Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

I haven't been able to find any "edible plant" web sites that are exclusive to Pennsylvania, but I did find one for a New York City forager, 'Wildman' Steve Brill. It contains lots of pictures and information (with many interesting facts written in an entertaining style) about a large number of plants of the New York City area. I would think that most, if not all, would also be found in Pennsylvania. His page is very kid-friendly. In fact, he is in the process of writing a book, "Stalking the Wild Dandelion: A Guide to Wild Edible Plants for Teachers to Use with Children." You can find information about the book on his web page. Some of his plants are not native and are even considered invasive (e.g., Burdock (Arctium sp.)—nonnative and invasive; Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)—nonnative and invasive; and Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)—nonnative and invasive. He doesn't specifically call them invasive, but he does mention it when they are native to another country and are essentially weeds. Moreover, he certainly isn't encouraging their propagation—rather, their consumption instead!

To determine where these plants occur in Pennsylvania, you can go to the USDA Plants Database and enter the scientific name in the "Search" box. When the page for the plant appears, you can scroll down to the distribution map and it will give you the option to click on your state to see a county distribution map.

There is also a database for edible plants on the campus of Brandeis University in Massachusetts with lots of information and pictures for each species. You can find more web-based information about edible plants on the Foraging and Ethnobotany Links page. For books about edible plants visit our Native Plant Bibliography. Some of these titles may be available at your local library.