Wild Berries & Fruits Field Guide of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan (Wild Berries & Fruits Identification Guides) - Softcover

Marrone, Teresa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1591932246 ISBN 13: 9781591932246

Publisher: Adventure Publications, 2009

Synopsis

Now you can identify wild berries and fruits. Learn what’s edible and what to avoid with this easy-to-use field guide. The species in the book are organized by color, then by form, so when you see something in the field, you’ll know just where to look. Full-page photos and insets show each plant’s key identification points, while detailed descriptions give you the information you need to know. Interesting tidbits about the plants’ many uses, range maps, a ripening calendar, and more make this an indispensable guide for Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan foragers. Teresa Marrone has been gathering and preparing wild edibles for more than 20 years. Let her share that experience with you.

About this title

About the Author

Teresa Marrone is the author of more than a dozen outdoors-themed books, including the Wild Berries & Fruits Field Guide series (currently available for four regions of the U.S.) and a new series of mushroom ID guides. She has also written numerous cookbooks about wild foods and has been gathering and preparing wild edibles for three decades. Teresa lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Bruce, and enjoys shooting photos of mushrooms, berries, other plants, and all things wild in the area surrounding their property abutting Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Cranberries
Vaccinium spp.

HABITAT: Three species of wild cranberry are native to our region: small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus), large cranberry (V. macrocarpon) and northern mountain cranberry (V. vitis-idaea var. minus). All are found in wet, acidic areas such as sphagnum bogs, swampy spots and fens.

GROWTH: A ground-hugging trailing plant; technically a subshrub, but vine-like in growth habit. Stems are slender and hairless. Cranberry plants often take root at the leaf nodes, forming dense mats.

LEAVES: Smooth, hairless, leathery evergreen leaves grow alternately on the slender stems. Leaves of small cranberry are less than 3⁄8 inch long, lance-shaped with pointed tips, and white underneath; edges are rolled. Leaves of large cranberry are 1⁄4 to 5⁄8 inch long, narrowly oval with blunt tips, and pale underneath, but not as white as those of small cranberry; edges are flat or very slightly rolled. Leaves of northern mountain cranberry are 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 inch long, egg-shaped with rounded tips; undersides have tiny black resin dots (visible with a lens).

FRUIT: A tart, but delicious, red berry. Fruits of northern mountain cranberry and small cranberry grow on stalks at the tip of the stem; those of large cranberry grow along the stem rather than at the tip. Large cranberry has the largest fruits, averaging 1⁄2 inch across; those of the other two species are 3⁄8 inch or less. The fruits of large cranberry look out of proportion to the tiny leaves. There are no toxic look-alikes.

SEASON: Cranberries ripen in late summer to early fall, and may persist on the evergreen plants through winter if not eaten by birds.

COMPARE: Several plants with edible berries have similar appearance. Creeping snowberry (pg. 258) has white berries; stems and leaves are hairy. Creeping wintergreen (pg. 110) has larger leaves, up to 2 inches. Both creeping snowberry and wintergreen smell spicy when crushed. Bearberry (pg. 108) has larger leaves, up to 1 inch, which are pointed at the base and broadly rounded at the tip.

NOTES: Cranberries are best when cooked, but can be eaten raw.

Edition details

• Publisher: Adventure Publications
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1591932246
• ISBN 13: 9781591932246
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 280