Forest always attracts people with its beauty. He served people as a shelter, gave food, protected from dangers. Today, people no longer need to protect the forest. He comes under his shelter to recharge his batteries and stock up on vitamins, which give an abundance of forest wealth. A plant with edible fruits can be found in any corner of the green massif.
However, the forest can be fraught with many dangers. This refers not only to wild animals, but also poisonous plants, which can be difficult to distinguish from medicinal or simply edible. It is important to know them in person in order to minimize the risk of error. In nature, a sufficient amount of forest berries. A plant with edible fruits - the names and special characteristics of the most common berries in our latitudes are presented below - you need to be able to distinguish.
Blackberry - wild berries
A plant with edible fruits (there are wild and cultivated plantings) can often be confused with poisonous ones. However, you don’t have to talk about this blackberry. This shrub is known even to children, thanks to its special fruits. Outwardly, they are very similar to raspberries, but differ in color and slightly exceed their size. The color of blackberry berries is black, with a bluish coating that cannot be confused with other berries. The blackberry ripens from August to September.
The distribution area of this shrub is quite large. He prefers places on the banks of rivers, fields and flood meadows, which are abundant throughout the European territory of Russia, in Western Siberia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Dogwood
The berries of this plant, common in Russia, Crimea and the Caucasus, have long been famous for their beneficial properties. Therefore, in this case, the question does not arise which berries to bypass and which ones to eat. Forest (a plant with edible fruits of this berry also grows with success in garden plots) dogwood thickets are especially pleasing to those who collect whole buckets of a unique product in season for fresh use and for winter setting. Its juicy fruits reach a size of three centimeters and have a cylindrical pear-shaped or oval shape. These sweet and sour tart fruits of red, yellow or ruby color cannot be confused with any others. The ripening process takes place from August to October. The astringent taste of fully ripe fruits is slightly reduced compared to unripe ones.
Cranberry
This low shrub with dark green leaves prefers to grow in the swamps, so it can almost always be found in the forest or tundra zone of Russia. Cranberry berries - what are they? Forest. A plant with edible fruits, so beloved in the Russian outback, almost always grows only in the wild. Coming to the forest, you can safely enjoy cranberries, because to distinguish these healthy berries from other forest plants is not at all difficult. First of all, these red berries do not hide under the leaves, so it will be quite simple to notice and find them. The fruits ripen in September, but you can especially take your time collecting these berries. They have the ability to survive under the snow, in addition, many connoisseurs claim that overwintered berries are much sweeter. Autumn berries are harder, unlike those that can be found immediately after the snow melts. The only drawback of spring berry picking is their long-term storage is impossible.
Black elderberry
This plant was able to spread widely in our latitudes, namely throughout the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Caucasus. After all, it is in these regions that the fertile lands are ideally suited for this shrub. The ideal conditions for black elderberry are deciduous forests, although sometimes it can be found in mixed with conifers. Look for elderberry black bushes at the edges or in the undergrowth.
There are several varieties of elderberry, so it is important to know exactly what it is possible to collect, which forest berries? A plant with edible elderberry fruits is not much different from those species that need to be bypassed. The main difference between a healthy black elderberry and its close relative - red elderberry - is in the color of the fruit. The berries of the poisonous plant have a rich red color, while the edible fruits have a black color with a purple tint, with juicy pulp of a red-violet color.
The berries of black elderberry are very small, but they are collected in large clusters. The ripening period is August and September, however, they remain on the branches until the leaves fall.
Cloudberry
This type of plant belongs to grassy. A favorite place for its growth is peat bogs and marshy forests, therefore cloudberries can be found in the forests of Russia, Siberia and the Far East.
How to distinguish cloudberries from many other forest fruits? This is a combined drupe, which after ripening becomes amber-yellow. Cloudberries may have a reddish color at the beginning of the ripening period. There are many admirers of sour-spicy, winey taste of these berries.
Lingonberry
Near the berry cloudberries very often you can find other forest berries, a plant with edible fruits - lingonberries. This evergreen shrub with branching stems is small, but its thickets can last several kilometers.
The fruits of this plant are small, have a round shape and are painted in a bright, saturated red color. Like most forest plants, lingonberries ripen in August and September.
Most often, lingonberries can be found in spruce and pine forests, although it is also found in deciduous, and even tundra. The area of its distribution is almost the entire territory of Russia.
Turn
In the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus and in Western Siberia, you can meet other, unique forest fruits. A plant with edible fruits, its name is blackthorn, or blackthorn. Its dense, spiky, impenetrable thickets can be found in ravines, on forest edges, near rivers and along roads.
The berries of blackthorn are quite small. They have a round shape, belong to odontostranki. The color of the fruit is dark blue, with a waxy coating. The acidic berries of the turnip ripen quite late - in August and September, in addition, they remain on the branches until spring. After the first frosts, the berries of the turn lose their astringency. Blackthorn is very fertile.
