Edible Wild Fruits of New York. 



They are produced in broad, flat clusters and are quite ornamental. 

 Each fruit contains a stone, as in the cherry, and, unfortunately 

 for the value of the fruit, this stone is covered with a very thin pulp. 

 The cranberry tree, or high cranberry bush {Viburnum opulus) 

 has a red fruit which is very pretty but very acid. Nevertheless, it is 

 sometimes used as cranberries or made a substitute for them. The 

 shrubs are sometimes planted in gardens or door yards, but more for 

 ornament than for fruit. One nurseryman advertises plants of this 

 species for sale. The sterile, flowered variety, the "snow-ball tree," is 

 cultivated for ornament. The closely-related, few-flowered cranberry 

 tree (Viburnum pauciflorum) occurs sparingly in the Adirondack 

 region. It is more northern in its range and bears smaller clusters 

 of fruit than the preceding, but its fruit, which is similar in color, is 

 thought by some to be better in flavor. 



The sheep berry ( Viburnum Lentago) called also nanny berry and 

 sweet virburnum, has bluish-black, oval fruit which is sweet and eat- 

 able when fully ripe. The same is true of the closely-related black haw 

 ( Viburnum prunifolium) y which is found in the southern part of the 

 State. The hobble bush ( Viburnum lantanoides) is common in the 

 forests of our mountain districts but does not thrive in cleared places. 

 Its fruit is nearly globular and black when fully ripe. Professor Gray, 

 who is generally accurate in his descriptions, describes this fruit as. 

 " coral red, turning crimson," and says its fruit is " not eatable." 

 In my wanderings in the woods I have frequently eaten it and found 

 it sweet and agreeable. This is not the case when it is red or crimson ; 

 but then it is not fully ripe. The peculiar habits of this plant would 

 probably render unsuccessful any attempts to domesticate it. 



The common elder (Sambucus Canadensis) produces broad, flat 

 clusters of berries which are small and nearly black wheu ripe. These 

 are sometimes used in making wine and pies, but my efforts to eat 

 them fresh from the bushes were unsatisfactory and I hesitate to class 

 them as edible fruit. The partridge berry (Mitchella repens) is a 

 small trailing vine which bears bright red berries, a kind of twin fruit, 

 about the size of wintergreen berries. They are sometimes eaten by 

 school children, but they are insipid, dry and very coarsely seeded and 

 scarcely to be classed as edible. 



The Heath family affords us several small but excellent fruits and, 

 like the Rose family, it also contains many ornamental shrubs which 

 are cultivated for the sake of their flowers. Both families include 

 plants so diverse in character that systematists have divided them into 

 sub-families or sub-orders. In the Heath family the edible fruits be- 



