(no subject)

[42itous]

This post is dedicated to kdsorceress on the occasion of her birthday. (I don't know how interesting you'll find its content, but I wanted to wish you a happy day.)



Growing in a particular spot near the bikeway in East Arlington are three plants I'm not familiar with (and also pokeweed, which I know thanks to a post in this space a couple of years ago). Two I'm guessing are not edible; the third sure looks like an edible grape but the fact that there are still many, many bunches of them within easy reach suggests that other foragers know better. I offer cake and ice cream to whomever can positively identify all three. The berries and leaves are grouped in comments below.

Comments

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Specimen #3 is the one that looks to me like tiny grapes. Each berry is 3/16" in diameter, or maaaybe 1/4" for the biggest ones.

The leaves are grapey too.

[light-of-summer.livejournal.com]

Your specimen #3 looks kind of like California Grape, Vitis californica.

The closest guess I have for #2 is maybe elderberry?

The berries on #1 look like huckleberries, but huckleberry leaves are definitely smaller than culinary bay leaves, so all I can say for #1 is not that!

I hope that helps a little!

[42itous.livejournal.com]

#3 looks for all the world like a grape, for sure. And apparently, according to this page (http://www.eattheweeds.com/vitis-wild-grapes-2/), trying to ID the exact variety is a fool's errand. So I may go ahead and taste it... the only thing that gives me pause is the fact that there are so many still on the vines in this well-traveled public location. Maybe they're too sour or seedy to be worth eating.

I thiiiink #2 is Virginia creeper, as ID'd by perspicuity above -- the berries and their stems look very similar to elderberries, but elderberries (according to photos on the internet) hang down a little in bunches, whereas these are stiffer constellations. The leaves are more conclusively different, too.

Yeah, I've picked huckleberries before, and specimen #1 is not them. perspicuity guesses chokecherry but it doesn't seem quite right. Since I'm pretty sure these are not edible, I'm not very intent on IDing them.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I tasted the grapes! They tasted like grapes. A little sour, but a pleasant flavor. Full of seeds, though -- that would be why other foragers aren't bothering with them.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

looks like grapes.

smells like grapes?

concord are tiny right? if these are marble sized, could be muscovite? also greasy sour?

#

[42itous.livejournal.com]

They're way smaller than marbles. If it were just me, I'd be inclined to taste one, but I wasn't going to let my two-year-old try them, nor potentially poison myself while in charge of her.