A cliff over Lake Superior is seen in this photo, which was taken last week. Knowing and avoiding toxic and poisonous plants is important, as nature poses her own dangers as well. Rock slides, falls, and other accidents are common. Most agree that the beautiful area is worth the risks.

Linda Diane Feldt | Contributor

The greatest dangers in foraging are:

Not paying attention

Collecting too quickly

Not knowing the toxic look-a-likes for safe plants

Not knowing the toxic and poisonous plants for the area you are in

Eating unripe or out of season foods

A poor sense of smell and taste, if you are lacking bring a friend with you who is better endowed

Your greatest assets are:

Ability to observe subtle differences in plants to identify them

A good memory

Observing plants in all seasons and over many seasons

A friend or teacher who can provide hands-on mentoring

A great plant guide - or even better, many guides

Patience

There are also some general guidelines for what can be toxic:

If it looks exotic, don’t eat it. There are more poisonous houseplants than plants in your yard or in the woods. White berries, purple splotches and strange markings all signal caution.

Marshes, wet areas, and lakes can contain some wonderful edibles, but also some very toxic and dangerous plants. Use more caution in those areas both with identification as well as sampling.

Areas that are mowed can be deceiving, the plants may be hard to identify as they will be shorter, missing parts, or otherwise misshapen.

Any plants growing near railroad tracks may have been sprayed, and if it was recently you can’t tell by looking. The same thing with plants growing under high-tension wires, or in utility right of ways. Always avoid these areas.

Taste first, before eating. That means a tiny bit of plant at the front of your mouth. That should give you a “yes” “no” or “maybe” first response.

The only way to be certain a plant is safe is if you can make a positive (certain) identification. Without that, you are at risk either in a minimal way, or in a fairly serious way. It depends on where you are and what you are tasting. To be certain, don’t taste or eat anything unless you are certain you know the plant.

Mushrooms are more deceptive and more difficult to identity than plants. Don’t eat them in the field, and once home carefully and slowly make the identification. If you are in doubt, consult an expert or discard.

Plants will give you clues as to what is edible, but since there are always exceptions, this should be just one part of determining if a plant is safe. Mostly, plants are all about defense and sex. They need to not be destroyed until they can reproduce. Annuals will tend to have abundant seed, and use that to counterbalance a short life. Mostly the quantity of seeds and plants mean that they haven’t put a lot of resources into creating poisons. Many annuals are edible.

If a plant has thorns and other visible defense, it is more likely to be edible. It has the physical defense, and is less likely to need a toxic one as well.

Biennials can go both ways, but most around here are focusing so entirely on the second year significant seed production that they are mostly edible, although what part and when matters a lot. Usually the roots are edible in the fall of the first year, and early spring of the second. Before then, there isn’t much there, and after the value of the plant has gone into reproduction.

Perennials are more often in need of long-term protection, and conserve seeds and foliage by having poisons in the roots and seeds and fruit. This is also what makes many of these plants so valuable as medicine - the alkaloids that protect the plant are also the parts that make potent medicinal compounds.

While there is a certain logic and wonderful brilliance to the above, the problem is that there are always exceptions, and you absolutely can’t rely on that sort of thinking to keep you safe.

When everything is combined - careful study, observation, knowledge, confirmation of how plants tend to be, a teacher or mentor's agreement, positive ID - you are relatively safe. But even then, my only bad experience with a plant was a nasturtium flower. It caused my tongue to swell just to the point of danger of choking. My best guess is it harbored a bug or some other contaminant that I missed.

I was recently in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The woods are different up there, especially along the Lake Superior shoreline where I was camping. On one of our hikes, I spotted a plant new to me, but started eating the berries anyway. And I somehow knew the name of the plant, Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus. The Rubus plants are pretty easy to spot with their distinctive berries, red and black raspberries are Rubus. But I had started eating before I confirmed that this was indeed a plant that I had never seen before.

The video shows a thimbleberry that is not yet ripe. The ripe fruit are bright red, with a delightful texture and strong taste.

With Droid in hand, I was quickly able to confirm my intuitive knowledge through Google. But is that good practice? Well, sort of. I did pass on the other berries that I didn’t know. I was just very certain on the Rubus, and also knew a plant that looks like a raspberry is generally safe. But I also made that leap after more than 40 years of observing and learning about local plants.

There is risk involved in eating wild things, relying on your own knowledge to figure out what you are going to consume. There is also risk in leaving those judgments to strangers who may have other motivations other than your health and safety. We’re in the middle if an egg recall so large it is unimaginable. Are eggs more dangerous than dandelions? At this moment in time, apparently so. That is commercial, store-bought, mass produced eggs. The eggs produced by the chicken next door are as safe as always.

There are also the “usual” dangers, not directly associated with the plants. Thorns, poison ivy, insect bites, allergies, tripping and falling, all of the things that can happen when you are active and out of doors. Encounters with angry wasps, land owners, or other risks can be mitigated but are always possible. You have to decide if it is worth the small dangers.

Contamination is also a concern. Roadsides are safer than they once were, with lead removed from gasoline. But dogs and owners who don't pick up, garbage and pesticides can be a problem. Observation helps. Getting away from well used paths does as well - as long as it doesn't take you through a patch of poison ivy or stinging nettles. Wait, the stinging nettles might be a good thing. Harvest them or note the location for early harvest next year!

Part two will explore ethical harvesting, and is foraging putting plants and other living things at risk?

Linda Diane Feldt is a local Holistic Health Practitioner, herbalist, and writer. You can follow her on twitter, find her website, or e-mail her ldfeldt at holisticwisdom.org Linda Diane offers monthly free classes on herbal wisdom, sponsored by The People’s Food Co-op. Next month’s class on distinguishing between nourishing and medicinal herbs will be September 23rd.