Do you want to teach your child to understand wild berries? This question is especially relevant in the summer and autumn, when your child is relaxing at the dacha, in a camp, or with his grandmother in the village. Of course, today publications publish a lot of all kinds of reference books, but getting a child to read a book can be too difficult. It's a matter of computer! We hope that our short information article will help you learn the main signs of poisonous and edible berries.

By the way, this information will also be useful to parents, many of whom are not great experts on forest products. After reading the article, you can go to the forest. After all, this is where you can use the most effective way of learning. Find living “visual aids” in the forest. Show your child the berry and tell him everything you know about it. Children have excellent memory! Explain which berries grow in our forests and which do not. Show your child plants that should not be touched at all. We are sure that after several such lessons, your child will never put a poisonous berry in the basket.

What edible berries grow in the forest: description and photo

20 edible wild berries

Forest edible berries	Description/distinctive features
Blackberry	Subshrub. More than 200 types of blackberries are known. It blooms at the end of May and blooms almost all summer. Prefers moist soil. Blackberry shoots form almost impenetrable thorny thickets. Blackberry flowers are most often white, subshrubs with pinkish flowers are less common. FruitBlackberries are a polydrupe. When the fruits become black with a bluish tinge or purple (depending on the variety) – they are ripe. The taste of blackberries is reminiscent of raspberries and currants with larger grains inside. The taste is juicy and aromatic.
Blueberry	Low-growing shrub (10-50 cm). This berry received this name in Rus' because of its color. It is impossible to stay clean by eating blueberries. The creeping rhizome of the bush produces a mass of shoots. Blueberries bloom in May. Berries blueberries – round, bluish-black in color . What gives them their blue color is a waxy coating that is easily removed. The inside of the berry is bright red with a small number of seeds. Blueberries are juicy and delicious.
Stone berry	A small (up to 30 cm) herbaceous plant. At the end of May, the drupe blooms with small white flowers, and at the end of August, red, pretty ones appear in their place. large berries. Orange stoneweed is found in nature. Berryconsists of four small fruits. Each of them has a large bone inside. The slightly sour berry is very juicy.
Strawberries	A herbaceous plant with a stem from 5 to 20 cm. The leaves are trifoliate. Creeping shoots. BerryThe strawberry resembles a small red nut with brown seeds on the surface. Strawberries are very fragrant and sweet.
Blueberry	Low shrub. The five-toothed blueberry flowers are small – white or slightly pinkish. BerriesBlueberries are blue with a bluish bloom, slightly elongated. Blueberries have a sweet-sour taste.
Cloudberry	herbaceous plant small size. At the end of May, cloudberries begin to bloom. One appears on the stem White flower. Loves moist soil. Cloudberries can be harvested at the end of July. Cloudberries have a sour-spicy taste. It has a wine aftertaste. The fruit is a drupe. Initially, the berry turns red, and as it ripens, it acquires an amber color.
Juniper	A tree-shrub that dates back 50 million years. Juniper is an evergreen, in appearance it resembles cypress. Shishikoyberriesjuniper contains tannins, vitamins, essential oil, etc.
Kalina	There are more than 160 species of this woody-flowering plant. Small evergreen trees or shrubs bear fruit with red, yellow, and less often black drupes. Berryviburnum with one seed, usually compressed on both sides. They have a slightly bitter taste. By pouring boiling sugar syrup over viburnum, you will get an exceptionally tasty treat.
	Tree, less often shrub. More than 40 species of rowan grow in Russia. BerriesRowan berries have a bitter-sour, slightly astringent taste .
Raspberries	Subshrub. Raspberry stems are erect, the leaves are green above, whitish below with small fibers. The flowers are white. Wild raspberries have red, sweet, fragrant berries. Wild raspberries are juicy and very healthy.
Cowberry	Evergreen, low growing shrub. Lingonberry leaves are small, shiny, leathery. Lingonberries bloom in May. She has white and pink flowers that look like bells. Wild lingonberries have a sweet and sour taste. Ripe lingonberries acquire a bright red color. This usually happens in early September.
Cranberry	Shrub of the Heather family. Grows in swamps. Ruby red cranberries ripen in September. The berry is sour. The taste is quite tart.
Prince	"Arctic Raspberry" Grows in tundras, swamps, and at high altitudes. It is a herbaceous perennial with trifoliate leaves and single flowers with five petals. The flowers are dark pink. Prince - juicy, sweet, similar in appearance to ordinary raspberries. The aroma is reminiscent of pineapple.
Wild gooseberry	Berry bush with peeling bark. The leaves are scaly, the flowers are bisexual. There are red and greenish flowers. Gooseberries ripen in June-August. The fruits are often oval or round in shape with translucent veins. Ripe fruits may have different colour– from greenish-yellow to red. Gooseberries have a sweet and sour taste.
Rose hip	Multi-stemmed thorny shrub from two to three meters tall. Flowers can be single or with several flowers in an inflorescence. Outwardly they resemble a rose, they have a very pleasant aroma. Rose hips ripen at the end of August. The rose hip has the shape of a “multi-nut”. The ripe fruit becomes red, orange (very rarely black) in color. The fruit is fleshy, covered with bristles. The inside of the rosehip berry is coarsely hairy with numerous nuts.
Bird cherry	Flowers collected in racemes may be white or pinkish in color. The fruit is a round drupe, black or dark cherry in color. Bird cherry is sweet, highly astringent. The stone is ovoid. Bird cherry can be harvested at the end of July.
Schisandra chinensis	Flowering plant. Or rather, a woody vine with a strong scent. Schisandra has fiery red fruits. They have a specific taste – bitterish-sour. It tastes very much like lemon. The pulp of the fruit is not only aromatic, but also very juicy. The berries are collected in clusters.
Swedish derain	Shrub with creeping rhizome. Its height reaches 25 cm. The stems are straight, the flowers are white, the inflorescence is umbellate. The fruit is a red drupe. The berries are edible, but crumbly and tasteless.
Vodjanika	Evergreen creeping shrub. There are a lot of spruce-like hairs on young shoots. Crowberry flowers are very small, having three petals. The petals are bright pink. Crowberry berries look similar to blueberries. There are hard seeds inside the fruit. The taste of the fruit is sour, but juicy.
or repis	Bush. Its height can reach three meters. Repis leaves are very similar to gooseberry leaves. Repis blooms at the end of May yellow flowers which have a very pleasant aroma. Red wild currant berries. The taste is reminiscent of a mix of gooseberries and currants.

Poisonous berries in the forest: how to teach a child to distinguish inedible berries from edible ones?

I pretentious berries: distinctive signs and symptoms of poisoning

Name of poisonous berries	Features	Symptoms of poisoning
Crow's eye	A herbaceous plant with an erect ribbed stem. The leaves are located at the bottom of the stem and are arranged crosswise. If you rub the leaves in your hand, it will appear bad smell. The flower of this plant is rather inconspicuous, it looks like a four-pointed yellow star. The fruit ripens in August. This is a black berry with a bluish tint. There are many seeds inside it. The seeds are located in four nests. The berry tastes very unpleasant.	Severe headache and dizziness , there are all the signs of food poisoning. Photophobia and slurred speech appear . The pupils are dilated. In especially severe cases it can be heard heart rhythm disturbance, may begin convulsions.
Elderberry smelly	Elderberry fruits are juicy round drupes. The berries are black and purple with several (2-4) seeds.	Elderberry stinking berries have a toxic effect on the gastrointestinal tract: abdominal pain, bitterness in the mouth, diarrhea, drooling .
Privet	A shrub with flowers collected in racemes. The fruit is a poisonous, berry-shaped drupe of shiny black color.	Calls nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, acute cystitis, low blood pressure .
Euonymus	Euonymus fruits ripen in early autumn. Pink boxes look very attractive. The capsules are four-parted and contain black seeds embedded in orange or red pulp. When ripe, the boxes open. All parts of this plant are poisonous.	Food poisoning . With large doses of poison it may begin intestinal bleeding .
Wolfberry - wolf's bast	Few-branched shrub, leafless in the lower part. Pink flowers bisexual. Sometimes you can find white flowers. The fruits of the drupe are bright red. Inside the berry there is a wide oval seed. Fruits in late July. The plant is very poisonous.	Poisoning can occur when eating berries; if the juice gets on the skin, it develops dermatitis. From inhaling bark dust wolf's bast comes irritation of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract , may develop conjunctivitis, all signs of an eating disorder . In case of severe poisoning, they may begin convulsions.
Red-fruited crow	A plant with tall and thin stems. It blooms with white small flowers, which are collected in a kind of panicle. Ripe crowberry berries are red in color.The plant itself emits an extremely unpleasant odor. Red-fruited crow very bitter in taste With.	The main signs of poisoning are: dizziness, nausea and vomiting, rapid heartbeat, stomach upset .
Voronets spica	The poisonous herbaceous plant Voronets spica has a thin branched stem with porous leaves. Its leaves (white or cream) are collected in a panicle. And the fruits are in the brush. The berries are glossy black and large. Ripen at the end of July.	The sap of the plant is poisonous and may, if it gets on open areas skin, cause serious burn. To cause a strong upset stomach d All you have to do is bite the berry.
Belladonna	Herbaceous plant with bell-shaped yellow or purple flowers. In their place it ripens berry the size of a cherry, black and blue in color . It is attractively shiny, sweet and sour, juicy and very poisonous.	Signs of poisoning appear within fifteen minutes and are expressed in dry mouth, burning sensation in the mouth and throat, rapid heartbeat . Pupils may be dilated, appears photophobia. Patients complain about flickering of flies before the eyes. The skin turns red . In very severe poisonings it may begin mental agitation, convulsions, delirium, hallucinations .
Nightshade bittersweet	Tall (up to 180cm) perennial shrub. Young nightshade leaves have an unpleasant odor. Lilac flower. The berry is initially green. As it ripens, it turns yellow and only then turns red. The bright red drooping berry can grow up to three centimeters. If you bite into it, at first it will seem sweet, and only then a strong bitterness will be felt.	Bittersweet nightshade berries are poisonous and cause increased heart rate, stomach upset and can lead to complete disorientation .
Lily of the valley	A herbaceous plant with a leafless stem. It is on it that white, very pretty bells bloom in May. After the lily of the valley fades, bells appear in place of red-orange pea-like berries. Lily of the valley peas are very poisonous.	Lily of the valley fruits cause severe headache . There is tinnitus, the heart rate slows down, the pupils narrow, and convulsions are possible .

Chairman of the regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society I.V. Pantyushov:

Some berries are quite difficult to distinguish. Edible ones are distinguished by their rich content of useful substances, sweet and sour taste, but often resemble poisonous ones. Edible berries usually attract birds and animals, so if you see a large number of pecked berries, seeds, peel residues, then most likely the berry is edible. But this is not a 100% guarantee. The small ovoid-spherical berries, which attract attention with their beauty, are especially poisonous. They are often slightly flattened on the sides. Unlike edible berries, poisonous ones are usually bitter, tart or astringent in taste. However, it is worth remembering that some fruits are poisonous to such an extent that 3-5 berries are a lethal dose, so you should never try them. Therefore, I advise you to simply walk past an unfamiliar bush or tree with questionable berries.

Memo for parents

• Don't pick or eat berries you see for the first time.
• Do not leave children unattended in the forest.
• When going into the forest, be sure to take with you a first aid kit with medications that will help provide first aid in case of berry poisoning.

First aid for a child with berry poisoning: how to help the victim?

• Urgently rinse the stomach. To do this, you can use a 2% soda solution. If there is no soda, give several glasses of regular drinking water.
• Take activated carbon – 1 tablet per 10 kg. weight.
• Accept any available adsorbent - “Smecta”, “Polysorb”, etc.
• Give milk, egg white, vegetable oil or any other enveloping agent to drink.
• To relieve pain, you can give an Anestezin or Dicaine tablet.
• Replenish the loss of fluid with Hydrovit or Regidron solutions.

After providing first aid, try to transport the patient to the nearest hospital or first aid station.

" Garden

Wild berries are tasty and useful product. Chefs use them to prepare masterpieces, and housewives find use for berries in all areas of life.

You can pick berries throughout the summer, autumn and even winter. The very first to appear are strawberries and wild strawberries. It is better to pick them in early summer, when the berries are ripe and gain flavor. For lingonberries, blueberries, boneberries and blueberries, people go to coniferous forests. Berries such as cranberries and cloudberries grow near damp places. Most often in swamps or near streams or rivers. Raspberries and blackberries will be an excellent dessert. However, when going to the forest, you need to pay attention that not all berries are edible. Poisonous berries- life-threatening! The names of the most popular edible berries are given below.

Cowberry

Richly flavored lingonberries growing in dry areas pine forests. These are small bushes with bright scarlet berries. Lingonberries should be harvested by the end of summer - in the fall, when the berries have plumped up and become a dark coral color. The fruits contain a lot of sugar, so lingonberries make good jams and preserves.. Not only berries are used, but also leaves. They have disinfectant and other beneficial properties.

A plant with shoots creeping along the ground, only 30 cm high. Drupe fruits are appearance very similar to raspberries, both in shape and color. Each fruit drupe contains one seed. The berry tastes like a ripe pomegranate.. The berry has a wide range of applications. It is often used for drinks and desserts. Tea is made with the leaves. It turns out aromatic, but slightly viscous. Homemade wine is made from the berries and even added to the production of vinegar and shampoos.

These large berries, dark blue in color, can easily be confused with blueberries. You can distinguish them by the size of the bush. The blueberry bush is 30 cm high, while the blueberry grows on a bush reaching a height of 90 cm. The blueberry pulp is a watery structure with a greenish tint. You can pick berries in various types forests Most often, the berry grows in highlands and mountains. When picking blueberries, you need to carefully ensure that wild rosemary foliage does not get into the basket along with the berries. The leaves are poisonous. Causes drowsiness, dizziness and fainting. Blueberry leaves, on the contrary, contain a lot of beneficial properties. Based on them, teas are brewed, infusions are made and used in cooking.

It is not recommended to give blueberries to children under 1.5 years of age, or to use by lactating and pregnant women. Eating berries is dangerous with the risk of developing diathesis.

One of the most healthy berries. It has a blue-black color. Blueberries are a strong colorant. After eating a handful, you can still see the colored tongue for a long time. Grows on small bushes in moist and shaded areas. The berry is widely used in medicine. Blueberries contain many beneficial properties that help fight the formation of tumors, scurvy, and improve vision. The berry is good for those losing weight. Substances contained in blueberries contribute to the process of accelerating metabolism. It is better to eat the berries fresh, but you can dry or freeze blueberries for the winter.

Due to one-time consumption of berries in large quantities, digestive problems may occur.

A small black berry that resembles a black currant in appearance. You can find it in both shady and sun-warmed areas. Grows on bushes or low trees. Best time for collecting elderberries - late summer - early autumn. At this time, the berries ripen and become most beneficial for humans.

You definitely need to pay attention to the fact that black elderberries contain only beneficial substances, while red ones are poisonous to humans.

Unripe elderberry fruits, foliage and flowers are dangerous. IN medicinal purposes berries are used in dried and processed form. To preserve elderberries for the winter, you need to pay attention to storage conditions. The berry is quite susceptible to temperature and humidity.

Cranberry

Small, creeping shrubs that have an evergreen color. The berries are distributed in all corners of the globe, but the best climatic conditions for wild cranberries are high humidity and low temperature. The fruits have thick skin and a fiery red color. The berry has a specific, sour taste. Typically, cranberry harvesting begins in August, but the fruits can last on the plant until the beginning of spring, while retaining all the beneficial substances, and cranberries contain quite a few of them. It is of great value as a medicinal plant and is used in cooking for preparing drinks and various dishes. It has the ability to be stored for a long time in frozen and dried forms.

Berries are contraindicated for people with intestinal diseases and acid-sensitive tooth enamel.

Advantages and disadvantages

All varieties and types of garden berries were bred on the basis of their forest ancestors. However, berries grown in garden conditions, do not receive that unique set of elements as when growing in the forest. It has long been known that wild berries are tastier and healthier. They are often used in pharmacology and medicine.

The main beneficial properties of wild berries are:

1. Berries growing in wild forests are not contaminated by civilization. They absorb the beneficial substances provided by nature and the plants around them, without the addition of chemicals or fertilizers.

Wild berries are an environmentally friendly product

1. Fruit contain large amounts of antioxidants, which remove toxins from the body, help maintain a figure in good shape, slow down aging, prevent diseases of the cardiovascular system, deterioration of general well-being, apathy, and sleep disorders.
2. Berries do not accumulate heavy metals. All harmful substances are retained in the roots, stems, and leaves of plants. Therefore, when collecting leaves, you should pay attention to whether there are any industrial enterprises or highways nearby.
3. Eating wild berries allows you to preserve consumed vitamins for a long time. What is collateral wellness in winter.
4. Many berries are significantly reduce the risk of malignant tumors.
5. Antiseptic properties of fruits useful for those who suffer from bladder and kidney diseases.
6. Blueberry contains substances that reduce the likelihood of blood clots in blood vessels and the development of atherosclerosis.
7. When eating wild berries visual acuity improves. Researchers have proven that with daily consumption of natural forest berries, in a modern lifestyle, good vision is maintained up to 55 - 60 years.
8. Berries such as raspberries are often used as an antipyretic.. When sweat is released, the body cleanses itself of substances accumulated due to improper lifestyle. Raspberries strengthen the immune system, which makes it possible to more effectively fight colds and other viral diseases.

Raspberries are a good antipyretic

1. Not only berries have medicinal properties, but also foliage, flowers, and sometimes plant roots. Based on them, infusions are made and teas are brewed. Plant parts can be used either fresh or dried.. The leaves have the ability to lower blood sugar.
2. Eating red berries helps increase hemoglobin in the blood. This is especially useful for older people. Before use, you need to pay attention to contraindications, if any.
3. Of course, wild berries have a real rich smell and taste. They absorb the aromas of the forest: pine needles, grass and others. Can be used for making desserts, sauces, drinks. Berry treats will be useful for children. They will help strengthen and protect the child’s body from harm.

Wild berries have few disadvantages, which are lost against the background of the list of advantages. But it’s still worth paying attention to them.

Berries should be consumed in moderation. Fanatical use of berries in all areas of life can lead to health problems:

1. Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract
2. The appearance of rashes, redness, and the subsequent development of allergies
3. The emergence of dental problems: destruction of tooth enamel, development of caries, increased sensitivity.

People with diseases of the pancreas and liver should be careful when consuming berries, since an excess of certain substances can negatively affect the organs.

Wild berries are a storehouse of nutrients and taste. Their moderate use can give long life, reduce the risk of diseases and simply strengthen the body. And of course, wild aromatic berries will be a good addition to culinary masterpieces.

» Shrubs

What is commonly called a "berry" in blackberries is not actually a berry. This type of fruit is called a prefabricated drupe. The blackberry flower is multi-pistillate, and around each pistil a small, juicy fruit with one seed inside is formed. A lot of these fruits, collected together, are that very tasty and aromatic blackberry.

Collective drupes are formed in many plants. Some of them are blue-black and so similar to blackberries that they mislead the uninitiated. Plants whose fruits resemble blackberries are discussed in this review.

This plant is still exotic in Russian gardens. In appearance, it is indeed easy to confuse it with a blackberry: a shrub with prickly shoots and leaves typical of raspberries and blackberries. Fruit black raspberry When ripe, they change color from pink, through dark red, to black. And they taste a little like blackberries.

And yet there is a difference: when harvested, the black raspberry drupes are easily removed from the fruit stalk - like a thimble from your finger. Regular red or yellow raspberries behave in exactly the same way. In blackberries, the harvest is harvested together with the fruit and stalk, because its drupes grow tightly together in their place.

Chokeberry cultivated raspberries originate from the American wild raspberry - blackberry-like raspberry.

Also in early XIX century, this plant began to be introduced into culture by N. Lonavart. In the United States, black raspberries quickly became popular. Through the efforts of breeders, its varieties Remontantnaya from Ohio, Evans, Dundee, and Bristol were developed.

In Russia today, two varieties of black raspberries are cultivated: Cumberland and Ugolyok.

Raspberry Cumberland

This is a very old variety of American selection. It was obtained at the end of the 19th century by D. Miller, and quickly moved to Europe. Until recently, Cumberland was the only chokeberry variety known in Russia. It has taken root in our gardens thanks to its undoubted advantage - high frost resistance (up to -30⁰C).

Cumberland forms a powerful bush with shoots up to three meters long. Shoots with a large number of thorns grow like semi-creeping blackberries: initially erect, they bend in an arc as they grow.

The fruits of Cumberland raspberries are small and their yield is not very high. But the high density allows the crop to be stored for a long time and tolerate transportation well.

Cumberland looks especially decorative in the fall. At this time, its shoots acquire an exotic bluish-blue color. Thanks to these qualities, Cumberland can be formed into hedge, which will be both “tasty”, beautiful, and reliable.

Raspberry Ugolyok

The tradition of American breeders was picked up by Russian scientists from the Siberian Horticulture Research Institute. The Ugolyok variety was introduced recently and is recommended for cultivation in the territory from the Urals to the Far East.

The raspberry bush, which is called Coal, is more compact than that of Cumberland. The shoots are not so strongly thorned, on average 2.3 meters in length, semi-creeping. Annual whips Green colour with a bluish coating. Biennials are brownish-gray.

The fruits of the Ugolyok raspberry are medium-sized, 1.8-2 grams. IN good conditions the variety yields about 8 kg per bush. In terms of ripening time, Ugolyok is considered to be mid-early; it produces a harvest more or less uniformly - within two weeks.

Serious advantages of the variety are high winter hardiness and disease resistance.

A curious feature of black raspberries is that they are unattractive to birds, which usually like to peck at the red-fruited and yellow-fruited varieties.

Mulberry berry

The juicy mulberry drupe looks very similar to the fruit garden blackberry. The same slightly elongated shape, the same purple-black color. True, this plant is not only black-fruited, but also white. And yet, it is the black mulberry (also known as mulberry) that is most often cultivated for food consumption.

You can confuse mulberries with blackberries only by looking at the fruits. Its taste is completely different, unlike anything else, very sweet, with an unusual aroma and aftertaste. And the morphology of the plant is completely different. This is not a shrub, but a tall tree (up to 20 meters), sometimes growing into several trunks. For ease of cultivation, cultivated mulberry is formed with a trunk of 1.5 meters - in this case it does not grow higher than 4 meters.

Among the most popular mulberries we can note interesting variety SHELLY #150. The name comes from the first syllable of the word “mulberry” and the initials of the variety’s creator, Leonid Ilyich Prokazin. The fruits of this plant have excellent taste and reach a length of 5.5 cm. Leaf plate Shelly – gigantic, 0.5 in length.

The chokeberry tree is very thermophilic. In Russia, it is grown in the North Caucasus and the Lower Volga region, where it is often found growing wild. Surprisingly, middle lane Mulberries are sometimes cultivated quite successfully.

Mulberry is a berry similar to a blackberry.

Mulberry Smuglyanka

The Smuglyanka variety may be suitable for the climate of the central region. Very pleasant to the taste, slightly sour Smuglyanka fruits are 3 cm long and ripen very early. Already in June you can taste the first harvest. And the yield of this plant pleases the gardener’s heart - 0.5 kg of mulberry is harvested from every meter of fruitful branch.

An important advantage of the variety is its high degree of adaptation to cold and short summers. Mulberry Smuglyanka recovers quite easily when the shoots freeze. This is facilitated by interesting feature plants are prone to shoot fall. With an early onset of cold weather, the ripened part of the branch forms a corky separating layer, throwing off the unripe part, like a lizard's tail.

However, too severe and prolonged frosts have a bad effect on yields. Therefore, it is better to protect Smuglyanka with cover. To do this, it must be formed so that the height of the crown does not exceed two meters, and with the onset of cold weather, tie the plant with spunbond in several layers.

In Asia, mulberry fruits are used as a medicine for sore throats, stomatitis and coughs. An infusion of the leaves helps lower blood pressure.

Berry lacquer plant

An extremely rare plant in our latitudes, surprising with its exotic fruits. Segmented, juicy black fruits on long “cobs” look like blackberries.

This herbaceous plant of the Phytolacca family is native to North America. A perennial that annually produces several thick stems up to 1.5 meters high. Long erect inflorescences of Laconia plant appear at the end of May and vaguely resemble the blooming of hyacinths. Many greenish-pink flowers give the plant a very decorative appearance.

The fruits of the berry lacquer ripen towards the end of summer. By this time, the fruit becomes red, and against its background the black “blackberries” look surprisingly impressive. The juice of this plant has a rich, dense scarlet color.

There is information that in the old days this juice was used to tint confectionery products, and in some wine-growing regions of Europe it is still used to “tint” wines. In many countries, lacquerus is considered medicinal plant. However, unfortunately, the tempting fruits of the laccone plant are very insidious.

As Paracelsus said, “everything is poison, and everything is medicine.” Lakonos, indeed, is recognized as a poisonous plant. Children or pregnant women should never be allowed to eat black berries. Yes, and adults need to treat them with great caution. Many cases of severe heart rhythm disturbances associated with the consumption of milkweed are described.

And yet you can try to find practical use this interesting plant. Traditional medicine knows a recipe from the roots of the plant that can relieve rheumatic pain.

Ingredients:

• 0.5 cups of Lakonos roots;
• 1 glass vegetable oil or kerosene.

Grind the roots, mix with the base and leave in a dark place for ten days. Rub the resulting product onto sore joints.

When harvesting the roots of the plant for medicinal purposes, you need to pay attention to the color of the fracture. Only white roots can be used. If they are red at the break, it is better to refrain from using them.

In the list of berries similar to blackberries, one could also mention raspberries. For example, the very popular varieties Loganberry, Tayberry or Michurinsky Progress. But ezhemalina is still almost a blackberry, a product of hybridization. Therefore, it deserves a completely separate conversation.

This article describes edible fruits and berries that grow in the Siberian taiga.

Firstly, this is the well-known strawberry, which is called the “queen of berries” for its unique taste and aroma.

Distributed everywhere. You will find it in any clearing, in deciduous and mixed forests. It is only absent in pure coniferous forests. Collect it in June-July.

In general, when in the taiga, stay close to the water - several types of berries always grow near any stream.

For example:
(available in black and red)

It grows along the banks of streams, rivers, and in any damp, wetland. It can also be found far from water, but with virtually no berries. Bushes up to a meter high. Collection time July-August-September.

It grows mainly in damp shady places, usually spreads like a carpet on the ground, but can also grow in individual bushes (up to 10-15 cm) in both deciduous and coniferous forests. A characteristic feature is the presence of from 1 to 6 berries on one stalk.
Collection time July-September.

Prince

Delicious berry with a very bright delicate aroma. Similar to raspberries, easy to distinguish by smell and by the size of the bush (the princely bush is no more than 10-15 cm tall)
We collect it in August-September.

Blueberry

Low-growing (up to 30-40cm) perennial shrub, prefers damp coniferous forest and open marshy areas.
The berries are greenish-blue to dark blue (depending on ripeness). Very similar to blueberries, which, by the way, you can also find here.
Collection time July-September.

Evergreen perennial small creeping shrub. A frequent companion of blueberries, it almost always grows next to them.

It can be found in coniferous forests on hills and rocky slopes, but usually without berries. Very similar to cranberries. Berries, depending on ripeness, from white to dark burgundy color
Collection time July-August-September. Lingonberries and blueberries

(Lake Baikal)
Vitamin storehouse. Prefers sunny deciduous forest, but if you look you can find it everywhere.
Collection time: flowers May-June,

fruits July-August

In dense thickets of bushes and in the undergrowth of coniferous forests you can often find wild forest raspberries

Less often, on the banks of rivers in the forests of Transbaikalia, you can find such a berry as sea buckthorn

Its name comes from the fact that the branches of this tree (up to 6 meters high) are densely covered in autumn with aromatic spicy berries, ranging in color from light yellow to red-orange. Very rich in vitamins, especially vitamins A and C.

Collection time is August-September.

And, in conclusion, a couple of lines about another gift of nature - the fruits of the Cedar Pine, which is mistakenly called simply cedar. Pine nuts - valuable food product
, can be eaten both raw and after heat treatment (can be fried like sunflower seeds), are a rich source of iodine. If you find a pine nut tree in the taiga, you will definitely not die of hunger) The protein of pine nuts is distinguished by a high content of lysine, methionine and tryptophan - the most deficient essential amino acids, which usually limit the biological value of proteins.

Cedar is very common in Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia and the Urals.

The ripening of cones occurs within 12-15 months. Usually collected in August-September. When going into the forest to pick berries, do not forget that not all of them are edible. You can often find those whose consumption, at best, will cause an upset stomach, and at worst, provoke poisoning with serious consequences. Therefore, it is necessary to have reliable information about which wild berries are edible and what they look like. Names of edible berries and their photos from brief description

– to your attention on this page.

Edible lingonberries and blackberriesCommon lingonberry belongs to the lingonberry family.

These edible berries are different regions Russia has different names: boletus (Ryazan), boletus, lingonberry, bruzhinitsa, torment (Grodn.), lingonberry, lingonberries (Malor.), brusnyaga (Belor.), brusnyaga (Vyatsk.), brusnyag, brusena (Kostr.), brusenya (Tver. ), core (Mogil.).

Spreading. In Northern and Central Russia, in the Urals, in the Caucasus, in Siberia; in forests and between bushes.

Description. An evergreen branched shrub, 10-15 cm. As can be seen in the photo, these edible berries have leathery, obovate leaves with curved edges, dotted with dotted pits below. Whitish or pinkish flowers at the ends of last year's branches - in drooping clusters; corolla bell-shaped, 4-toothed; calyx 4-partite, of three triangular acute lobes. Stamens 8, anthers hairy, without appendages; the column is longer than the corolla. The ovary is 4-locular. The fruit is a berry. The berries are initially greenish-white, then bright red.

These edible wild berries bloom in May and June.

Gray blackberry (Rubus caesius L.) belongs to the Rosaceae family.

The name of these edible berries in different Russian regions: Dereza, Dubrovka (Viteb.), Blackberry, Black Blackberry, Zhevika (Penz.), Zhivika (Don.), Yazhevika, Zhevika (Penz.), Zhevina (Mogil.), Zheviny berries (Belor.), Zhovinnik (Mogil. ), ozhina (Crimea), ozhinnik, ezhina (Malor.), azhina (Belor.), kamanika, kamenika, kumanika, kumanikha (Velikoros.), bear (Orl.), sarabalina, chill.

Spreading. In Central and Southern Russia and the Caucasus; in forests and between bushes. In gardens - with black, dark red and yellow fruits.

Description. A thorny shrub 1-3 m long. The stems are woody, erect or arched, angular, with straight or downward-curved strong thorns. The leaves are odd-pinnate, green above, gray-fluffy below, on barren shoots with 5, on fruiting shoots - with 3 leaflets. The flowers are white or pink, collected in clusters at the ends of the branches. The flowers are right. The calyx is 5-partite, adherent to the flat receptacle. Lepestkov 5; there are many stamens and pistils; columns filamentous, lateral. The fruits are mixed - black, shiny; the drupes are fused with the convex part of the receptacle.

Blooms in summer. Honey plant.

Edible wild berries of drupes and blueberries

Stone berry (Rubus saxatilis L.) belongs to the Rosaceae family.

Often these edible berries in the forest are called: kamenika, kamenka, kamenitsa, kamenitsya (Malor.), kamenichnik, drupes (Arch.), kostyanika (Penz.), kostyanitsa, kostyanitsya (Malor.), kostyanichnik, komenitsya, kostyaniga, brambles, kotsezele (Grodn.), raspberry stone .

Spreading. In European Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia; in forests and between bushes.

Description. Perennial herbaceous plant. The stems and branches are lined with thin spines and protruding hairs. The leaves are trifoliate, long-petiolate. The flowers are white, collected in a shield at the top of the stem. The calyx is 5-partite, with spinously pointed lanceolate lobes. Corolla 5-petalled; petals are small, linear-oblong. There are many stamens. Pistil made of many carpels; threadlike columns. Look at the photo of these edible wild berries: the fruit consists of a small number of large red drupes.

Blueberry(Vaccinium uliginosum). Other names are dove and gonobobel, drunkard, drunkard, fool.

Spreading. Grows in peat bogs, promoting the formation of peat, in cold and temperate countries; comes across here on Novaya Zemlya.

Description. A small shrub from the lingonberry family. Blueberry branches are round, the leaves are obovate, falling off in the winter, the corollas of five-petal flowers are ovoid, white with a pink tint, the anthers of the stamens have two horns at the back. The berries are black with a blue coating, green inside.

Blueberries are edible; jam is made from them and dried.

Edible berries in the forest cloudberries and blueberries

Speaking about which berries are edible, one cannot help but recall the “queen of the Siberian swamps” - the cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus L.), which belongs to the Rosaceae family.

Other names for cloudberries: vlak, vakhlachka, glazhevina (berries), glazhevnik (Psk., Kursk.), ironing (Novg., Olon.), glyzhi (Psk.), glazhinnik (Psk., Kursk.), glazhinina, glazhina (Psk., Novg. .), Glazovnik, Glazovye (Novg.), Kamenitsa, Komanitsa, Kumanitsa (Tver.), Kumanikha, Kumanika (Tver.), Kumanichina (Novg.), Yellow raspberry, Medvezhanik, Moklaki, Mokhlaki (Kostr.), Morozska ​​( Tver.), cloudberry, muroshka, moss currant, rokhkachi (unripe cloudberry in Arch.).

Spreading. In Central and Southwestern Russia and Siberia; on peat bogs.

Description. Perennial herbaceous plant, 8-15 cm. Creeping rhizome. The stem is erect, simple, with a single white flower at the apex. The leaves are rounded, kidney-shaped, five-lobed. The calyx is simple, with 5 sepals; corolla 5-petalled, petals heart-shaped. There are many stamens, together with the petals, attached to the edges of the convex receptacle. The pistil is one of many carpels. The fruit is a complex drupe. Immature - red, mature - orange-yellow. The fruits are edible and contain large amounts of vitamin C.

Blooms in May, June.

Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) from the lingonberry family.

Chernitsa (Belor.), bilberry, bilberry, blueberry, chernets (Grodn.), chernega (Volog., Sarat.), chernitsov (Grodn.), dristukha berry (Tver.).

Spreading. In Northern and Central Russia, in Little Russia, in the Caucasus, throughout Siberia; in forests.

Description. A low shrub, 15-30 cm, with leaves that fall off in winter, has a woody horizontal fibrous root, from which a woody brown erect branched stem extends upward. The branches are green, planed. The leaves are alternate, short-cut, ovate, obtuse or slightly pointed, finely crenate-serrate, light green on both sides, with reticulated veins below. Flowers are bisexual, suprapistal, regular, small, drooping, on short pedicels, singly in the axils on young shoots lower leaves. The calyx is suprapistal, in the form of an entire or 4-5-toothed annular ridge above the ovary, which is also preserved on the fruit. The corolla is greenish with a pink tint, disappears after flowering, almost spherical, with a 5- or 4-toothed edge, the teeth are bent outward. Stamens, 10 or 8, free, shorter than the corolla, with thin, inwardly curved stamen filaments emanating from the circumference of the suprapistil disc and 2-locular anthers, bearing 2 setae-like appendages on the back and continued at the top
each in 2 tubes, opening at the ends with holes. The ovary is inferior, 5- or 4-celled, with an axial placenta, in each socket with several ovules, covered at the top (inside the flower) by a flat suprapistal disc; from the middle rises a thread-like column, slightly protruding from the throat of the corolla, ending in a simple stigma. The fruit is a spherical, pea-sized, 5- or 4-locular juicy, black with a bluish berry, crowned with a cup-shaped ridge and a column that remains for some time, containing several small seeds. Seeds with reddish-yellow skin. The embryo is median, almost straight, with the root facing downwards.

Blooms in May and June; the berries ripen in July and August.

Currants, hawthorn and honeysuckle are edible wild berries.

Currant (Ribes) widespread in flat European Russia, three species grow wild, in the Caucasus - six, more of them grow in Siberia, especially Eastern.

Description. A genus of plants from the gooseberry family, characterized by the following characteristics: shrubs with alternate, simple leaves. Flowers are arranged in racemes. The flower bed is concave, fused with the ovary and turning at the edges into five usually greenish sepals. There are also five petals, free. There are the same number of stamens. The ovary is single-locular, multi-seeded. There are two columns. The fruit is a berry.

The most famous types of currants are: black currants (Ribes nigrum) and red currants (Ribes rubrum), which both grow wild in northern Europe and Siberia. The difference between them, in addition to the color of the berries, is that black currant leaves and berries are extremely fragrant from essential oil, consisting of special glands that cover the lower surface of the leaves especially thickly.

Various syrups and liqueurs are also made from blackcurrant juice. The berries from many other types of currants are also eaten, but in small quantities, and they are collected from wild specimens.

Hawthorn (Crataegus)- a shrub from the Rosaceae family.

Spreading. It is found wildly throughout Central Europe and is often grown in gardens.

Description. The leaves are always split, lobed, pinnately incised, and wedge-shaped at the base. Some species have branches with thorns. The flowers, about 1.5 cm in diameter, like all Rosaceae, are white, with five parts of a calyx and corolla, many stamens and a two- to five-locular ovary, collected in whorled inflorescences, like those of rowan. The fruits are drupes, similar to rowan, but lacking its aroma and taste.

Edible honeysuckle (Lonicera edulis)

Description. Shrubs are erect, climbing or creeping, with opposite entire leaves, the main representatives of the honeysuckle family. More than 100 species are known from almost all areas of the Northern Hemisphere. There are fourteen wild species in Russia. Quite large flowers (white, pinkish, yellowish and blue) are most often located in pairs in the corners of leaves or at the ends of branches in capitate inflorescences. An irregular tubular corolla emerges from the poorly developed calyx, divided at the end into five lobes. The irregularity of flowers built according to a quintuple plan depends on the fusion of the three front petals and their uneven development, as a result of which the corolla is two-lipped. The corolla tube contains five stamens and a long pistil style. The berry-shaped fruits sit in pairs and often grow together. The upper leaves of some species grow together, forming one common plate or wide edge, through which the end of the branch passes.

Many types of honeysuckle are often grown in gardens as beautiful ornamental shrubs, well suited for groups, alleys and gazebos. Russian species bloom in early summer, that is, at the end of May and until mid-June. In Central Russia it is quite often found along forest edges and groves.

When talking about which wild berries are edible, do not forget that only the fruits of Lonicera edulis can be eaten, and the fruits of Lonicera xylosteum are not edible.

Sea buckthorn and buckthorn are edible berries in the forest

Sea ​​buckthorn(Hippophae)- a genus of plants from the sucker family.

Spreading. In the wild, it is distributed in Northern and Central Europe, in Siberia to Transbaikalia and in the Caucasus. It is grown in gardens and parks, mainly as an ornamental plant.

Description. Shrubs, mostly thorny, up to three to six meters tall. Their leaves are alternate, narrow and long, grayish-white on the underside due to the star-shaped scales densely covering them. The flowers appear before the leaves, they are unisexual, small, inconspicuous and sit crowded at the base of the young shoots, one at a time in the axil of the covering scales. Plants are dioecious. The perianth is simple, bifid. IN male flower The receptacle is flat, in the female one it is concave and tubular. There are four stamens (very rarely 3), one pistil, with an upper, unilocular, single-seeded ovary and a bifid stigma. The fruit is false (drupe), consisting of a nut covered with an overgrown, juicy, fleshy, smooth and shiny receptacle.

There are two known species, the most famous of which is ordinary (buckthorn) sea ​​​​buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), waxweed, dereza, and waterthorn, growing along the seashore, along the banks of streams.

The beauty of this plant is determined mainly by linear-lanceolate leaves, the upper surface of which is green and finely punctuated, and the lower surface, like the young branches, is silver-gray or rusty-golden with star-shaped scales. The flowers are inconspicuous, appear in early spring. The fruits are fleshy, orange, the size of a pea, and are used for tinctures and jam.

Several varieties are known, female specimens are especially valued, since in the fall they become very beautiful from the fleshy fruits covering them. Sea buckthorn grows on sandy soil and is propagated by root suckers and cuttings.

Buckthorn (Frangula).

Description. Trees or shrubs with alternate or opposite, sometimes leathery, perennial leaves. The flowers are small, mostly greenish, bisexual or heterogeneous; the number of parts is five or four. The receptacle is concave, often tubular, the ovary is free, three- or four-locular. The fruit is a drupe containing from two to four seeds, sometimes invisibly opening, the pericarp is fleshy or almost dry. Seeds with protein. There are 60 known species of buckthorn, distributed mainly in countries with temperate climates.

Used in medicine various varieties buckthorn (brittle, American and prickly). All of these drugs are used as mild laxatives, mostly in the form of infusion or liquid extract.

The following are economically worthy of attention growing wildly in our country:

Buckthorn brittle (Frangulaalnus), barkweed, medvezhina - a shrub up to 3-4.5 meters tall, found throughout Russia on fresh, fertile soil, which tolerates the shading of the canopy of tall trees and produces light reddish wood, the coal from which is used to prepare gunpowder. Propagated by seeds (seedlings after a year), cuttings and root suckers.

Buckthorn laxative, prickly, zhoster, proskurina and other local names, common in Central and Southern Russia and the Caucasus, up to 15 meters high. Prefers moist soils and is especially suitable for hedges. The hard wood (specific gravity 0.72) is used for small carpentry and turning products, while the bark is used as wood and for painting - fresh, bright yellow, dry, brown.

Edible forest berries viburnum and rowan

Kalina.

Description. Deciduous shrub from the honeysuckle family. Leaves are opposite, simple, entire, serrated or lobed. The flowers are collected in whorled inflorescences, with a regular wheel-shaped corolla, five stamens and a three-locular ovary, two of which never develop, and from the third comes a drupe fruit with one flattened seed (stone), surrounded by a cartilaginous-fleshy shell of various shapes.

Up to eighty species are known, widely distributed in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Our common viburnum(Viburnum opulus) is a shrub with angular-lobed, serrated leaves on star-shaped petioles. The flowers are white, and the outer ones in the inflorescence are mostly sterile, but their corolla is four or five times larger than the middle, fertile ones. The drupe is red, elliptical, flattened. Its fruits, after freezing, are edible. Flowers and bark are used traditional medicine in the form of teas, decoctions, infusions. The wood is hard and is sometimes used for small turning products. It grows throughout Russia, less often in the north, along forest edges and in open areas. Garden varieties: with reddish branches and variegated leaves, dwarf, double with pinkish flowers and “snowball”, in which all the flowers are large, sterile, collected in spherical inflorescences. Black viburnum, or gourdovina, is found wildly in the southern half of Russia, especially in the Caucasus, and is more often bred and runs wild. Its leaves are oval, wrinkled, soft fluffy below, like the petioles and young branches. All flowers are small and fertile. The fruit is black, oval.

Straight young trunks with hard wood, a wide core and tightly pressed semi-cork bark are used for making chibouks, sticks, and sometimes for weaving baskets and hoops. The so-called bird glue is boiled from the bark of the roots, and the leaves are used to dye it straw-yellow.

Rowan (Sorbus)- genus woody plants rose family.

Spreading. There are about 100 species of rowan in the world, about a third of which grow in Russia.

Description. The leaves are large, odd-pinnate, with 11-23 almost sessile, oblong, sharply serrated, hairy when young, then almost glabrous. Numerous white flowers are collected in corymbose inflorescences. The inflorescences emit a specific smell. The fruit is spherical or oval, bright red in color with small seeds. The fruits contain a lot of vitamin C.

Are barberry, bird cherry and rose hip berries edible?

Barberry (Berberis)- a genus of shrubs of the barberry family.

Spreading. It is found in the north of Russia to St. Petersburg, as well as in Southern and Central Europe, Crimea, the Caucasus, Persia, Eastern Siberia, North America. Some species are found in Central Asia, including in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains in Kazakhstan. On page 250: Barberry

Description. Evergreen, semi-evergreen or deciduous shrubs, with thin, erect, ribbed shoots. The bark is brownish or brownish-gray. The leaves are collected in bunches, 4 on short shoots. The leaves are ovate, articulated with a short petiole, finely ciliated or entire. Flowers in racemes on short lateral branches. Corolla of 6 yellow petals, 6 stamens, 1 pistil. Fruit - berry, ovoid or spherical, 0.8-1.2 cm long, black or red. The seeds are rolled, ribbed, brown, 4-6 mm long.

Many people are interested in whether barberry berries are edible and how they can be used? The fruits of this plant are used in cooking, often in dried form as a seasoning for meat, for preparing sauces and infusions. Honey plant.

Bird cherry (Padus avium).

Description. A woody plant from the rose family, growing wild in shrubs and forests throughout Russia, up to the White Sea. The branched stem reaches up to 10 m in height. Leaves are alternate, oblong-elliptic, pointed, sharply serrate, stipules are epileptose; at the top of the petiole at the base of the plate there are two glands. White (less often pinkish) fragrant flowers collected in long drooping brushes. There are five sepals and petals, many stamens, and one pistil. The fruit is a black drupe.

Suffice it to remember beneficial properties fruits of this plant, and the answer to the question “are bird cherry berries edible” will become obvious: this is an excellent restorative gift of the forest, very useful for the stomach and intestines.

Rosehip (Rubus canina).

Dog rose, growing wild, is known under the common name “rose hips”. In European Russia, there are several wild (“rose hips”) species, the most common of which are: rose hips, sirbarinnik, serbolina, chiporas, rose hips, and shishipa.

Description. It is a shrub up to 2 m tall, growing in forests, along ravines and fields. The branches are thorny, young ones have straight subulate thorns, old ones have bent thorns located on flowering branches in pairs at the base of the petioles. The leaf consists of five to seven oval or oblong serrated glaucous leaves on the underside. The flowers are large, pink, single or collected in threes (less often four or five). The sepals are entire, longer than the petals and converging upward when fruiting. The receptacle of the fruit is smooth, spherical, red.

Previously, its roots were used against rabies, hence Latin name"canina" (dog rose). Rose hips contain a large amount of vitamin C, and they are used in the form of infusion, syrup for the prevention and vitamin deficiency.