Berries, Berries, and more Berries

[Jeff]

This might Be a little Difficult. This is a question from our ask the forester page on the Timber Buyers Network. We have no pictures to work from, just discription.  I will send a note back to see if it is possible to get some.


Geographic_Location = Iosco County, MI
ask_the_forester_question = I have found three different berries in the swamp area off Tawas Lake here in Tawas City, MI.  I would like to know the names if I can describe them well enough for you.

1 - Red berry cluster (like pine cone) grows at the end of a tubular stalk (approximately 1 1/2" diameter) about 1 1/2 foot out of the ground.  3 slightly serrated large leaves on this plant.  Inside the berry is clear reddish substance with 1 seed about the size of a dried pea.

2 - Crimson red berries on vine, leaf is 3 petals with center petal being 3X larger than two side petals. Inside berry is clear substance with many tiny seeds.

3- Red berries in small cluster on 6 petal leaf.  Grows close to ground; not a vine.  Inside berry is thick white with only one seed.

It appears that critters are not not eating these berries.

Thanks for your help.
Kim

Kim,
I hope you choose to join our forum and help us figure this out! You will be more than welcome, plus we always have a great time here!  (And if there is anyway to get us some pictures of those berries, I know we will get you an answer)

[SwampDonkey]

1. Jack-in-the-pulpit - root is edible when boiled, otherwise very hot peppery taste. Non poisonous.

2. was thinking dwarf raspberry - edible

3. red baneberry - deadly poison

[Jeff]

6 years it took. 

[tonich]

I thought, I saw SwampDonkey today, digging in some other older treads too. 

[Tom]

I wonder if Kim is still alive? 

Better late than never, I guess. 

Way to go Swamp Donkey, you pulled our fat from the fire. 

[SwampDonkey]

Well I wanted to explore deep in the catacombs and see some stuff you guys let sink away. Just call me a bottom feeder. 

[WDH]

A catfish or a carp

[SwampDonkey]

More like sucker, but I would prefer sturgeon.

[Bro. Noble]

1. Jack-in-the-pulpit - root is edible when boiled, otherwise very hot peppery taste.

I guess you are getting this out of a book or you wouldn't let this root off so easy.  It is called an Indian Turnip locally and the 'hot peppery' is quite an understatement.  Eaten raw in the smallest amount would make a drill seargeant cry or a preacher's wife swear

I used to work in a one horse town where eveyone knew each other and all their business.  At noon most of the people who worked in town gathered at Paynes cafe at noon and after eating an one large common table would shoot a game or two of pool before going back to work.  After I had been there for a year or so,  I learned that I had been accepted when an old character named Ray Sherman introduced me to the 'Indian Turnip'.  In later years I observed Ray pull the same prank on a few others.  He starts by scraping a acorn sized lump with his pocket knife not saying a word.  Everyone at the table watches his every move without saying anything,  but with more than casual interest.  The victum eventually says 'what's that?"  Ray simply says "Indian Turnip".  Victum eventually says "What's it for?" or "what you gonnado with it" or something like that.  Ray says "A little slice it will make you forget you ever had arthritis or any other pain".  Well eventually the turnip is sampled and all heck breaks loose.  Mr. Payne his there with a glass of milk which eases the pain a little.  Others are ready to keep the victum from doing bodily harm to themselves or to Ray.  I won't say it was a funny sight to me although Ray and the others really got a kick out of the misery it caused.  Hot peppery taste falls really short of describing the root of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant

[WDH]

Wow!  Now I want to try some .

[SwampDonkey]

Bro Noble, I never ate any before that I know of. But, it's quite common in our woods up here. I notice the hoods in the spring and then the berries later in the summer. You never ate any either, eh?

[Tom]

Eat some and tell us about it, Swamp Donkey.  Nothing like first hand knowledge. 

[SwampDonkey]

I'll remember to boil it first.   


Ever eat any Indian cucumber root?  They have big red berries.

http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=73

[Tom]

Not me!  We don't have any of that poison and hot stuff down here.