Woodland Forager

Yellow winter aconite flower

Yellow winter aconite flowers growing around stones

Field of winter aconite flowers

Winter aconite eases the winter blues with bright flowers in late February. Eranthis hyemalis, a European native in the buttercup family, has toxic cardiac glycosides, so don't eat. Just enjoy the splash of color & watch bees getting an early pollen rush on. #photography #flowers #nomorewinterblues

A pink rose in a Valentine's Day bouquet.

Happy Valentine's Day to all! Roses are often given to show love & affection. In the Rosaceae family, rose hips and petals are eaten as a fruit, made into a tea & used as medicine. Also, they smell nice & make us smile. #foraging #photography #medicinalplants

A tiny dragonfruit seed germinating next to a tiny stonecrop.

A pot of string stonecrop sedum.

One of my tiny dragonfruit seeds has germinated in a pot of stringy stonecrop sedum (Sedum sarmentosum), with a baby sedum to keep it company The dragonfruit I took seeds from was Selenicereus undatus, in the Cactaceae family. #gardening #cacti #photography

Most wild greens I make pesto, or add to a salad. You can add to soup or stew also. Add at the last minute so they don't overcook.

I write about edible plants and wrote about hairy bittercress about a year ago. See here: bsky.app/profile/karh...

I like the symmetry as well. Also this little mustard is edible!

I use this phrase often, and should probably be more precise. To me, it means a non-native plant that grows robustly enough to crowd out natives. Barberi and honeysuckle come to mind...

Wtf does “invasive plant” even mean? It's a nonsense term tbh

"What’s the definition of 'invasive plant'? There's no consensus" is a recent posting by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume. "But what is the official definition of an an 'invasive species,' whether plant or otherwise? The short answer is that there is none."
kollibri.substack.com/p/whats-the-...

Tom Morello

Are you going to this concert? I hear there may be a special guest there. Maybe the boss hinself?

Shellbark hickory nuts in a glass bowl

Shellbark hickory nut in outer shell

Shellbark hickory nuts on a forest floor in Maryland in January.

Shellbark hickory trees (Carya laciniosa in walnut family) are common in Maryland, with large sweet edible nuts, if you can crack them open. The shell is super hard. Use a lever nut cracker with a towel over to avoid shard missiles. Free wild food is the best! #foraging #freewildfood #ediblenuts

Wild onion grass growing in the woods in January. Nothing stops these perennial invasive plants from reproducing and spreading. They are edible and delicious.

Wild onion (Allium vineale in amaryllis family) is an invasive perennial. Winter has no effect on this hardy little jerk. Lucky for us it's edible. Underground bulbs can be used like garlic. Add leaves, flowers & aerial bulblets to soup. Edible invasives are the best! #foraging #wildedibleinvasives

Gray wood ear fungi growing on log in woods in Maryland.

Underside of wood ear fungus growing in Maryland.

Due to recent rains in Maryland, these sweet little wood ears are popping up on logs. Most likely Auricularia polytricha - fuzzy gray on top & maroon underneath. If my ID is correct, these are edible, used in Asian cuisine. Be certain of ID before eating, please. #foraging #fungifriends #photography

Bright purple berries of the Beautyberry bush last into winter and provide food for people, birds, and animals.

Bright purple berries of the Beautyberry bush stay on bush through most of winter. People, birds, and animals can eat the edible berries.

Beautyberry comes by its name honestly; these bright berries are a welcome sight in a bleak winter landscape. Extra bonus: edible fruit for both man & beast. Callicarpa americana is a native mint family member. The crushed leaves also repel mosquitos. #foraging #photography #naturalinsectrepellent

Lacy Eastern white cedar leaves in sun, with small cones present.

Eastern white cedar tree, with flat lacy leaves.

White cedar tree has attractive flat evergreen leaves.

White cedar, with flat lacy leaves, is easily recognizable. These coniferous evergreens (Thuja Occidentalis in the Cupressaceae family) have fragrant wood that keeps insects away. The leaf tea is high in vit C but should be drunk sparingly. The Ojibwe hold this tree sacred. #foraging #photography

Agreed. Bluesky word limits didn't let me elaborate that this is not toxic but also not edible because it's rather tough.

Gilled polypore growing on a log in a Martland woods, white with faint orange rings.

Underside of gilled polypore, with white gills.

Gilled pilypore is an eye-catching fungus that decorates forest logs in late fall. They have gills underneath, unlike look-alikes turkeytail (smooth underside) & false turkeytail (pores). Latin name is Trametes betulina, in Polyporaceae family. Not edible. #fungifriends #photography

A burl on a mature oak tree

Bark pattern on a hickory tree

Beech trees often show patterns in bark that look like eyes.

American persimmon trees have bark that resembles huge corn kernels on a cob

Burl on oak tree; green bark on hickory tree; forest eye on beech tree: corn-kernal bark on American persimmon tree. The forest holds wonders to behold amd lessons to be learned. #trees #coolbark #photography

I found success only by planting seedlings. No seeds have ever grown, as far as I've seen. I save seeds in fall in fridge, plant in spring in cardboard milk cartons, and transplant in woods in fall.

I love pawpaws and have been sneak-planting them in the woods here in Maryland for years.

Pipsissewa, aka spotted or striped wintergreen, is a low-growing evergreen native of the northeast part of North America. In this picture, it is growing next to a Christmas fern in a Maryland woods.

Pipsissewa is a sweet little evergreen, growing low to the ground, with dark green variegated leaves. Latin name - Chimaphila maculata, in the heather (Ericaceae) family. Eat leaves raw as snack; drink leaf tea to treat fevers & infections; use infusion to treat rhematism. #foraging #medicinalplants

Wild lettuce growing along a rocky Maryland creek in November.

When it's fall & most plants are in dormancy, you can still find edible greens. I found this robust wild lettuce (Lactuca floridana, in the aster family) growing along a creek last week. The greens are edible - add them to a stew or a stir fry. Free wild food is the best! #foraging #freewildfood

False turkeytail mushrooms, with colorful rings, growing on a log surrounded by fall leaves.

After the rain, false turkeytail fungi come out & provide a nice show. Stereum ostrea is the Latin name, in the Stereaceae family. Unlike true turkeytails (Trametes versicolor), S. Ostrea has no medicinal value. They are simply nice to look at. #foraging #photography #fungifriends

An oak and beechnut forest in fall.

When things get rough, head to the woods. It's like free therapy! Take some time to move quietly through the silence. Let your gaze go far and near. Let your ear and your heart hear what the forest is telling you. #therapy #forestbathing

Bright yellow Goldenrod flower with bee on it.

So bright & sunny, goldenrod (Solidago altissima in aster family), makes me smile when I see it. Goldenrod is a common fall flower in the US & Canada. Bees love this plant. Flower tea treats fevers, diarrhea, & thrush; root poultice treats burns & skin wounds. #foraging #naturalmedicine #photography

The pale purple flower of a rosemary plant, which has thin green needle like leaves that smell divine and can be used for cooking and medicine. The plant is in the mint family and is native of the Mediterranean sea region.

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus in mint family), native of the Mediterranean, is used for cooking, as fragrance, & as medicine. Rosemary leaf tea makes you feel calmer, eases mental fatigue & helps with depression. Rubbing oil on your scalp reduces hair loss. #foraging #medicinalwildplants #ohotography

Kangaroo Paw with red fuzzy stems and green flowers growing in San Jose California. This is a plant native to Australia.

Kangaroo Paw, an Auatralian plant, I found growing in San Jose, California. It has red fuzzy stems and green flowers.

Yesterday I saw this lovely plant in San Jose CA. It's Kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos flavidus in the Haemodoraceae family), native to Australia. The Noongar people ate the tubers. Plant extracts are used in personal care products. #foraging #noongar #Australia #photography

Female cone of Himalayan Cedar tree

The female cone of Cedrus deodara, or Himalayan Cedar, is a wonder to behold. The oil rendered from the wood of these tall stately trees has antifungal properties, & can also be used to repel insects. #foraging #plantmedicine #photography

Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) can be found in fields & empty lots. In the Scrophulariaceae family, it is native to Europe & Asia. Europeans & Native Americans used the plant for lung & skin problems. Filter out fine hairs on leaves before ingesting. #foraging #photography #wildplantmedicine

Amanita muscaria, or fly agaric, is a much-loved mushroom in the Amanita family. In Europe the cap is red while in US it is orange (A. Muscaria var. guessowii). Fly agaric is toxic & hallucinogenic. These little beauties are growing along Lake Superior. #woodlandforaging #fungifriends #photography