Wild Berries & Fruits Field Guide of Minnesota, Wisconsin & Michigan

by Teresa Marrone

Overview

Learn to identify wild berries and fruits with this handy field guide, organized by color.

Get the popular field guide by expert author Teresa Marrone, and get started on your way to becoming a forager. Teresa has been gathering and preparing wild edibles for more than 20 years, and she shares her foraging experience with you. Use this book with confidence as you learn about nearly 200 species found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The species are organized by color and then by form, so when you see a red berry, go to the red section to learn what it is.

Book Features

• Species organized by color, then by form
• Full-page photos and insets showing each plant’s key identification points
• Interesting tidbits about the plants’ many uses
• Range maps, ripening calendar, and more
• Nearly 200 wild berries and fruits in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan

Learn what’s edible and what to avoid with this easy-to-use field guide. Fact-filled information contains the particulars that you want to know, while full-page photographs provide the visual detail needed for accurate identification.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591937968
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/12/2018
Series:	Wild Berries & Fruits Identification Guides
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	367,463
Product dimensions:	4.30(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Teresa Marrone has been gathering and preparing wild edibles for more than 20 years. She was formerly Managing Editor of a series of outdoors-themed books, and is the author of Abundantly Wild: Collecting and Cooking Wild Edibles in the Upper Midwest, as well as numerous other outdoors-related and regional cookbooks. Teresa has also written many magazine articles on wild foods and cooking, and has rekindled an early interest in photography. Wild Berries & Fruits Field Guide of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan combines her various skills and interests into a clear, concise, easy-to-use book that helps the user appreciate the diversity of the various wild berries and fruits that grow in this region. Teresa lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Bruce.

Read an Excerpt

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction

• About this book
• The range maps
• What is a fruit?
• How fruits are arranged on the stem
• Leaf form and arrangement
• Safety and plant identification
• What is not included in this book
• Not ripe yet!
• Be certain, be safe: Wild grapes
• Ripening calendar for edible fruit
• How to use this book
• Sample page

The Berries and Fruits

• Green
• Yellow
• Orange
• Red
• Purple
• Blue
• Black
• White

Helpful Resources

Glossary

Index

About the Author