To: Bill Russell <shaman@pennswoods.net>, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc:
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] What's safe to eat and what isn't
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 12:43:51 -0800
Our dogwood berries (Cornus nuttallii) would be hard to reach as the
trees are big. The fruit is reported as "edible but bitter".
The fruit clusters of creeping dogwood (Cornus canadensis) are
clusters of smooth berries - they wouldn't be considered a 'bumpy
berry'. In any case, they are not poisonous.
The eastern dogwood (Cornus florida) has fruit described as "slightly
poisonous". I have never seen them fruit here - summer too cool, I
guess - so I don't know what they look like.
The "strawberry tree" would most likely be Arbutus unedo. It grows
here and flowers all winter, providing nectar for hummingbirds, but
it rarely fruits. I did see a lot of fruit last month in northern
California, though. I had always read that 'unedo' means 'eat one'
because no one would eat a second. In Napa, they were dropping on
the ground, so I tried one which was juicy and pleasant. It tasted
as good as most tropical fruits ( only the distinctly flavoured
tropicals get shipped - most are sweet and bland.) I don't know why
writers in the U.K. say they taste unpleasant.
http://www.british-trees.com/guide/strawberrytree.htm
Our arbutus (Arbutus menziesii), known in the U.S. as madrone, has
big bunches of orange berries which are textured like oranges. They
fall to the ground in bunches, so could be accessible to small
children. I guess it would be a toss-up as to whether they'd be
considered smooth or bumpy, but they are edible.
--
Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil