Toggle navigation
Learn Camping.com
Home
Camping
Fly Fishing
Categories
Vii Wild Food On The Trail
Bark and Roots of Trees
...
Beach Plum
Usually on sandy and stony beaches, though at times farther inland, you may find the beach plum. It is a low shrub and grows in clumps. The fruit is apt to be abundant and is sweet when quite ripe. This plum, also, is used for preserving. The color ...
Beechnut
One of the sweetest and most delicately flavored of our native nuts is the little, triangular _beechnut_. The tree is common and widely distributed, but few people know anything about the nut. In Kentucky the nuts used to be plentiful, but I have se...
Black Haw. Stag-Bush
The fruit of the black haw, or stag-bush, is not edible until after frost has touched it. It is oval, dark blue with bloom, and about half an inch long. It grows in stiff clusters on short, branching stems. The shrub, which is sometimes a small tree...
Black Raspberry
The growth and leaves of the _wild black raspberry_ are like those of the red raspberry, and it is found in the same localities. The fruit, like the other, is cup or thimble shaped and grows on a receptacle from which it loosens when fully ripe. Bla...
Butternut
While the _butternut-tree_ is much like the walnut in general appearance, it does not grow as large. The nuts are different in shape and in flavor, and the leaflets are hairy instead of smooth. The butternut does not grow as far north as the walnut,...
Chestnut
I find that the _chestnut-tree_ is not as well known as its fruit, which is sold from stands on the street corners of most American cities. A round, green prickly burr is the husk of the nut, and this is lined inside with soft, white, velvety down. ...
Dangleberry
Another variety is called the dangleberry. The berries grow on stems in loose clusters; they are rather large, of a dark-blue color with a bloom; they ripen late and are not very plentiful. The pale-green leaves are large, white, and resinous undern...
Dwarf Blueberry
Perhaps the most satisfactory of all berries when one is really hungry is the blueberry, of which there are several varieties. The _dwarf blueberry_ is probably the most common. It is the earliest of the blueberries to ripen and grows in the thin, s...
Eastern Wild Gooseberry
Among the mountains from Massachusetts to North Carolina, the eastern wild gooseberry grows. It is said that its flavor is delicious. The fruit is purplish in color and is free from all prickles. It grows on slender stems and, like the cultivated go...
Edible Fruits, Nuts, Roots, and Plants
While wild foods gathered on the trail give a delightful variety to camp fare, be advised and do not gather, still less eat, them unless you are absolutely sure you know what they are and that they are not poisonous. You must be able to identify a...
Frost-Grape or Chicken-Grape
If you try to eat the _frost-grapes_ before frost you will find them decidedly sour, but after a good frost they are really fine. They have a snappy, spicy flavor all their own, and one eats them, like currants, skin and all. They are small, round, ...
Hickory-Nuts
In gathering hickory-nuts you must be able to distinguish between the edible variety and others that are fair on the outside but bitter within. There are nine varieties of hickory-nut trees, and in general appearance they are alike. All have compoun...
High-Bush Blackberry
Throughout the northern states as far west as Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri and down to North Carolina, you may find the _high-bush blackberry_. Its stems are sometimes ten feet high; they are furrowed and thorny and the bush grows along country roads,...
High-Bush Blueberry
On the _high-bush blueberry_ the color of the berries varies. Some bushes bear a black, shiny berry, others a smooth, blue, and still others blue with a bloom. The sizes differ also. The berries grow in clusters, at times on branches almost bare of ...
June-Berry. Shadbush
There are berries on trees as well as on bushes and vines, at least they are called berries though not always resembling them. The June-berry is a tree from ten to thirty feet in height, while its close relative, the shadbush, is a low tree and so...
Large-Fruited Thorn
The thorns, large-fruited and scarlet, are edible. As a child I knew the fruit as _haws_ and was very fond of it. The large-fruited thorn is a low tree with branches spreading out horizontally. You will often find it in thickets. The bark is rough a...
Low Blueberry
Another variety is called the _low blueberry_. It is very much like the dwarf blueberry, but the bush grows sometimes as high as four feet. It is stiff and upstanding and prefers the edge of the woods and sheltered roadsides to the dry open fields. ...
Low Running Blackberry
Among the mountains and hills, down in the valleys, and on the plains; straggling along roadsides, clinging to fence rails, and sprawling over rocks, you will find the wild blackberry. There are several varieties, and blackberries of some kind are c...
May-Apple
One of the most delicious wild fruits we have is the _May-apple_ or _mandrake_. It is finely flavored, sweet and juicy, but being a laxative one must eat of it sparingly. It is most common in the Middle States and reaches perfection in Ohio. The ...
Mockernut
The _mockernut_ is the hickory-nut with a dark, brownish-colored shell, hard and thick and not easily cracked. It is called the mockernut because while the nut is large, usually larger than the shellbark, the kernel is very small and difficult to ta...
Mountain Blackberry
There is another variety called the _mountain blackberry_. It has a spicy flavor, but the fruit is small and dry. The leaves are more elongated toward the tip than those of the others and they are finely toothed. The branches are reddish in color. ...
Mountain Raspberry, Cloudberry
The usual home of the mountain raspberry, or cloudberry, is on the mountain-tops among the clouds. You will find it in the White Mountains and on the coast of Maine, and it has recently been discovered at Montauk Point, L. I. The fruit has a pleasan...
Papaw
The papaw is another fruit I knew well as a child. It is sometimes called custard-apple because the flesh resembles soft custard. As I write I can almost taste the, to me, sickish sweetness of the fruit and feel the large, smooth, flat seeds in my m...
Partridgeberry
Another ground berry is the partridgeberry. This may be eaten but is dry and rather tasteless. It is a red berry and grows on a slender, trailing vine. Its leaves are small and heart-shaped; some are veined with white. They are evergreen. The flower...
Persimmon
In the Southern, Western, and Middle States, some say as far north as New York, grows the _persimmon_. Deliciously sweet and spicy when frost has ripened it, very astringent until ripe. It is plentiful in Kentucky and one of my earliest memories is ...
Pignut
I will italicize the _pignut_ because, though I have never eaten it, I once tried to, and the first taste was all-sufficient. Some writers tell us that the flavor is sweet or slightly bitter. It was the decidedly bitter kind that I found lying tempt...
Purple-Flowering Raspberry
The purple-flowering raspberry is acid and insipid; it can hardly be called edible, though it is not poisonous. You will find it clambering among the rocks on the mountainside and in rocky soil. The leaves are large and resemble grape leaves, while ...
Red Mulberry
Although the finest _mulberry-trees_ are said to be found along the Mississippi and the lower Ohio Rivers, I have seen large, thrifty trees in Connecticut and on Long Island. They grow from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Nebraska. Birds are ve...
Red Raspberry
The wild berry often has a more delicious flavor and perfume than the cultivated one of the same species. Nothing can approach the wonderful and delicate flavor of the little wild strawberry, unless it is the wild red raspberry; and the fully ripe w...
Running Swamp Blackberry
Perhaps you have seen the blackberry with fruit so small it seems only partially developed and, like myself, have hesitated to taste it, not being sure that it was a true blackberry and edible. It takes a good many of these little berries to make a ...
Salads. Watercress
There is no more refreshing salad than the _watercress_ gathered fresh from a cool, running brook. It is a common plant, found almost anywhere in streams and brooks. Its smooth green or brownish leaves lie on the top of the water; they are compound,...
Sand-Cherry
Growing in the sand along our eastern coast as far south as New Jersey and sometimes on the shores of the Great Lakes, the sand-cherry is found. It is a low, trailing bush, but in some cases sends up erect branches as high as four feet. The fruit is...
Sassafras
The _sassafras_ grows wild from Massachusetts to Florida, and west through the Mississippi Valley. It is generally a small tree, from thirty to fifty feet high, and is often found growing in dense thickets in uncultivated fields. The edible bark is ...
Shellbark. Shagbark
The _shellbark_ or shagbark hickory-nut is one of the best. The flavor, as every one knows, is sweet and pleasant. It is the bark of the tree that gives it the name of shagbark, for it separates into long, ragged strips several inches wide which gen...
Slippery-Elm
The inner bark and the root of the _slippery-elm_ are not only pleasant to the taste but are said to be nutritious. They have a glutinous quality that gives the tree its name, and the flavor is nutty and substantial. This variety of elm is common...
Song Sparrow
The little song sparrow loves the open and the hot summer sunshine. Trailing along a country road at midday, when most of the other birds are still, you will find the song sparrow sitting on a rail fence singing with undiminished enthusiasm. To m...
Sweet Viburnum. Nanny-Berry. Sheepberry
The fruit of the sweet viburnum, nanny-berry or sheepberry, is said to be edible. It grows on a small tree, of the honeysuckle family, in the woods and by the streams from Canada to Georgia and west as far as Missouri. The tree has a rusty, scaly ba...
Thornless Blackberry
The sweetest of all varieties is said to be the thornless blackberry. It ripens later than the others and has no thorns. The leaves are long and narrow. ...
Wild Grapes
There are several varieties of wild grapes, all, I think, edible but not all pleasant to the taste. The fox-grape is sweet, but has a musky flavor and odor, a thick skin, and a tough pulp. The fruit ripens in September but few care to eat it. The vi...
Wild Nuts. Black Walnuts
Of all the wild-growing foods, nuts are, perhaps, the most nutritious. The _black walnut_, not plentiful in the Atlantic States but abundant in the Middle States and in the Mississippi Valley, has a rich, wild flavor, and a deep-brown stain for the ...
Wild Plums. Canada Plum
There is a wild plum that is found in our New England States and in Canada known as the Canada plum. The plant grows along fences, in thickets, and by the side of streams. The plum is from one inch to one and a half inches long and is red or orange ...
Wild Red Cherry
The wild red cherry is sour but edible; it is best used as preserves. The tree is usually small yet sometimes reaches the height of thirty feet. It is oftenest found in the woods of the north, but also grows among the mountains as far south as Tenne...
Wild Strawberry
When crossing sandy knolls or open, uncultivated fields and pastures, the alluring perfume of the _wild strawberry_ will sometimes lead you to the patch which shows the bright-red little berry on its low-growing plant. It is common everywhere, thoug...
Wintergreen. Checkerberry
Almost every one knows the little cherry-red _wintergreen berry_ or _checkerberry_, and almost every one likes its sweet aromatic flavor but few would care to make a meal of it. The fruit is too dry for hearty eating and the flavor too decided. The ...