Help Identifying Plants

[mi27ke85]

Hello,

I live in southern Indiana and have become curious about foraging/identifying wild plants. I really think it would be hard to learn from a book and would like to join a group or individual that forages I tried to look up plant societies and emailed them for suggestions. In the meantime, I took pictures of some plants and was hoping for help in identifying.Phone 188.jpg

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[Rick]

A good plant identification book is actually an excellent tool. Just looking at the fruit of a plant doesn't necessarily tell you what it is. You have to look at the whole plant. For example, the red seed pod may be Jack-in-the-Pulpit. However, it could also be Sweet Bay Magnolia. Honey Suckle also looks very similar. You need to be able to see all of the plant to determine what it is and to eliminate any look a likes.

[Graf]

You need to learn from books, pictures do not tell enough detail you also need to spend time in the field. I have been doing this for a few years and still refer to books certain plants do not give a second chance also certain parts of plants are edible while other parts of the same plant are toxic. Certain times of the year some plants are edible at certain stages. There is no easy way to learn this, study and study some more you will benefit from your time for years to come. I will say red berries are usally 50/50 edible or toxic, white,green are usally poisonus, purple and blue are usally safe know many black berries that are poisonus. there are no shortcuts and if someone here mis identifys your pics you pay the price. Invest money and time.

[nell67]

the red seed pod is Dragon root, in the same family as Jack-in-the-pulpit. They grow close together. http://ozarkedgewildflowers.com/spri...ma-dracontium/

[TrueNord]

I almost flipped with the berry cluster because if the berries were attached to tiny stems, it could have been Wild Ginseng which you can sell the roots for LOTS of money. But unfortunately what you have there is Jack-in-the-pulpit. You can tell by seeing what the seeds are attached to, if they are attached to a "cob" it's Jack-in-the-pulpit.