Plant Identification – Things to have, things to bring
My plant identification resource list is somewhat lacking. This is due largely to me having 3 kids (plus one more on the way) and other priorities with my money, but my list of haves/wants/needs is growing in this arena. At the moment, I only have things that focus on edible plants and I don’t have enough of them. In practice, this means that many of the plants I encounter, I’m unable to identify either because they’re not considered edible or because the meager edible guides I have don’t include the plant. That said, here’s what I have:
Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern/Central North America
Pocket Naturalist Guide to Wild Edibles
Pocket Naturalist Guide to Wild Medicinals
Several military survival manuals from the U.S. and U.K. (despite my affection for military manuals, I rarely use these for information on edibles and have found much of their information on the subject to be self-contradictory and in some cases, demonstrably incorrect. Moreover, they’re designed to be useful guides for anywhere in the world – there are tons of resources focused on my area, so I don’t need a worldwide guide to plants – it will just confuse me.)
www.eattheweeds.com and Green Deane’s videos on YouTube
A set of flashcards on wild edibles (the ones linked are actually superior to the ones I own – scroll down)
iPhone apps on wildflowers and trees (but I haven’t used them much yet)
I generally carry the Peterson guide and my iPhone with me. If I can’t identify something on the trail, I’ll snap a pic with my phone and try at home later.
A common complaint from beginners is that many guides have sketches instead of pictures. I still share this complaint somewhat. When I shared my frustration with Green Deane, he assured me that good sketches are actually better than pictures because they show you the identifying characteristics and filter out all of the other gobbledygook that could mislead or confuse you. After trying to identify a few plants from pics taken on the trail, I have to agree with Deane.
Another few things to bring:
- A notebook and something to write with (I use a weatherproof notebook like the one on this page – scroll down)
- A magnifying glass (I tend to forget this one because my kids run off with it, but it can be really important)
- Gloves (in case you happen to “discover” poison ivy, stinging nettle, or something similar)
- A knife (cleaner harvesting is less likely to kill the plant, and helps to ensure you only harvest the edible part of a plant) – my Leatherman does a good job.
- 1 gallon Ziploc bags (if you decide to harvest or want to bring a specimen back with you, ziplocs come in handy)
- You’ll want a small spade, some paper towels, and a way to wet them. The spade is helpful if you need to harvest the root, or you can dig up the whole plant and wrap the roots in damp paper towels to transplant.
- Water. Don’t leave home without it.
July 14, 2009 at 8:43 am
A word about digging up wild plants to transplant. If you’re digging them up to eat and it’s a survival situation, that’s one thing. But some wild plants are protected/threatened/endangered and digging them up to transplant in your own yard could be a big no-no. Not just legally, but ethically.
People have poached ginseng out of the Smoky Mountains until it’s all but disappeared. The same has happened with certain pitcher/flytrap/sundew plants in the lower Southeast.
Not to mention the issue of native plants in one area becoming invasive plants in another.
July 14, 2009 at 11:17 am
An excellent and valid point. When I mention transplanting, I’m talking about “weeds” from your local area that you move to your garden for convenience. I have lambsquarters, purslane, and dandelion in my garden for example. Protected/endangered plants should not be tampered with. For that matter, even common plants should be left alone if there aren’t a lot around. In a year of foraging, I’ve transplanted 3 plants, all mentioned above, and all but one were already located in other parts of my yard…the purslane was a gift from Green Deane though.
July 15, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Thank you for your comments. Let me be the first to say I like photographs of plants. The problem with them is that image often doesn’t look like the plant in front of you, for a variety of reasons. And while sketches do not look like the plant either the difference is the sketch is universially accurate on important points where as the photo is not. I think using both is a all right. I also carry a permanent marker in the field, to make notes or lable things such as leaves. The truly frustrating part about foraging is simply getting reliable information, not only for identification but utilization. It seems one always has a species in hand not mentioned in the list of recognized or edible plants. This is where local people become valuable. When you see someone eat a local species (not mentioned in references) and they aren’t sick or deceased in the next week, it says more than volumes. Botany is good but foraging is personal. In foraging you are sometimes trusting your life to someone and that builds credibility, and confidence, in them and yourself. You have to get to the point of confident contradiction. When someone calls an orange an apple you have the confidence of contradiction to tell them they are wrong, no matter who they are. It is the same with wild plants. You need to know them so well that you can tell an ivory-tower PhD in botany he’s wrong. That’s the kind of competence (and confidence) we aim for. It comes from personal experience.
July 15, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Deane, it’s really nice of you to stop by, and truly fitting as you’re one of the reasons I’ve come to love foraging. I never meant to imply that you told me to steer away from photographs, only that you explained to me the value of sketches. My experiences creating videos over the past week has really driven home the need for the level of competence you discuss, and while I’ve witnessed your knowledge and ability firsthand, I’m nowhere near that level and won’t be for some time. Thanks for all you do Deane. How go the moving plans?
July 15, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Moving is in limbo… thus I am taking the time to do three videos, thumbleweed today, natal plum tomorrow and beach orach after that. I’d like to get to 100 but those last five may take a while considering time and season. My biggest problem with making videos is noise. The amount of noise pollution is amazing. Then the weather, followed by my impatience. I was born with no patients and have less now! I wish my videos had sarted out as strongly as yours and at the level of quality. No doubt when I hit 100 I will redo some of the earlier videos… by the way… an Australian company will do a segment with me and the saw palmetto in late August or early September. That will eventually show up on the English speaking world. … As for photos… I like them but often they simply do not look like the plant in front of you (as you know with the poke weed.) They are one of many tools of the profession. My best to you and yours… Green Deane
July 30, 2009 at 3:15 pm
You might be interested in my blog on edible wild plants. It currently has over 80 plants, where/when to find them, what parts you can eat, and how to prepare them.
http://www.houstonwildedibles.blogspot.com/
In most cases I have multiple pictures of each plant to better help identify them.
I also have a stripped-down version designed to be viewed on mobile internet devices like the iPhone:
http://mobileedibles.blogspot.com/
It has all the plant info of my regular website, but without all the other information and links.
-Merriwether (yellow supporter of the Outdoor Bloggers Summit)