Sunchoke

Helianthus tuberosus

tall coarse sunflower w/ broad, rough leaves and rough hairy stems. Upper leaves alternate, lower often opposite occasionally in whorls of 3. 

Central disk of flowers yellow

Edible: tubers can substitute any potato, abundant through fall and winter whenever the ground is unfrozen. 

Lamb's Quarters, Goosefoot

Chenopodium album

Erect, multi-branched weed. Stems and undersides of leaves often mealy-white. Upper leaves narrow and toothless; lower leaves roughly diamond shaped, broadly toothed. Small greenish flowers

Edible: leaves and tips like cooked greens in summer or seeds boided and ground into flour in the fall. 

Indian Tobacco

Lobelia inflata

an annual or biennial herbaceous plant growing to 15–100 cm (5.9–39.4 in) tall, with stems covered in tiny hairs. Its leaves are usually about 8 cm (3.1 in) long, and are ovate and toothed. It has violet flowers that are tinted yellow on the inside, and usually appear in mid-summer and continue to bloom into fall

Poisonous

Bur-reed

Sparganium eurycarpum

aquatic. Stem stout, erect simple or sparingly branched, often zigzag. Basal leaves long, stiffish, bladelike; stem leaves alternate. Fruit green, in burlike spheres. 

Edible: tubers like potatoes. 

Soft or Common Rush

Juncus effusus

grows in large clumps about 4 ft - 5 ft tall at the water's edge along streams and ditches, but can be invasive anywhere with moist soil

Edible - can be made into tea

Used to make woven textiles (mats and seats) 

Galinsoga or Shaggy Soldier

Galinsoga quadriradiata

Low weed w/ slender, forking stems. Flowerheads 1/4in across, with 5 tiny 3 lobed rays and a golden central disk. Leaves opposite, broad, coarsely-toothed; lower leaves stalked. Varies from coarsely hair to nearly hairless. 

Edible: cooked green

Groundnut

Apios americana

Small, twining vine with compact fragrant clusters of maroon or lilac-brown flowers on leaf axils. Leaves smooth, light green; with 5-7 ovate, sharp pointed leaflets. 

Edible: tubers used as a potato

Hog Peanut

Amphicarpaea bracteata

Low twining vine with slender stems and light green, ovate leaflets. Small clusters of pale lilac to white, pealike flowers in upper leaf axils producing curved pods. Petal-less flowers on the threadlike runners near base of plant produce fleshy 1-seeded pods just below ground level. 

Edible: Cooked vegetable/ bean. 

Jewelweed, touch-me-not (spotted and pale)

Impatiens capensis and I. pallida

Spotted orange or pale yellow blossoms dangle jewel-like at the end of slender stalks. Stems succulent, watery; leaves look silver when under water; ripe seed pods spring open when touched gently. 3-5 ft tall. 

Edible: young shoots as a cooked green in 2 changes of water

Uses: crushed stems/ leaves soothes stings and rashes

Dodder

Cuscuta

 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. thin stems appearing leafless, with the leaves reduced to minute scales. From mid-summer to early autumn, the vines can produce small fruit that take the same color as the vine, and are approximately the size of a common pea. It has very low levels of chlorophyll; some species can photosynthesize slightly, while others are entirely dependent on the host plants for nutrition.

Poisonous parasitic

Wild Bergamot

Monarda fistulosa

Large coarse mint with showy pinkish or pale lavender flower heads, opposite leaves and square stems. Crushed leaves aromatic.

Edible: fresh or dried leaves as tea.  

Honewort

Cryptotaenia americana

Branching. Leaves long-stemmed, 3 part; leaflets sharply toothed often lobed. Flowers tiny, in loose clusters. Slender, ribbed fruit. 1-3 ft tall. 

Edible: seasoning, young leaves and stems as cooked greens and roots like parsnips, cooked vegetable

Shellbark Hickory or Kingnut

Carya laciniosa

Leaves of Shellbark Hickory are alternate and pinnately compound, one to two feet long, and almost always display seven wide leaflets (rarely five or nine), with fine serrations on their margins. End leaf is always the largest. 

The fruits of Shellbark Hickory (the largest of the hickories) are composed of an inner sweet kernel, surrounded by a hard bony shell with four to six ribs, surrounded by a thick outer elongated husk that splits into four quarters when ripe

Edible: nuts

Wood Nettle

Laportea canadensis

Flower clusters terminal as well as in axils of upper leaves. Leaves long-stalked, alternate; ovae, with bases rounded or wedge-shaped rather than heart-shaped. 1-3.5 ft tall

Edible: cooked green, soup, tea. Spring shoots and summer tender leaves. 

Spicebush

Lindera benzoin

Slender, spicy-scented shrub. Leaves 2-6", aromatic, thin, elliptic, toothless. Clusters of spicy scented yellowish flowers. Fruit an oval, reddish berry w/ a single oval seed. up to 12' tall. 

Edible: tea from young leaves, twigs and bark. Berries can be dried and powdered; similar to allspice. 

Ramps or Wild Leek

Allium tricoccum

2 or 3 broad, smooth, light green, onion-scented leaves appear in early spring and wither before the solitary flower stalk appears. Whitish bulb

Edible: cooked vegetable, pickle, salad, seasoning, cooked green. 

American Black Elderberry

Sambucus canadensis 

Showy flat-topped clusters of tiny 5-petaled flowers followed by juicy purple-black berries. Leaves large, opposite, compound with 5 - 11 coarse toothed leaflets. Twigs soft, stout with a thick white pith. 3 - 13" tall

Edible: Fritters, jelly, cold drink, fruit

Autumn Olive

Eleagnus umbellatus 

shrub or small tree, typically up to 11ft tall, with a dense crown. It commonly bears sharp thorns in the form of spur branches. Flowers are fragrant and occur in clusters of white to yellow, 8-9 mm in length and 7 mm in diameter, and have four lobes.

The leaves are alternate, 4–10 cm long and 2–4 cm wide with wavy margins. The leaves are covered with minute silvery scales when they emerge early in spring, but turn greener above as the scales wear off during the summer. The underside is more intensely covered in the silvery scales

The red fruits are pulpy, juicy and sweet, 3-9 mm in length, 5 mm in diameter,  with a thin skin covering the whole fruit.

Edible: fruit

Barnyard Grass

Echinocola crusgalli 

can grow to 60" (1.5 m) in height and has long, flat leaves which are often purplish at the base. Most stems are upright, but some will spread out over the ground. Stems are flattened at the base. The seed heads are a distinctive feature, often purplish, with large millet-like seeds in crowded spikelets.

Edible: animal fodder

Broad-leaved Plantain

Plantago major 

low, homely plant. Flowers greenish white, tiny in tight slender heads. Basal rosettes

Edible: salad, cooked green

Burdock

Arctium lappa 

Large,rough, slightly woolly basal leaves in first year. Bushy flowerstalks with numerous purple-flowered, thistelike burs the second

Edible: cooked green, cooked vegetable, salad, candy from flower stalks when simmered in a sugar syrup. 

Catttail

Typha spp.

Extensive stands in marshes,. Leves erect, swordlike. Stems unbranched, stiff; toped by compact, clindrical heads of minute flowers; male flowers above, golden when full of pollen

Edible: young shoots, stalks,immature flower spikes, pollen, sprouts and rootstock

Uses: insulation, tinder, flour

Chicory

Cichorium intybus 

Stiff, nearly naked stems with strikingly blue, stalkless flowers 1.5" Rays blue, square tipped and fringed. Basal leaves dandelion-like; sap milky. 

Edible: Salad, cooked green. 

Uses: roots make a coffee like beverage when roasted and ground. 

Chufa, Yellow Nut Sedge or Tiger Nuts

Cyperus esculentus 

Feathery radiating flower cluster bearing numerous yellowish spikelets. Stem 3-sided. leaves light green, grasslike; basal and in a whorl at base of flower cluster. 

Edible: salad, cooked vegetable, flour, coffee, cold drink. 

Common Dewberry

Rubus flagellaris 

Arching, non-climbing thorny or bristly shrubs. Leaves 2-10" with 3-7 leaflets. Stems green or red. Showy white 5-petaled flower followed by juicy red or black fruit. 

Edible: fruit, jelly, cold drink, tea from leaves, salad from tender shoots. 

Curly Dock

Rumex crispus

Note the coarse leaves with wavy margins and dense heads of small greenish flowers or brownish seeds with heart-shaped wings. 1-4' 

Edible: Cooked green, salad. 

Dandelion

Taraxacum officinale 

Familiar lawn weed with solitary flowers and downy white seedballs. Leaves with sharp irregular lobes; stems milky, hollow. 

Edible: Salad, cooked green, cooked vegetable, fritters, coffee out of roots. 

Dogbane or Indian Hemp

Apocynum cannibinum 

Branching plants with paired, ovate leaves and reddish stems. Flowers whitish or pale pink, fragrant, bell-like. Seed pods in pairs, slender 3-8" long. Stems w/ milky juice. 

Poisonous

Uses: seed pods have fibers that can be extracted, used as tinder. 

Heal-all

Prunella vulgaris 

Green, square stemmed herbaceous mint nearly 3ft tall. Leaves egg-shaped or more elongate, stalked on opposite sides of the stem, with 3-7 veins coming off the middle vein and arching out towards teh margins. Flowers numerous and small, very short stalked, clusters topping off the upper most branch or branches, with 5 greenish sepals around the blue to purple snapdragon like flowers w/ 4 pollen producing stamens. 

Edible: salad, cooked green, tea

Poison Hemlock

Conium maculatum 

Tall, multi-branched biennial. Stems stout, hollow, grooved, spotted with purple. Ill scented when bruised, unpleasant to taste. Root white, carrot like. 2-6ft tall. 

Poisonous: similar to Wild Carrot/ Queen Anne's Lace. 

Poke or Pokeweed

Phytolacca americana 

Course, widely branched weedy plant with large leaves and smooth reddish stems. Flower clusters long-stalked, often paired with leaves; flowers with 5 greenish white petal-like sepals. Fruiting clusters drooping; berries glossy, purple black with red stems

Edible: young shoots like asparagus, cooked green 

Poisonous: roots, seeds and mature stems and leaves are dangerously poisonous. 

Wild Carrot or Queen Anne's Lace

Daucus carota 

Widespread hairy-stemmed biennial. Flower clusters flat-topped, lacy; often with a single purple flower in center. Old clusters resemble birds' nests. Smells like carrots

Edible: cooked vegetable, first year roots like carrots. 

Caution: early leaves resemble poison hemlock but stalks hairy

Thistle

Cirsium spp. 

Deeply-cut, prickly leaves and showy, rose-purple "shaving brush" flowers

Edible: salad, cooked green, cooked vegetable. With spines removed, young leaves can be added to salads or cooked. Pithy young stems can be peeled and eated raw or cooked. 1st year plant roots are also edible. 

Tick Trefoil

Desmodium spp. 

Erect, bushy, hairy plant with crowded, elongated terminal clusters of pink or rose-purple pea-like flowers. Showy tick-trefoil is a slender-stemmed, often bushy perennial, 2-6 ft. high. Hundreds of rose-colored, pea-like flowers occur in dense, nodding clusters at the tops of the stems. Velvety hair covers the stems and three-parted, compound leaves. Seedpods look like sunglasses that cling to animal fur or clothing.

Edible: seeds

Uses: nitrogen fixer, natural insect repellent, ground fodder

Wapato, Duck Potato or Arrowroot

Sagittaria latifolia 

Aquatic plant, 3 roundish petals and flowers are arranged in whorls of 3. Leave arrowhead-shaped to lancelike. 

Edible: potato like tubers

Wood Sorrel

Oxalis spp.

Low, delicate woodland flowers. Leaves cloverlike with 3 inversely heart-shaped leaflets that often fold along a central crease. 

Edible: Salad, cold drink. 

Yellow Flag

Iris psedacorus 

Poisonous

Virginia Mountain Mint

Pycnanthemum virginicum

Leaves narrow, toothless, broad at base, tapering to tip. branching clusters of compact, button like heads. Flowers small whitish or purplish. Square stemmed.

Edible: fresh or dried as tea.

Downy Serviceberry, Juneberry, Shadbush or Shadblow

Amelanchier arborea

Shrubs or small trees. Leaves oval, sharp or blunt-tipped, toothed. Bark tight, grayish (looks like active camo) Flowers white, 5-petaled, in drooping clusters; often precede leaves. Fruit purple-black.

Edible: fruit, jelly. use like blueberries.

Black Huckleberry

Gaylussacia baccata

Common low to tall shrubs. Leaves elliptic, short-stalked, toothless or minutely-toothed. Twigs slender, greenish or reddish, often zigzag. Flowers bell-like; whitish, pinkish, or greenish. Berries w/ 5 calyx lobes forming a star pattern; blue or black, glossy or powdered white.

Edible: fresh, cooked or dried fruit; jelly

Low Sweet Blueberry or Blue Ridge Blueberry

Vaccinium pallidum

Common low to tall shrubs. Leaves elliptic, short-stalked, toothless or minutely-toothed. Twigs slender, greenish or reddish, often zigzag. Flowers bell-like; whitish, pinkish, or greenish. Berries w/ 5 calyx lobes forming a star pattern; blue 

Edible: fresh, cooked or dried fruit; jelly

Deerberry

Vaccinium stamineum)

Common low to tall shrubs. Leaves elliptic, short-stalked, toothless or minutely-toothed. Twigs slender, greenish or reddish, often zigzag. Flowers bell-like; whitish, pinkish, or greenish. Berries w/ 5 calyx lobes forming a star pattern; blue or black, glossy or powdered white.

Long peduncle

 Edible: fresh, cooked or dried fruit; jelly

Sourwood

Oxydendrum arboretum

Gray bark on mature trees is fissured, ridged and scaly. Finely-toothed, glossy green leaves (to 5-8” long) are reminiscent of peach. Leaves have a sour taste, hence the common name. Leaves produce consistently excellent fall color, typically turning crimson red. Waxy, lily-of-the-valley-like, white flowers bloom on slender, drooping, one-sided terminal panicles (4-8” long) in early summer. Flowers have a slight fragrance. Flower panicle stems remains in place as the flowers give way to 5-parted dry capsules that ripen to silver-gray in September.

Edible: honey is a highly prized local product.

Fish Poison, Goat's Rue, Virginia Tephrosia, or Catgut

Tephrosia virginiana

Silky whitish hairs. Flowers showy, bicolored. Leaved feather compound with numerous narrow leaflets. Seedpods long, flat, slender, hairy; seeds lentil-like. 1-2' tall.

Poisonous: crushed stems have been used as fish poison.

Wild Strawberry or Virginia Strawberry

Fragraria virginiana

Low plant similar to cultivated strawberries but with smaller fruit. Leaves long-stalked, with 3 coarsely-toothed leaflets. Flowers round-petaled, in flat clusters on a separate stalk from leaves.

Edible: fresh or cooked fruit, jam, tea from leaves.

Meadow Rose

Rosa carolina

Large group of thorny shrubs with showy, 5 petaled, pink or deep rose flowers. Fruit bright red with 5 prominent calyx lobes at end.

Edible: Jam out of rose hips, hips and leaves into tea, fresh petals can be added to salads, made into jelly or candied. Pulpy exterior of hips can be eaten raw and persist through winter.

Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

Medium-sized tree. Leaves 3-9" long, toothless, variable lobed between none and 3-lobed. All 3 leaf shapes usually occur on the same tree. Twigs green, often branched; mature bark red-brown, furrowed. Crushed leaves, twigs and bark aromatic. Fruit is small, blue, fleshy on red stalks

Edible: tea, seasoning, soup thickener.

Baswood or American Linden

Tilia americana

Tall tree, leaves 5-10" long, finely-toothed, heart shaped with uneven bases, hairless. Bark dark, shallowly grooved; smooth gray on upper parts. Clusters of yellowish flowers dangle from long, conspicuously winged stalks.

Edible: salad, tea.

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Wild Ipecac, Bowman's Root or Indian Physic

Gillenia stipulata

This plant features 1” wide, white (infrequently tinged pink) star-like flowers, each with 5 narrow, pointed, slightly reflexed petals. Flowers bloom in early summer on wiry stems rising above a foliage mound consisting of deeply cut, toothed, trifoliate, medium green leaves. Each trifoliate leaf has three linear-lanceolate leaflets (to 3.5” long), with the center leaflet being slightly larger than the lateral leaflets. Each leaf has two unusually large stipules (leaf-like bracts) at the leaf base which give the impression of each leaf having five rather than three leaflets. Leaves turn bronze-red in autumn.

Poisonous: causes vomiting

Wild Oregano, Stonemint or Common Dittany

Cunila origanoides

Highly aromatic plant with wiry, much-branched stems and stalkless leaves. Leaves hairless, dotted w/ clear spots. Flowers in tufts, 5 lobes nearly equal. Note the 2 long protruding stamens and pistil.

Edible: tea, seasoning.

Wild Ginger

Asarum canadense

Solitary, bell-shaped, red-brown flower with 3 spreading lobes sits on the ground between 2 stout, woolly leafstalks. Leaves in pairs; large, heart shaped.

Edible: roots as candy, spice.

Wild Yam

Dioscorea villosa

vine about 5-30' long that branches occasionally.Whorled and/or opposite leaves sometimes occur near the base of the vine, otherwise the leaves are alternate, palmately veined (7-11 veins per leaf) female flowers are replaced by 3-celled seed capsules that are ovoid in shape and about 1" long; these capsules are strongly 3-angled and become golden green as they mature. Each cell of the capsule usually contains 2 seeds

Uses:used for menstrual cramps or pain, menopausal symptoms, rheumatic conditions, and gallbladder complaints.

Blackberry

Rubus alleheniensis

Arching, thorned, 5 sided stem and cane . 3-5 palmate leaflets. Showy white 5 petaled flowers w/ juicy black fruit

Edible: Fruit, jelly, cold drink, tea from leaves and young shoots can be added to salads.

Common Dewberry

Rubus flagellaris

Flattened, <1ft high, round brownish-red stem with a white waxy coat. Has prickles,not thorns. Mainly 3 leaflets, sometimes 5.

Edible: Fruit, jelly, cold drink, tea from leaves, young shoots in salad.

Crabgrass

Digitaria spp.

Clumped, mat-forming annual 6-30" tall. Leaves at nodes alternating.

Edible: Seeds for flour, porridge, or fermented to make beer.

Evening Primrose; first year

Oenthera biennis

rough-hairy, leafy low rosette of leaves first year, flower stalk the second.

Edible: cooked vegetable, salad or cooked green.

Evening Primrose; second year

Oenthera biennis

reddish stem, branched. Conspicuous yellow flowers at the end of a slender calyx tube rising from a swollen ovary. Flowers 4-etaled, with an x-shaped stigma and reflexed sepals.

Edible: not really, look for first year plants.

Great Blue Lobelia

Lobelia siphilitica

A clump-forming perennial which features light to dark blue, tubular, 2-lipped flowers with the three lobes of the lower lip appearing more prominent than the two lobes of the upper lip. Flowers arise from the upper leaf axils forming a dense terminal raceme atop stiff, unbranched, leafy stalks typically rising 2-3' tall. Finely-toothed, lance-shaped, light green leaves (to 5" long).

Poisonous

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Partridgeberry

Mitchella repens

Small,paired, roundish evergreen leaves along the slightly woody, creeping stem; leaves often variegated with whitish lines. Pink or white 4-petaled flowers in twinlike union terminate at the stem. Fruit is a bright red, double calyxed berry.

Edible: berries; rather tasteless but quite edible raw and persist through the winter.

White Snakeroot

Ageratina altissima

small fluffy bright white flowers (composites with rays absent) arranged in loose, flattened clusters (corymbs to 3-4” across) atop smooth stems typically rising 3-5’ tall. Blooms from late summer to frost. This is a somewhat weedy perennial that can spread aggressively by rhizomes and self-seeding. Long-stalked, sharp-toothed, taper-pointed, lance-shaped to elliptic-oval, nettle-like, dark green leaves (3-6” long) are paired along the stems.

Poisonous

Red Field Clover

Trifolium pratense

Compact, purplish flowerheads and 3 leaflets

Edible: Salad, cooked green, flour, tea. 

Black Willow

Salix nigra

The bark is dark brown to blackish, becoming fissured in older trees, and frequently forking near the base. The shoots are slender and variable in color from green to brown, yellow or purplish. The leaves are alternate, long, thin, 2–6 in long and ¹⁄₄–³⁄₄ in broad,  dark, shiny green on both sides or with a lighter green underside, with a finely serrated margin. With small, greenish yellow to yellow flowers borne on catkins 1–3 in long.  It is typically found along streams and in swamps.

Uses: basketry, contains salicylic acid similar to aspirin. 

Spatterdock or Bullhead-Lily

Nuphar variegatum

Familiar water-lillies with globelike yellow flowers, each flower with a prominent disklike stigma in it's center. 

More heart-shaped to oblong

Edibe: Potato like rootstock, seeds used as popcorn, flour, or creamed like corn

Fragrant Water-Lily

Nymphaea odorata

White to pinkish flowers, rounder leaves purplish below

Edible: unrolled leaves and unopened flowerbuds as cooked green, cooked vegetable, seeds can be cooked like popcorn or creamed like corn

Blackhaw Viburnum

Viburnum prunifolium

grown as a large, upright, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub with an irregular crown, but it also may be grown as a small, single trunk tree. As a shrub, it typically grows 12-15' tall with a spread of 6-12', but as a tree may reach a height of 30'. Non-fragrant white flowers in flat-topped cymes (to 4.5" diameter) appear in spring. Flowers give way in autumn to blue-black, berry-like drupes which often persist into winter. Ovate, finely toothed, glossy dark green leaves (to 4" long) turn attractive shades of red and purple in fall.

Edible: Fruits are edible and may be eaten off the bush when ripe or used in jams and preserves.

Honey Locust

Gleditsia triacanthos

once or twice compound leaves. Leaflets narrow, may be vaguely toothed. Branches and trunk armed with stout, branched thorns. Pods 8-18", flattened and twisted. 

Edible: thin pulp of unripe pods sugary sweet

Uses: thorns can be used as needles and hunting tips (frog gig)

Bigleaf Aster or Large-Leaved Aster

Aster macrophyllus 

Sticky-branched, slightly flat-topped clusters of many-rayed violet flowers; central disks of flowers turn reddish Basal leaves 4-8 in. wide, heart-shaped, rough; usually with a broad basal notch. Upper leaves small, stalkless, stems purplish.

Edible: Cooked green with only the tenderest, youngest leaves 

Black Raspberry

Rubus occidentalis

Arching, non-climbing thorny shrubs. Generally 3 leaflets. Stems usually red and green with white powdered, round stems

Edible: Fruit, jelly, cold drink, tea from dried leaves, salad from young shoots. 

Hercules' Club or Devil's Walking Stick

Aralia spinosa

Alternate, doubly or triply pinnately compound, with very numerous leaflets; leaflets ovate to lance-ovate, pointed at the tip, tapering or rounded at the base, coarsely toothed, usually with a few prickles on the veins or the lower surface of the leaves, up to 3 inches long, up to 1 1/2 inches wide. 
Numerous in many umbrella-shaped clusters; each flower borne on a purple, hairy stalk. 
Drupes spherical to ovoid, black-purple, up to 1/4 inch long. 

Edible: The young leaves can be eaten if gathered before the prickles harden. They are then chopped finely and cooked as a potherb.

Sweet Birch or Black Birch

Betula lenta

Leaves finely double-toothed, somewhat egg-shaped with sharp tips and blunt bases. Crushed twigs smell and taste of wintergreen. Young bark dark and tight; old bark broken into irregular plates. 

Edible: Syrup and sap like maple syrup, inner bark can be ground into flour, twigs can be steeped in hot water to make tea. 

Wintergreen

Gaultheria procumbens

Low evergreen plant that spreads by slender underground runners. Leaves thick, shiny, oval, slightly toothed; 1-2" long. Crushed leaves smell of wintergreen. Small waxy, egg-shaped flowers dangle beneath the leaves. Fruit is a small wintergreen-flavored red berry with a star shaped impression around the calyx. 

Edible: Leaves into tea, both new leaves and berries can be eaten raw and persist into the next year. 

Trailing Arbutus

Epigaea repens

Low trailing shrub with oval, leathery, evergreen leaves that are 1-5" long. Stem normally brown-hairy. Flowers pink or white, clustered, tubular, with 5 flaring lobes. 

Edible: The raw corolla, or flower tube, makes an excellent sour-sweet nibble or addition to salads. 

Indian Cucumber-Root

Medeola virginiana

Slender stemmed with 2 whorls of leaves. Flowers greenish yellow, dangling with reflexed tips and reddish stamens. Tuber crisp, waxy looking, cucumber flavored. Berries blue and inedible

Edible: tuber that can be cut into a salad or pickled. 

White Baneberry or Doll's Eyes

Actaea pachypoda

Leaves large, divided and subdivided into sharply toothed leaflets. Flowers with very narrow petals and bushy stamens; clustered oblong at the end of a long naked stem. Berries white, on thick red stalks, tipped with a dark spot.

Poisonous.

White Walnut or Butternut

Juglans cinerea

Large, once compound leaves that have 7-17 narrow, toothed leaflets with an end-leaf. Wider bard ridges smooth-topped, gray-shiny. Fruit oblong and sticky. 

Edible: Nuts raw or candied; ground into flour, crushed and boiled for oil, sap used like maple sap, sugar. 

Winged Euonymus or Burning Bush

Euonymus alatus

This deciduous shrub grows to 8' tall, often wider than tall. The stems are notable fo'r their four corky ridges or "wings". The leaves are 3/4" –2 3/4" long and .5 - 1.5" broad, ovate-elliptic, with an acute apex. The flowers are greenish, borne over a long period in the spring. The fruit is a red aril enclosed by a four-lobed pink, yellow or orange capsule.

Uses: in traditional Chinese medicine to remove blood stasis, promote menstruation, remove toxic materials, subside swelling, and kill insects or parasites.

Teasel

Dipsacus spp.

Hardy Biennial. A common wayside plant that is native to North America. The little flower heads appear in mid-summer and are covered by tiny pink flowers. The flower heads then dry and become hard and covered with spines that are prickly. The foliage is spiny also and thistle-like.

Uses: A row can provide a screen between crops. The spiky dried seed heads were traditionally used by fullers (cloth finishers) to tease (hence “teasel”) fibres, card wool etc. Also used as decorative dry flowers, in crafts, to comb horses, etc. Ex Kings Seeds.

Sweet Cicely

Osmorhiza claytonii

Soft, hairy. Leaves thrice-compound, bluntly toothed, fernlike; lower leaves often over 1' long. Flowers tiny, in sparse clusters. Roots and green fruit smell of anise.

Edible: Anise-like flavoring.

Chickweed

Stellaria media

Small, prostrate or erect weeds. Flowers small, mostly long stalked; petals so deeply notched or cleft they appear to be 10. Stems slender, leaves paired; generally smooth. Petals shorter than sepals, leaves ovate, long-stalked.

Edible: Salad or cooked green; boiled for 5 min.

Japanese Knotweed

Polygonum cuspidatum

Shrublike weed growing in dense, coarse-stemmed stands. Stems hollow, bamboo like, with enlarged joints encased in papery sheaths; mottled green, dusted with white powder. Leaves broadly ovate, with pointed tips and squarish bases. Flowers greenish white, profuse; in slender fingerlike clusters in leaf axils. 

Edible: young shoots like asparagus. Older stems can be peeled and the sour find boiled with sugar and pectin to make a rhubarb-like jam. 

Short-toothed Mountain Mint

Pycnanthemum muticum

Dense, somewhat flat-topped branching clusters of compact buttonlike heads. Flowers small, whitish or purplish, lips often dotted with purple. Square stems, opposite leaves; broad, toothed, rounded at the base and unstalked

Edible: fresh or dried leaves as tea. 

Rosemallow

Hibiscus moscheutos

vigorous, sturdy, rounded, somewhat shrubby, hairy-stemmed, woody-based perennial. 3-7’ tall and to 2-4’ wide growing in wet spots. Showy, dinner plate-sized (each to 4-6” diameter) have five overlapping white, creamy white or pink petals with reddish-purple to dark crimson bases which form a sharply contrasting central eye. Each flower has a prominent and showy central staminal column of white to pale yellow anthers surrounding an even longer style. Individual flowers last only 1-2 days, but new flowers open each day in rapid succession. Can produce 20 or more flowers per day. Alternate, broad-ovate to lanceolate leaves (3-8” long) with toothed margins are green above and white-hairy beneath. Leaves are lobeless or have 3-5 shallow lobes. 

Common Milkweed

Stout, downy, gray-green, usually unbranched. Note the milky juice of broken stems, and the unique flower structure. Flowers in domed, often somewhat drooping, clusters in leaf axils; greenish purple to dull purple, buff or whitish; often fragrant. Seedpods pointed, gray-green and warty. 

Poisonous if not prepared properly and easily mis-identified.  

Persimmon

Diospyros virginiana

Bark nearly black in small rectangular blocks. Leaves stiff, oval, toothless; dark green glossy above, paler beneath. Buds 2 scaled, very dark. Fruit about 1.5", orange to reddish purple when ripe. 

Edible: Fresh fruit, jam, pudding, nutbread, dried leaves into tea.