Does Red Mean Dead?

[Cedar Eater]

I have an abundance of these shrubs in the wetland of my Spruce woodlot (Alcona County, MI). The juicy red berries have a taste that I think would make a good jelly or wine. There's that old Boy Scout mantra about red fruit being potentially poisonous, but I've had two berries with no ill effects. The berries each had 5 little seeds which are very bitter. I've searched the national online plant database and struck out. Anybody know what these are?







Cedar Eater

[Jeff]

Looks like hackberry to me.

[Cedar Eater]

I did a google search on hackberry and found this:

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/coccidentalis.htm

Leaf: Alternate, simple, pinnately veined, 2 to 5 inches long. Leaves are ovate, with acuminate tips and a cordate, inequilateral base, three distinct veins meet at base. Leaf margins are serrate and may be somewhat pubescent below.

Flower: Very small (1/8 inch) and green, produced on stalks near the twig. Each flower with a 4 or 5 lobed calyx. Apparent in April to May.

Fruit: Fleshy, globose drupe, 1/4 to 3/8 inch in diameter, turning orange-red to dark purple when ripe. The flesh is thin and quite dry but edible and sweet, enclosing a large pit. Maturing in September and October.

Twig: Slender zigzag, light red-brown in color. The terminal bud is lacking, but a pseudoterminal bud is present. Lateral buds are small, tapering, and appressed, pith chambered at the nodes.

Bark: Gray or light brown in color, smooth with corky "warts" or ridges. Much later becoming scaly.

Form: A small to medium-sized tree.

These berries don't have a large pit and the leaves are not toothy like the ones shown in the photo at the website. Of course, hackberry could be a local name that doesn't match the meaning in some other locale. This is what's driving me nuts. Somebody called them currants, but the leaves are wrong from what I find on the www. I don't want to make fatal jelly.

Cedar Eater

[Jeff]

My brother-in-law grows current bushes in his yard. I never paid any attention to whatthey looked like other then they are red.

There are several hackberrys. There is one that is called sweetberry I think.

[Texas Ranger]

Yaupon?

[Jeff]

I considered that too, but I think its out of our range aint it?

[Tom]

It might be the "two-week fatal berry".  Call back in 14 days
...........if you can  

It doesn't look like any of the Yaupon we have down here.

[Jeff]

Isnt yaupon and evergreen?

[Tom]

It is here.  But, then, so is most everything else.

[jimbo]

   i would say it is a sarvis    very eatable    trees can get 40 ft  and 12 to 16 in at the base     barries about 1/4 in in diameter  almost like hackbarry but the leaves a smother  several around this area

[Tom]

Here's a stab in the dark.
Kinnikinnick
follow the link to bearberry

Though you are in the range this is a canadian report.
click here

Indian Tobacco?  Try this one.

[bitternut]

Looks like tartarian honeysuckle to me.

[Cedar Eater]

I haven't ruled out tartarian honeysuckle yet (thanks for that) or it may be one of the other bush honeysuckles. I thought honeysuckles were all vines, but google shows some bush types in Wisconsin. This shrub is deciduous (this excludes yaupon and bearberry). I have serviceberry trees (aka juneberry or sarvis) on my property and they are single stem trees that I'm familiar with. This shrub grows in clumps with main stems about an inch thick with yellowish bark. It reminds me of multiflora rosa, but has no spines. I'll try to get up there with a camera to take pictures of the plants. I appreciate all the help.

Cedar Eater

[Cedar Eater]

I've done some more web crawling and found this:

http://www.invasive.org/weeds/usfsr8/BH.html

It's looking like I have at least one of these bush honeysuckles, probably the tartarian, because some of the berries are doubled. From everything I've read, they are too acidic for eating. They are not poisonous, but harmful in quantities. Maybe making jelly from them would help, but I'm not feeling experimental.

Thanks bitternut for the pointer and thanks everyone for the SWAGs.

Cedar Eater

[bitternut]

Well Cedar Eater I have never tried eating them in any form. I do know that the birds love them and also the chipmunks. They do a great job of seeding more clumps of honeysuckle. They do smell great in the spring.

If you get too close to the clumps when mowing now that they have fruit you end up with red spots on your butt. I know from experience. When you brush against the bush the berries drop off onto the seat of the tractor.

I will take a picture of one of my clumps the next time I get down to the farm and post it for comparison to yours.

[Cedar Eater]

I found recipes for both jam and jelly from tartarian honeysuckle at somebody's website. Apparently the cooking process handles the acidity. I'll have to get confirmation that the author is still alive before I'll try it. Now that I know they are iffy, I might just leave them to the wildlife. They taste good if you don't eat the seeds, but the seeds are so small it's a pain to separate them.

It seems that in some states they are considered invasive weeds and in other states they are planted for stabilizing erosion and songbird food. I have russian olive invasion at the same property, so my bushhog is my best friend.

Cedar Eater

[Mark M]

The fruit looks like what we call Pin Cherry. I can't remember the leaves but I do remember the jelly

[Cedar Eater]

I think pin cherries have pits, like other cherries. These berries are really juicy and have multiple small seeds.

[Den Socling]

Cedar Eater,

They are what we call bush honeysuckle. We have a lot here in PA. Berries are red on some bushes and orange on others. I always heard that they were poisonous but I just ate one. Yep, three small seeds.

bitternut,

you are right. When my wife is driving her mobile stump grinder (I call it a lawn tractor), I refer to her as berrybutt this time of year.

den

[Jeff]

Den if you made the berries into jelly then you could call her sweet cheeks.