is that almost all of the world's reserves of this healthy berry grow in Russia. Most often, this shrub can be found in the North and Far East, although it is sometimes found in the Baltic countries, Ukraine and the Caucasus. Blueberries are capable of forming continuous wastelands in which there is no room for a tree layer. Dark blue blueberries have a waxy coating. Very often this plant is confused with its close relative - blueberry. Their appearance - fruits and leaves - are indeed very similar, however, the taste of the fruits of these plants is significantly different.
One of the riches of our nature - a plant with edible fruits can replenish the diet; you can enjoy tasty and healthy berries while hiking in the forest. They will help satisfy hunger and saturate the body with vitamins. Some plants - strawberries, raspberries, rose hips - are not named in the list, because they have been known to everyone since childhood, and they are often grown in personal plots.
When going into the forest to pick berries, do not forget that not all of them are edible. You can often find those whose consumption, at best, will cause an upset stomach, and at worst, provoke poisoning with serious consequences. Therefore, it is necessary to have reliable information about which wild berries are edible and what they look like. Names of edible berries and their photos from brief description– to your attention on this page.
Edible lingonberries and blackberries
Common lingonberry(Vaccinium vitis idaea L.) belongs to the lingonberry family.
These edible berries have different names in different regions of Russia: boletus (Ryazan), boletus, lingonberry, bruzhinitsa, torment (Grodn.), lingonberry, lingonberries (Malor.), brusnyaga (Belor.), brusnyaga (Vyatsk.), brusnyag, brusena (Kostr.), brusenya (Tver. ), core (Mogil.).
Spreading. In Northern and Central Russia, in the Urals, in the Caucasus, in Siberia; in forests and between bushes.
Description. An evergreen branched shrub, 10-15 cm. As can be seen in the photo, these edible berries have leathery, obovate leaves with curved edges, dotted with dotted pits below. Whitish or pinkish flowers at the ends of last year's branches - in drooping clusters; corolla bell-shaped, 4-toothed; calyx 4-partite, of three triangular acute lobes. Stamens 8, anthers hairy, without appendages; the style is longer than the corolla. The ovary is 4-locular. The fruit is a berry. The berries are initially greenish-white, then bright red.
These edible wild berries bloom in May and June.
Gray blackberry (Rubus caesius L.) belongs to the Rosaceae family.
The name of these edible berries in different Russian regions: Dereza, Dubrovka (Viteb.), Blackberry, Black Blackberry, Zhevika (Penz.), Zhivika (Don.), Yazhevika, Zhevika (Penz.), Zhevina (Mogil.), Zheviny berries (Belor.), Zhovinnik (Mogil. ), ozhina (Crimea), ozhinnik, ezhina (Malor.), azhina (Belor.), kamanika, kamenika, kumanika, kumanikha (Velikoros.), bear (Orl.), sarabalina, chill.
Spreading. In Central and Southern Russia and the Caucasus; in forests and between bushes. In gardens - with black, dark red and yellow fruits.
Description. A thorny shrub 1-3 m long. The stems are woody, erect or arched, angular, with straight or downward-curved strong thorns. The leaves are odd-pinnate, green above, gray-fluffy below, on barren shoots with 5, on fruiting shoots - with 3 leaflets. The flowers are white or pink, collected in clusters at the ends of the branches. The flowers are right. The calyx is 5-partite, adherent to the flat receptacle. Lepestkov 5; there are many stamens and pistils; columns filamentous, lateral. The fruits are mixed - black, shiny; the drupes are fused with the convex part of the receptacle.
Blooms in summer. Honey plant.
Edible wild berries of drupes and blueberries
Stone berry (Rubus saxatilis L.) belongs to the Rosaceae family.
Often these edible berries in the forest are called: kamenika, kamenka, kamenitsa, kamenitsya (Malor.), kamenichnik, drupe (Arch.), kostyanika (Penz.), kostyanitsa, kostyanitsya (Malor.), kostyanitsa, kostyanitsya (Malor.), kostyanichnik, kostyanizhnik, kostyaniga, kumanika, kotsezele (Grodn.), raspberry stone .
Spreading. In European Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia; in forests and between bushes.
Description. Perennial herbaceous plant. The stems and branches are lined with thin spines and protruding hairs. The leaves are trifoliate, long-petiolate. The flowers are white, collected in a shield at the top of the stem. The calyx is 5-partite, with spinously pointed lanceolate lobes. Corolla 5-petalled; petals are small, linear-oblong. There are many stamens. Pistil made of many carpels; threadlike columns. Look at the photo of these edible wild berries: the fruit consists of a small number of large red drupes.
Blueberry(Vaccinium uliginosum). Other names are dove and gonobobel, drunkard, drunkard, fool.
Spreading. Grows in peat bogs, promoting the formation of peat, in cold and temperate countries; comes across here on Novaya Zemlya.
Description. small bush from the lingonberry family. Blueberry branches are round, the leaves are obovate, falling off in the winter, the corollas of five-petal flowers are ovoid, white with a pink tint, the anthers of the stamens have two horns at the back. The berries are black with a blue coating, green inside.
Blueberries are edible; jam is made from them and dried.
Edible berries in the forest cloudberries and blueberries
Speaking about which berries are edible, one cannot help but recall the “queen of the Siberian swamps” - the cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus L.), which belongs to the Rosaceae family.
Other names for cloudberries: vlak, vakhlachka, glade (berries), glade (Psk., Kursk), iron (Novg., Olon.), glyzhi (Psk.), glade (Psk., Kursk), glade, glade (Psk., Nov. .), Glazovnik, Glazovye (Novg.), Kamenitsa, Komanitsa, Kumanitsa (Tver.), Kumanikha, Kumanika (Tver.), Kumanichina (Novg.), Yellow raspberry, Medvezhanik, Moklaki, Mokhlaki (Kostr.), Morozska ( Tver.), cloudberry, muroshka, moss currant, rokhkachi (unripe cloudberry in Arch.).
Spreading. In Central and Southwestern Russia and Siberia; on peat bogs.
Description. Perennial herbaceous plant, 8-15 cm. Creeping rhizome. The stem is erect, simple, with a single white flower at the apex. The leaves are rounded, kidney-shaped, five-lobed. The calyx is simple, with 5 sepals; corolla 5-petalled, petals heart-shaped. There are many stamens, together with the petals, attached to the edges of the convex receptacle. The pistil is one of many carpels. The fruit is a complex drupe. Immature - red, mature - orange-yellow. The fruits are edible and contain large number vitamin C.
Blooms in May, June.
Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) from the lingonberry family.
Chernitsa (Belor.), bilberry, bilberry, blueberry, chernets (Grodn.), chernega (Volog., Sarat.), chernitsov (Grodn.), dristukha berry (Tver.).
Spreading. In Northern and Central Russia, in Little Russia, in the Caucasus, throughout Siberia; in the forests.
Description. A low shrub, 15-30 cm, with leaves that fall off in winter, has a woody horizontal fibrous root, from which a woody brown erect branched stem extends upward. The branches are green, planed. The leaves are alternate, short-cut, ovate, obtuse or slightly pointed, finely crenate-serrate, light green on both sides, with reticulate veins below. Flowers are bisexual, suprapistal, regular, small, drooping, on short pedicels, singly in the axils on young shoots lower leaves. The calyx is suprapistal, in the form of an entire or 4-5-toothed annular ridge above the ovary, which is also preserved on the fruit. The corolla is greenish with a pink tint, disappears after flowering, almost spherical, with a 5- or 4-toothed edge, the teeth are bent outward. Stamens, 10 or 8, free, shorter than the corolla, with thin, inwardly curved filaments emanating from the circumference of the suprapistil disc and 2-locular anthers, bearing 2 setae-like appendages on the back and continued at the top
each in 2 tubes, opening at the ends with holes. The ovary is inferior, 5- or 4-locular, with an axial placenta, each ovule with several ovules, covered at the top (inside the flower) by a flat suprapistal disc; from the middle rises a thread-like column, slightly protruding from the throat of the corolla, ending in a simple stigma. The fruit is a spherical, pea-sized, 5- or 4-locular juicy, black with a bluish berry, crowned with a cup-shaped ridge and a column that remains for some time, containing several small seeds. Seeds with reddish-yellow skin. The embryo is median, almost straight, with the root facing downwards.
Blooms in May and June; the berries ripen in July and August.
Currants, hawthorn and honeysuckle are edible wild berries.
Currant (Ribes) widespread in flat European Russia, three species grow wild, in the Caucasus - six, more of them grow in Siberia, especially Eastern.
Description. A genus of plants from the gooseberry family, characterized by the following characteristics: shrubs with alternate, simple leaves. Flowers are arranged in racemes. The flower bed is concave, fused with the ovary and turning at the edges into five usually greenish sepals. There are also five petals, free. There are the same number of stamens. The ovary is single-locular, multi-seeded. There are two columns. The fruit is a berry.
The most famous types of currants are: black currants (Ribes nigrum) and red currants (Ribes rubrum), which both grow wild in northern Europe and Siberia. The difference between them, in addition to the color of the berries, is that black currant leaves and berries are extremely fragrant from the essential oil contained in special glands that cover the lower surface of the leaves especially thickly.
Various syrups and liqueurs are also made from blackcurrant juice. The berries from many other types of currants are also eaten, but in small quantities, and they are collected from wild specimens.
Hawthorn (Crataegus)- a shrub from the Rosaceae family.
Spreading. It is found wildly throughout Central Europe and is often grown in gardens.
Description. The leaves are always split, lobed, pinnately incised, and wedge-shaped at the base. Some species have branches with thorns. The flowers, about 1.5 cm in diameter, like all Rosaceae, are white, with five parts of a calyx and corolla, many stamens and a two- to five-locular ovary, collected in whorled inflorescences, like those of rowan. The fruits are drupes, similar to rowan, but lacking its aroma and taste.
Edible honeysuckle (Lonicera edulis)
Description. Shrubs are erect, climbing or creeping, with opposite entire leaves, the main representatives of the honeysuckle family. More than 100 species are known from almost all areas of the Northern Hemisphere. There are fourteen wild species in Russia. Enough large flowers(white, pinkish, yellowish and blue) are most often located in pairs in the corners of leaves or at the ends of branches in capitate inflorescences. An irregular tubular corolla emerges from the poorly developed calyx, divided at the end into five lobes. The irregularity of flowers built according to a quintuple plan depends on the fusion of the three front petals and their uneven development, as a result of which the corolla is two-lipped. The corolla tube contains five stamens and a long pistil style. The berry-shaped fruits sit in pairs and often grow together. Upper leaves in some species they grow together, forming one common plate or wide fringe, through which the end of the branch passes.
Many types of honeysuckle are often grown in gardens as beautiful ornamental shrubs, well suited for groups, alleys and gazebos. Russian species bloom in early summer, that is, at the end of May and until mid-June. In Central Russia it is quite often found along forest edges and groves.
When talking about which wild berries are edible, do not forget that only the fruits of Lonicera edulis can be eaten, and the fruits of Lonicera xylosteum are not edible.
Sea buckthorn and buckthorn are edible berries in the forest
Sea buckthorn(Hippophae)- a genus of plants from the sucker family.
Spreading. In the wild, it is distributed in Northern and Central Europe, in Siberia to Transbaikalia and in the Caucasus. It is grown in gardens and parks, mainly as an ornamental plant.
Description. Shrubs, mostly thorny, up to three to six meters tall. Their leaves are alternate, narrow and long, grayish-white on the underside due to the star-shaped scales densely covering them. The flowers appear before the leaves, they are unisexual, small, inconspicuous and sit crowded at the base of the young shoots, one at a time in the axil of the covering scales. Plants are dioecious. The perianth is simple, bifid. In a male flower the receptacle is flat, in a female flower it is concave and tubular. There are four stamens (very rarely 3), one pistil, with an upper, single-locular, single-seeded ovary and a bifid stigma. The fruit is false (drupe), consisting of a nut covered with an overgrown, juicy, fleshy, smooth and shiny receptacle.
There are two known species, the most famous of which is ordinary (buckthorn) sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), waxweed, dereza, and waterthorn, growing along the seashore, along the banks of streams.
The beauty of this plant is determined mainly by linear-lanceolate leaves, the upper surface of which is green and finely punctuated, and the lower surface, like the young branches, is silver-gray or rusty-golden with star-shaped scales. The flowers are inconspicuous and appear in early spring. The fruits are fleshy, orange, the size of a pea, and are used for tinctures and jam.
Several varieties are known, female specimens are especially valued, since in the fall they become very beautiful from the fleshy fruits covering them. Sea buckthorn grows on sandy soil, propagated by root suckers and cuttings.
Buckthorn (Frangula).
Description. Trees or shrubs with alternate or opposite, sometimes leathery, perennial leaves. The flowers are small, mostly greenish, bisexual or heterogeneous; the number of parts is five or four. The receptacle is concave, often tubular, the ovary is free, three- or four-locular. The fruit is a drupe containing from two to four seeds, sometimes invisibly opening, the pericarp is fleshy or almost dry. Seeds with protein. There are 60 known species of buckthorn, distributed mainly in countries with temperate climates.
Used in medicine various varieties buckthorn (brittle, American and prickly). All of these drugs are used as mild laxatives, mostly in the form of infusion or liquid extract.
The following are economically worthy of attention growing wildly in our country:
Buckthorn brittle (Frangulaalnus), corushka, medvezhina - a shrub up to 3-4.5 meters tall, found throughout Russia in fresh, fertile soil, which tolerates the shade of the canopy of tall trees well and produces light reddish wood, the coal from which is used to prepare gunpowder. Propagated by seeds (seedlings after a year), cuttings and root suckers.
Buckthorn laxative, prickly, zhoster, proskurina and other local names, common in Central and Southern Russia and the Caucasus, up to 15 meters high. Prefers moist soils and is especially suitable for hedges. Solid ( specific gravity 0.72) the wood is used for small carpentry and turning products, the bark is used as wood and for painting - fresh bright yellow, dry brown.
Edible forest berries viburnum and rowan
Kalina.
Description. Deciduous shrub from the honeysuckle family. Leaves are opposite, simple, entire, serrated or lobed. The flowers are collected in whorled inflorescences, with a regular wheel-shaped corolla, five stamens and a three-locular ovary, two of which never develop, and from the third comes a drupe fruit with one flattened seed (stone), surrounded by a cartilaginous-fleshy shell of different shapes.
Up to eighty species are known, widely distributed in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Our common viburnum (Viburnum opulus) is a shrub with angular-lobed, serrated leaves on star-shaped petioles. The flowers are white, and the outer ones in the inflorescence are mostly sterile, but their corolla is four or five times larger than the middle, fertile ones. The drupe is red, elliptical, flattened. Its fruits, after freezing, are edible. Flowers and bark are used in traditional medicine in the form of teas, decoctions, and infusions. The wood is hard and is sometimes used for small turning products. It grows throughout Russia, less often in the north, along the edges of forests and on open places. Garden varieties: with reddish branches and variegated leaves, dwarf, double with pinkish flowers and “snowball”, in which all the flowers are large, sterile, collected in spherical inflorescences. Black viburnum, or gourdovina, is found wildly in the southern half of Russia, especially in the Caucasus, and is more often bred and runs wild. Its leaves are oval, wrinkled, soft fluffy below, like the petioles and young branches. All flowers are small and fertile. The fruit is black, oval.
Straight young trunks with hard wood, a wide core and tightly pressed semi-cork bark are used for making chibouks, sticks, and sometimes for weaving baskets and hoops. The so-called bird glue is boiled from the bark of the roots, and the leaves are used to dye it straw-yellow.
Rowan (Sorbus)- a genus of woody plants in the rose family.
Spreading. There are about 100 species of rowan in the world, about a third of which grow in Russia.
Description. The leaves are large, odd-pinnate, with 11-23 almost sessile, oblong, sharply serrated, hairy when young, then almost glabrous. Numerous white flowers are collected in corymbose inflorescences. The inflorescences emit a specific smell. The fruit is spherical or oval, bright red in color with small seeds. The fruits contain a lot of vitamin C.
Are barberry, bird cherry and rose hip berries edible?
Barberry (Berberis)- a genus of shrubs of the barberry family.
Spreading. It is found in the north of Russia to St. Petersburg, as well as in Southern and Central Europe, Crimea, the Caucasus, Persia, Eastern Siberia, and North America. Some species are found in Central Asia, including in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains in Kazakhstan. On page 250: Barberry
Description. Evergreen, semi-evergreen or deciduous shrubs, with thin, erect, ribbed shoots. The bark is brownish or brownish-gray. The leaves are collected in bunches, 4 on short shoots. The leaves are ovate, articulated with a short petiole, finely ciliated or entire. Flowers in racemes on short lateral branches. Corolla of 6 yellow petals, 6 stamens, 1 pistil. Fruit - berry, ovoid or spherical, 0.8-1.2 cm long, black or red. The seeds are rolled, ribbed, brown, 4-6 mm long.
Many people are interested in whether barberry berries are edible and how they can be used? The fruits of this plant are used in cooking, often in dried form as a seasoning for meat, for the preparation of sauces and infusions. Honey plant.
Bird cherry (Padus avium).
Description. A woody plant from the rose family, growing wild in shrubs and forests throughout Russia, up to the White Sea. The branched stem reaches up to 10 m in height. Leaves are alternate, oblong-elliptic, pointed, sharply serrate, stipules are epileptose; at the top of the petiole at the base of the plate there are two glands. White (less often pinkish) fragrant flowers collected in long drooping brushes. There are five sepals and petals, many stamens, and one pistil. The fruit is a black drupe.
Suffice it to remember beneficial properties fruits of this plant, and the answer to the question “are bird cherry berries edible” will become obvious: this is an excellent restorative gift of the forest, very useful for the stomach and intestines.
Rosehip (Rubus canina).
Dog rose, growing wild, is known under the common name “rosehip”. In European Russia, there are several wild (“rose hips”) species, the most common of which are: rose hips, sirbarinnik, serbolina, chiporas, rose hips, and shishipa.
Description. This is a shrub up to 2 m tall, growing in the forest, along ravines and fields. The branches are spiny, young ones have straight subulate-shaped thorns, old ones have bent thorns, located on flowering branches in pairs at the base of the petioles. The leaf consists of five to seven oval or oblong serrated glaucous leaves on the underside. The flowers are large, pink, single or collected in threes (less often four or five). The sepals are entire, longer than the petals and converging upward when fruiting. The receptacle of the fruit is smooth, spherical, red.
Previously, its roots were used against rabies, hence the Latin name “canina” (dog rose). Rose hips contain a large amount of vitamin C, and they are used in the form of infusion, syrup for the prevention and vitamin deficiency.
Many herbaceous plants are edible. Most of them contain almost all the substances necessary for humans. Plant foods are richest in carbohydrates, organic acids, vitamins and mineral salts. Leaves, shoots, stems of plants, as well as their rhizomes, tubers and bulbs are eaten. Underground parts of plants, being natural storage facilities nutrients, are very rich in starch and have the greatest nutritional value; plants with edible leaves and shoots are widespread. Their main advantage is the ease of collection, the possibility of eating raw, as well as in the form of salads, soups and additives to other products. The substances contained in herbaceous plants can partially restore expended energy, support the vitality of the body, and stimulate the cardiovascular, digestive and nervous systems.
One of the most ordinary plants forests - stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). Its stems are straight, tetrahedral, unbranched, up to one and a half meters high. The leaves are opposite, ovate-lanceolate, with large teeth along the edges. The entire plant is covered with stinging hairs. Nettle grows in shady, damp forests, clearings, burnt areas, along ravines and coastal shrubs. Due to its high nutritional value, nettles are sometimes called “vegetable meat.” Its leaves contain large amounts of vitamin C, carotene, vitamins B and K, and various organic acids. Nettle has been used as a food plant for a long time. Very tasty green cabbage soup is prepared from its young leaves. Scalded with boiling water, nettle goes into salads. Young, non-coarsened stems are chopped, salted and fermented, like cabbage. The inflorescences are brewed instead of tea. Nettle also has numerous medicinal properties. It is used mainly as a good hemostatic agent. Fresh juice (one teaspoon three times a day) and infusion (10 grams of dry leaves per glass of boiling water, boil for ten minutes and drink half a glass twice a day) are used to treat internal bleeding. Externally, fresh leaves or powder from dried leaves are used to treat festering wounds.
Dandelion (Taraxácum officinále) is also common in forest flora.— perennial height from 5 to 50 centimeters with a thick vertical almost unbranched root; oblong, pinnately toothed leaves collected in a basal rosette and bright yellow flower baskets. Dandelion settles on weakly turfed soils - in floodplains, along roadside ditches, on slopes. Often found in forest clearings and edges, along the sides of forest roads. Dandelion can be considered a vegetable crops(V Western Europe it is grown in gardens). The plant is rich in protein, sugars, calcium, phosphorus and iron compounds. All its parts contain a very bitter milky juice. Fresh young leaves are used to make salads. The bitterness is easily removed if the leaves are kept in salt water for half an hour or boiled. Peeled, washed and boiled roots are suitable as a second course. Boiled roots can be dried, ground and added to flour for baking cakes. Ground dandelion root can replace tea. The dug up and cleaned rhizome of the plant is first dried until the milky juice ceases to be released at the break, then dried and fried. To obtain an excellent brew, all that remains is to finely crush it.
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) grows in river valleys, along sandy coasts, in meadows in spruce, light coniferous, birch and mixed forests. In the spring, its pale spore-bearing stems emerge from the ground, looking like densely spaced arrows with brown tips, and a month later they are replaced by green “fir trees” that do not wither until autumn. This strange ancient plant is edible. Young spring spore-bearing shoots are used for food - they are used to prepare salad, cook soup or eat raw. You can also eat ground nuts - nodules that grow on horsetail rhizomes - they are rich in starch, taste sweet and can be eaten raw, baked or boiled. Horsetail grass (“Christmas tree”) is rich in valuable medicinal substances and has long been used in medicine. Having hemostatic and disinfectant properties, infusion (20 grams of horsetail per glass of boiling water), powder or juice of fresh herbs is used to treat festering and incised wounds. Horsetail infusion is used to gargle for sore throat and inflammation of the gums. All of the above applies only to horsetail; other types of horsetail contain alkaloids.
Burdock
Among the many herbs of the forest, there is nothing more common than burdock (Arctium tomentosum). In hollows and ditches, in the forest, on bushy slopes to the river - everywhere you can find this green giant, sometimes exceeding human height. The trunk is sinewy, fleshy with a red tint. The dark green, arshin-length leaves seem to be covered with felt on the reverse side. In Siberia, burdock has long been considered vegetable plant. Young in the spring delicious leaves boiled in soups and broths. But the main thing about burdock is that it is a long, powerful root vegetable that can replace carrots, parsley, and parsnips. The fleshy roots of burdock can be eaten raw, as well as boiled, baked, fried, used in soups instead of potatoes, and made into cutlets. In camping conditions, burdock roots are thoroughly washed, cut into slices and baked over a fire until golden brown. Fresh burdock leaves are used as compresses for joint pain and bruises.
In the spring, when the buds on the trees barely begin to unfold in forest clearings and thickets, stems of primrose (Primula veris) appear along the banks of rivers and in thickets of bushes, looking like bunches of golden keys. This is a perennial plant with a straight flower arrow and large woolly, whitish, wrinkled leaves. The bright yellow corollas of flowers with five cloves are fragrant with honey. In some countries, primroses are grown as salad greens. Its leaves are a storehouse of ascorbic acid. It is enough to eat one primrose leaf to meet your daily requirement of vitamin C. Early spring fresh leaves and flower shoots of this plant are an excellent filling for a vitamin salad. Soothing and diaphoretic teas are prepared from the leaves and flowers of primrose.
One of the first spring grasses is wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella). This simple forest plant is unsightly and inconspicuous. Oxalis has no stems. Fleshy, light green, heart-shaped leaves emerge immediately from the roots. Dense thickets of this grass can often be found under the trunks of spruce trees. It grows everywhere in shady and damp forests. Oxalis leaves contain oxalic acid and vitamin C. Along with sorrel, it is used to season cabbage soup and soups. Sour sorrel juice is very refreshing, so a sour drink is prepared from crushed sorrel, which perfectly quenches thirst. Oxalis can be added to salads, brewed as tea, or eaten fresh. When applied to purulent wounds, boils and abscesses, crushed oxalis leaves or their juice have a wound-healing and antiseptic effect.
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At the end of spring, in forest clearings among the grass, it is easy to find a straight stem with a tassel of spotted flowers and oblong (like a tulip) leaves, also covered with spots. This is an orchis. From the Latin name it is clear that this plant is an orchid. Indeed, the first thing that catches your eye is the purple flower - an exact smaller copy of a tropical orchid. In addition to its beauty, orchis has long attracted people with its juicy tuber, which is rich in starch, protein, dextrin, sugar and a whole range of other nutrients and healing substances. Kissels and soups made from orchis rhizomes perfectly restore strength and save you from exhaustion. 40 grams of crushed tuber powder contains daily norm nutrients needed by humans. Orchis tubers, which have enveloping properties, are used for stomach disorders, dysentery and poisoning.
On wet edges, lowland and watershed meadows, grassy swamps, swampy banks of reservoirs, snake knotweed (Polygonum bistorta) grows - a perennial herbaceous plant with a tall, up to a meter, stem; large basal leaves as long as the palm of your hand, but much narrower and more pointed. The upper leaves are small, linear, wavy-notched, grayish below. The flowers are pink, collected in a spikelet. Snake knotweed is edible. Young shoots and leaves are mainly eaten, which, after removing the midribs, can be boiled or eaten fresh or dried. The above-ground part of the plant contains a fair amount of vitamin C. The rhizome of the plant is thick, twisting, resembling a crayfish neck, and is also edible. It contains a lot of starch, carotene, vitamin C, and organic acids. However, due to the large amount of tannins, the rhizomes must be soaked. They are then dried, pounded and added to flour when baking bread and flatbreads. Snakeweed root is used as a strong astringent for acute intestinal disorders. Externally, decoctions and tinctures are used to treat old wounds, boils and ulcers.
The very first newcomer to forest burnt areas is fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium). It lives on the edges, in tall grass meadows, clearings and slopes. This is a plant with a smooth, tall, ankle-shaped stem, on which alternate leaves, dissected by a network of veins, sit. Fireweed blooms all summer - from a distance its lilac-red or purple flowers, collected in long brushes, are striking. The leaves and roots of fireweed contain a large amount of proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, and organic acids. Almost all parts of the plant can be used as food. So, young leaves taste no worse than lettuce. Leaves and unbloomed flower buds brewed like tea. Fireweed roots can be eaten either raw or cooked, similar to asparagus or cabbage. Flour from dried rhizomes is suitable for baking flat cakes, pancakes and making porridge. An infusion of fireweed leaves (two tablespoons of leaves, brewed with a glass of boiling water) is used as an anti-inflammatory, analgesic and tonic.
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) grows on forest edges, along roadsides and wastelands. This plant, which was introduced into cultivation long ago and moved into vegetable gardens, is known to everyone - everyone has tried its sour, spear-shaped leaves on long cuttings. The stem of the plant is straight, furrowed, sometimes up to a meter high. The leaves grow from a lush basal rosette. Just three weeks after the ground thaws, sorrel leaves are ready for harvesting. In addition to oxalic acid, the leaves contain a lot of protein, iron, and ascorbic acid. Sorrel is used to make soup, sour cabbage soup, salads, or eaten raw. A decoction of seeds and roots helps with stomach upsets and dysentery.
Another edible herb, gooseberry (Aegopodium podagraria), is often found in moist, shaded forests, along ravines and gullies, and damp stream banks. This is one of the very first spring grasses, appearing in the forest at the same time as nettle shoots. It belongs to the umbelliferous family - the inflorescences are mounted on thin spokes, which radiate with rays in radial directions. At the top of the plant is the largest umbrella, the size of a fist. In places where there is little light, the tree forms thickets, entirely consisting of leaves without flowering stems. In clearings rich in sun, the plant acquires a rather tall stem with a white umbrella. Even in the heat, the leaves of the plant are covered with droplets of water - this is perspiration that seeped through the water cracks in the green plates. Cabbage soup cooked from cabbage soup is not inferior in taste to cabbage soup. Young, unexpanded leaves and petioles are harvested. The stems, from which the skin is first cut off, are also eaten. Petioles and stems placed in the salad will give it a piquant taste. Wild greens, as a very nutritious and vitamin-rich product, were widely used by Moscow canteens in the spring of 1942 and 1943. Dozens of people went to forests near Moscow to harvest this grass. In those difficult years, squash also came to the rescue in the winter - it was chopped and salted in advance, like cabbage. Soup from snyti is prepared as follows: chopped and fried petioles of snyti leaves, onions, finely chopped meat is placed in a pot, poured with meat broth and put on fire. Add chopped leaves to the barely boiling broth and cook for another thirty minutes, and fifteen minutes before the end of cooking add salt, pepper, bay leaf.
One of the few forest plants whose leaves, stems, and rhizomes are edible is hogweed. Among our herbs there is hardly another such giant. The powerful, ribbed, bristle-covered trunk of this plant sometimes reaches two meters in height. The trifoliate leaves of hogweed are also unusually large, rough, woolly, dissected into large lobes. It’s not for nothing that the popular name for hogweed is “bear’s paw.” This is a common inhabitant of forest edges, forest meadows, wastelands, and roadsides. Its peeled stems have a sweetish, pleasant taste, somewhat reminiscent of the taste of cucumber. They can be eaten raw, boiled or fried in oil. In spring, hogweed is tender, and its young, carrot-flavored leaves are also edible. All types of hogweed contain essential oils and therefore have a strong smell. Hogweed greens are usually first scalded in order to reduce the pungent odor, and then placed in borscht or stewed. Hogweed decoction resembles chicken broth. The sweetish rhizome of the plant, containing up to 10% sugar, in terms of calories and taste qualities Not inferior to garden vegetables and corn. The juice of some hogweeds contains furocoumarin, which can cause skin burns. Therefore, care must be taken when collecting this plant.
In clearings and fires, in damp and shady places, large areas are often covered with luxurious fans of bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum). Its thick brown rhizome is overgrown with thread-like roots; Large pinnately complex leathery leaves emerge from the top of the rhizome. Bracken differs from other ferns in that the sacs with spores are placed under the folded edges of the leaves. As a food product, bracken is widely used in Siberia and the Far East. Its young shoots and leaves are boiled in plenty of salt water and washed thoroughly to remove all scales from the leaves. Soup made from bracken shoots tastes like mushroom soup.
Another inhabitant of the forest, migrated and cultivated in vegetable gardens, is rhubarb (Rheum). In rhubarb, long-petioled leaves with more or less wavy plates, collected in a rosette, extend from the underground shoot (rhizome). It grows on forest edges, along streams and rivers, on hillsides. Fleshy leaf cuttings are used for food, which, after peeling, can be eaten raw, boiled, or prepared into compote or fruit juice. In England they make soup from rhubarb.
Along the banks of rivers, swamps and lakes in the water you can find dense thickets of cattails (Typha angustifolia). Its black-brown inflorescences, resembling a ramrod on long, almost leafless stems, cannot be confused with anything else. The fleshy rhizomes containing starch, proteins and sugar are usually used for food. They can be boiled or baked. Pancakes, flat cakes, and porridge are baked from cattail roots dried and ground into flour. To make flour, the rhizomes are cut into small slices, dried in the sun until they break apart with a dry crack, after which they can be ground. Young spring shoots, rich in starch and sugar, are eaten raw, boiled or fried. When boiled, cattail shoots taste very much like asparagus. The yellow-brown flower pollen, mixed with water to form a paste, can be used to bake small loaves of bread.
One of the most beautiful plants forests - white water lily (Nymphaea candida). It grows in quiet reservoirs, in standing and slowly flowing waters. The leaves of the water lily are large, their upper side is green, the lower side is purple. Its highly developed rhizome is eaten boiled or baked. The roots are also suitable for making flour. In this case, they are cleaned, divided into narrow strips, cut into centimeter-long pieces and dried in the sun, and then pounded on stones. To remove tannins from the resulting flour, it is filled with water for four to five hours, draining the water several times and replacing it with fresh water. After which the flour is scattered in a thin layer on paper or cloth and dried.
Water chestnut chilim
Another inhabitant of water bodies, the chilim, or water chestnut (Tgara natans), is also edible. This aquatic plant with large greenish leaves, very similar to currants. Long thin stems stretch from the leaves to the very bottom. If you lift them, then under the leaves on the stem you can see small blackish boxes with five spines. Chilim is similar in size and taste to chestnuts. The local population sometimes collects it in bags in the fall. In some countries, water chestnut (Tgara bicornis) is widely cultivated. Chilim can be eaten raw, boiled in salted water, baked in ashes like potatoes, or made into soup. Bread is baked from nuts ground into flour. Boiled fruits of this plant are sold everywhere in China.
The bog grass has long been called the bog grass (Calla palustris). This conspicuous inhabitant of swamps is short and, being a relative of exotic callas, has many similarities with them. “The leaves are on long petioles - flush with the stem. Each plate is wide, pointed, with a contour like a heart, sparkling with lacquered greenery... But first of all, this plant stands out for its cob, in which it collects small flowers. Such cobs among the thickets of marsh grasses turn white like a stearine candle. The whitewing cob rises one and a half, or even three centimeters, putting forward the cover - the covering leaf. This leaf is fleshy, pointed, snow-white on the inside and green on the outside,” this is the description given by A.N. Strizhev and L.V. Garibova. All parts of the plant and especially the rhizome are poisonous. Therefore, before eating, the calliper root is cut into small slices, dried, ground, and the resulting flour is boiled. Then the water is drained and the grounds are dried again. After this treatment, the flour from the root of the calliper loses its bitterness and toxic properties and can be used for baking bread. Bread made from white butterfly flour is rich and tasty.
Susak - wild bread
Along the banks of rivers and lakes, in swampy meadows, susak, nicknamed wild bread, grows. An adult plant is large - up to one and a half meters in height, and usually lives in water. On its straight, erect stem, umbrellas of white, pink or green flowers stick out in all directions. There are no leaves on the stem, and that is why the flowers are especially noticeable. The triangular leaves of susak are very narrow, long, and straight. They are collected in a bunch and rise from the very base of the stem. The thick, fleshy rhizomes are edible. After peeling, they are baked, fried or boiled like potatoes. Flour obtained from the dried rhizome is suitable for baking bread. Rhizomes contain not only starch, but quite a lot of protein and even some fat. So nutritionally it is even better than regular bread.