Berry Identification

[Xiph0id]

Can someone tell me what kind of berry this is please.

I've been eating more and more berries while hiking and hunting.20200830_144739.jpg

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[fishnguy]

Cranberry?

[C2C3PO]

Need to see the shape of the leaf up close but I think its Kinnickinnick....

[Xiph0id]

Originally Posted by C2C3PO

Need to see the shape of the leaf up close but I think its Kinnickinnick....

I thought so too. Bear Berries!
They taste rather bland with tiny seeds inside.

There is another berry where I frequent of similar size but more red and shinny and taste quite sour. I need to take more pics.

Up near the Swan Hills where I hunt there is an endless supply of them.

[fishnguy]

^ looks more like cranberry to me, but yes, hard to say for sure without a better photo.

[Xiph0id]

Better?20200815_165234.jpg

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[bdub]

Originally Posted by C2C3PO

Need to see the shape of the leaf up close but I think its Kinnickinnick....

Yes it is.

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Xiph0id

Better?Attachment 166684

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Yep, the bear berry.

[Xiph0id]

Id say they would make some nice jelly or a pie?

I think I read some where you should not too much at a time though.

[bdub]

These are cranberries.


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[bdub]

Here are soapalillie, aka Indian ice cream berries. Big crop of these around this year too.


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[fishnguy]

^ ok, lingonberry then (or something cranberry), lol.

I tried the bear berries a few times and they always tasted like... leaves or no taste at all.

I still see cranberries (lingonberries) on the first photo and bear berries on the second, lol. Where I pick cranberries, they grow all mixed up with bear berries and you have to be careful looking at every berry you pick in order to pick only one kind. Still find a few bear berries later at home.

[bdub]

These are gooseberries. Pretty much done for the year now. Odd one still on the bushes.


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[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

^ ok, lingonberry then (or something cranberry), lol.

Had to verify I am not crazy and that there is a reason I always called them cranberries, lol. Wikipedia says lingonberries are also called mountain cranberries: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinium_vitis-idaea. And that’s what I see on the first photo.

[Red Bullets]

OP's pic is bearberry. The leaves that turn red can be picked and dried on a warm rock by a fire the broken up and mixed with the dried inner bark of red willow for a basic kinnikinnick smoking mixture. Other plants can be added to the tobacco too.
~~~
High bush cranberries smell like dirty socks in the bush in the fall and winter. If you smell dirty socks look at eye level of even higher. Follow the stink. They are yummy after having frost on them and stay on the bush all winter. Excellent juice on the trail. Chew on the berries and spit the seeds. Highbush cranberry soup is nice in camp too. Pretty much just stewed cranberries, strained, with honey optional.

[KegRiver]

Without seeing the berry myself I can only guess based on my experience with berry picking. I harvest Mountain Cranberries when I can and have seen many thousand kinnikinnick.

OPs berries look to me like Mountain Cranberries.

kinnikinnick are more orange in color, have no flower end and only one large seed inside. The end of the kinnikinnick has a dimple with a hair in the middle rather then a flower end.



Mountain Cranberries usually have some white on the underside and are a deep red rather then orangish red. They have many small seeds and a flower end.



Both grow on plants that look almost identical. And very often in the same habitat.

[fishnguy]

^ I agree with Keg 100% and I pick the berries closer to his neck of the woods too, lol (not too close, but close enough - Deadwood area). Except the second photo looks like bear berries to me. Both photos get too unclear when I try to enlarge them on the phone. Good photos of the berry itself, including the tip of the flower will reveal what it is.

Either way, neither is poisonous. If tastes like grass, it’s bear berry. If it’s sour, it’s lingonberry. They have completely different texture too (seed aside).

Edit: I guess I should have said if one has a large seed in it, it’s bear berry; otherwise it’s lingonberry, regardless of taste, lol.

[Xiph0id]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

^ I agree with Keg 100% and I pick the berries closer to his neck of the woods too, lol (not too close, but close enough - Deadwood area). Except the second photo looks like bear berries to me. Both photos get too unclear when I try to enlarge them on the phone. Good photos of the berry itself, including the tip of the flower will reveal what it is.

Either way, neither is poisonous. If tastes like grass, it’s bear berry. If it’s sour, it’s lingonberry. They have completely different texture too (seed aside).

Edit: I guess I should have said if one has a large seed in it, it’s bear berry; otherwise it’s lingonberry, regardless of taste, lol.

Are there poisonous berries in Alberta?

I've always been under the impression that white is bad and color is good.
To be clear, I do not eat unless I know.

Also, junipers are yucky!

[fishnguy]

I also follow the rule “don’t know - don’t touch”.

A quick google search provided this link: https://www.ealt.ca/blog/fun-facts-fantastic-fruits

So it seems there are some. I knew about the white stuff and those red ones on the list. None of those look like something I would pick anyway, lol. Not sure how complete the list is because the edible list is sure far from it. There is a great book I bought on the way to Alaska a few years ago, but can’t recall the name at the moment. Someone “borrowed” it from me and I haven’t seen it since, lol. Something like “edible plants of the north” or something. I will reply again, if I remember the name. It is really comprehensive and had everything I ever saw in it. The reason I bought it was because we saw so many different berries on the way and wanted to know what we could munch on. It’s a must have if one goes to Alaska in August, IMO. Most berries I had ever seen in my life were in Yukon and Alaska. More so in Yukon, if I recall correctly.

Junipers can be great for cooking. Wish I knew of a place to pick them around here if there are any. I haven’t run into them yet.

[calgarychef]

Good post and photos Keg. For me it’s the leaves in cranberry, the central vein is a little more depressed than bear berry. They grow together often so it’s difficult for beginners, if they’re mealy and not tart they’re bear berries if they go “boing” when you bite them they’re cranberries. I love them.

[Xiph0id]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

I also follow the rule “don’t know - don’t touch”.

A quick google search provided this link: https://www.ealt.ca/blog/fun-facts-fantastic-fruits

So it seems there are some. I knew about the white stuff and those red ones on the list. None of those look like something I would pick anyway, lol. Not sure how complete the list is because the edible list is sure far from it. There is a great book I bought on the way to Alaska a few years ago, but can’t recall the name at the moment. Someone “borrowed” it from me and I haven’t seen it since, lol. Something like “edible plants of the north” or something. I will reply again, if I remember the name. It is really comprehensive and had everything I ever saw in it. The reason I bought it was because we saw so many different berries on the way and wanted to know what we could munch on. It’s a must have if one goes to Alaska in August, IMO. Most berries I had ever seen in my life were in Yukon and Alaska. More so in Yukon, if I recall correctly.

Junipers can be great for cooking. Wish I knew of a place to pick them around here if there are any. I haven’t run into them yet.

I usually run into junipers while fly fishing the ram river.

[fishnguy]

^ Yes, there are plenty in the mountains and foothills, but no so much up north in my neck of the woods.

[walking buffalo]

FYI Xiph0id....

There is Labrador tea in the first photo.

Most people just pick the leaves for tea.

For a world class floral tea, very similar to Jasmine, pick the flowers too.


Juniper are probably be best berries for fighting off Covid and other infections.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

Junipers can be great for cooking. Wish I knew of a place to pick them around here if there are any. I haven’t run into them yet.

I see juniper growing mostly on slopes in the river valleys or ravines in the Edmonton area. Seems junipers doesn't like forest canopy over them. Sunny or partial shade usually. I see them more on top or on the edge of open slopes in clearings in the bush. Not many though.



Reading about junipers... https://www.verywellhealth.com/junip...nefits-4589326

CAUTION: Some advisories.
Pregnant and breast feeding women should avoid juniper. Avoid regular use if you have kidney or liver problems, diabetes or are taking certain medications.

***There is a type of juniper growing wild around Calgary, Nose Hill park, that escaped cultivation, The Savin juniper, also called the Devils tree, Magician's Cypress. Locally called the Calgary carpet juniper. This plant and it's berries are supposedly toxic. It has savin oils.

[bdub]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Without seeing the berry myself I can only guess based on my experience with berry picking. I harvest Mountain Cranberries when I can and have seen many thousand kinnikinnick.

OPs berries look to me like Mountain Cranberries.

kinnikinnick are more orange in color, have no flower end and only one large seed inside. The end of the kinnikinnick has a dimple with a hair in the middle rather then a flower end.



Mountain Cranberries usually have some white on the underside and are a deep red rather then orangish red. They have many small seeds and a flower end.


Both grow on plants that look almost identical. And very often in the same habitat.

I've never heard them referred to as mountain cranberries before. Learn something new I guess. What I call cranberries are also commonly known as highbush cranberries. They carry that musty odour in the fall that tells you they are around. What you call mountain cranberry I always referred to as kinikinik. I've eaten a ton of both over the years.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by bdub

I've never heard them referred to as mountain cranberries before. Learn something new I guess. What I call cranberries are also commonly known as highbush cranberries. They carry that musty odour in the fall that tells you they are around. What you call mountain cranberry I always referred to as kinikinik. I've eaten a ton of both over the years.

My books call them Mountain Cranberries, I just call them Cranberries. Others call them Loganberries.

Highbush Cranberries are not true Cranberries, but I pick them anyway.
There is a patch that covers several acres just a few miles from here.
I can pick several gallons an hour in that patch.

Highbush Cranberries are from the Honeysuckle family where Mountain Cranberry, or Loganberry as some call them are from the Heath family of plants.

Moose Berries or Lowbush Cranberries are a closely related species and are more often the source of the musty odor you mention.
I've never found them in quantities worth picking, but I do eat them as a trail snack. They certainly have pucker power.

Although the berries of the Lowbush/Mooseberry is almost identical to Highbush fruit, the bush and flowers are very different and the fruit is usually sparse on Moose Berry bushes where Highbush trees often produce several pounds of fruit per mature bush.

My dad called the fruit of the Red Osier Dogwood, Kinnikinik or Bear berries.
I suppose that is why Latin names are used by scientists, lots of disagreement about what conman names should apply to what species.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Xiph0id

Are there poisonous berries in Alberta?

I've always been under the impression that white is bad and color is good.
To be clear, I do not eat unless I know.

Also, junipers are yucky!

I know of a few.

The one I encounter most we call Snake Berries. My books call them Baneberries.

I'm told they are not likely to kill an adult but will make a person very very sick.

They grow on a large herb type plant in moist forest environments.

There are two species I know of, one with bright red fruit and one with snow white fruit. The plants look very similar as do the berries but apparently they are distinctly different species however both are poisons.

I am told that wild Honeysuckle is also poisonous as is the fruit of Buckbrush.

Some interesting reading on the subject. This is among the reference materials I consult.

https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Depart...FILE/666-2.pdf

[fishnguy]

Not to “pollute” and create yet another thread, what are your thoughts on these? Look kind of like blueberries (colour aside), taste kind of like blueberries, but not quite blueberries. They are very sweet with a bit of sour, or at least the two I tried were.





Located in the mountains and found among strawberries and normal blueberries. I am not often in the mountains and usually don’t pick there. Ran into a bunch of berries when hiking with kids.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

Not to “pollute” and create yet another thread, what are your thoughts on these? Look kind of like blueberries (colour aside), taste kind of like blueberries, but not quite blueberries. They are very sweet with a bit of sour, or at least the two I tried were.





Located in the mountains and found among strawberries and normal blueberries. I am not often in the mountains and usually don’t pick there. Ran into a bunch of berries when hiking with kids.

That appears to be a fruit I have only read about.

A Red Huckleberry.

They are listed as present in Northern BC and Northern Alberta and Alaska.

The more common black Huckleberry is found at altitudes above 2,000 feet in damp Spruce forests, where the Red variety are found at lower elevations in muskeg or in proximity to muskeg.

That's about all I know about them.

[fishnguy]

Thanks, Keg. That’s what I also found from searching the web. Most of the photos on the web show them growing on high bush though, while these were all pretty close to the ground, almost cranberry/lingonberry like height. Haven’t seen any muskeg around either.