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A Forager’s Year

How to read the ratings

What each rating, mark and label on the plant pages means.

What a page is

Each page is one harvest: a plant plus the part you pick. Dandelion has three pages (leaves, flowers, root). The number is the same as on the calendar. Numbers run through the year by when each plant peaks (or starts, if it has no peak). A few harvests are not on the calendar, because they are not recommended or there is practically nothing to pick; they have pages without numbers, so their warnings are on record.

What you pick (the circle color)

Fruit (including berries, hips and young milkweed pods) · Nut & seed · Sap · Leaves & tender stems (leaves plus soft, non-woody stems and tops; spicebush twigs for tea are the one woody exception) · Young shoots (newly emerging stalks picked before they toughen: knotweed, daylily, milkweed, cattail, pokeweed) · Flowers, buds & pollen · Roots, bulbs & tubers.

Seasons

Start, peak and end are given in thirds of a month: early, mid or late. A plant counts as in season for a month if it is in season at any point in that month. Some greens and roots have a second window, in spring or fall; their page shows each window. A season that runs across New Year is shown as one window.

How the dates were worked out

Every start, peak and end was re-checked in October 2026. “Sourced” means a source opened during the check states that timing for the DC or Mid-Atlantic area. “Estimated” means no source states it exactly; the reason, the evidence and the source links are under “How the dates were worked out” on each plant’s page. Peaks are often estimated, because few sources name a peak. iNaturalist evidence means research-grade sightings near DC, by month, of the plant at that stage (for example, in fruit). iNaturalist is a website and phone app where people post photos of the plants and animals they see. A sighting is “research grade” when other users have confirmed what it is; “needs ID” sightings are not confirmed yet, and “cultivated” ones are marked as planted.

Find

1 Everywhere · 2 Common in the right habitat · 3 Patchy · 4 Elusive. This is about how much there is, not whether you may pick it. It is based on iNaturalist sightings within 25 km (about 15 miles) of downtown DC, counted on October 3, 2026. The four rules that each plant’s “Find” reason refers to: (A) the estimate is the confirmed sightings, plus the unconfirmed ones (scaled down where the plant has lookalikes in its genus), plus the sightings marked as planted; (B) the tier by estimate: 1,500 or more is tier 1, 250–1,499 tier 2, 50–249 tier 3, under 50 tier 4; (C) tier 1, Everywhere, also needs a source saying the plant is common in lawns, sidewalks, yards or gardens, vacant lots or towns, or at least one DC street tree of it per km of sidewalk, otherwise it is tier 2; (D) if a reliable source says the plant is rare in this region, or that wild plants rarely bear the harvest, only planted sightings count. iNaturalist is a website and phone app where people post photos of the plants and animals they see. A sighting is “research grade” when other users have confirmed what it is; “needs ID” sightings are not confirmed yet, and “cultivated” ones are marked as planted.

Effort

1 Grab & eat · 2 Quick kitchen prep (under about 30 minutes) · 3 Real work (hours, or cooking needed for safety) · 4 Project (days or equipment). Scored on the simplest worthwhile use; each plant’s page says why.

ID risk

How hard it is to harvest safely. Beginner: no dangerous lookalike, and the edible part is not easily confused with a toxic part. Careful: a toxic lookalike, or toxic parts that end up in the harvest unless removed (for example elderberry stems, unripe ground cherries), or other parts of the plant rated medium-or-higher toxicity, with reliable features to separate them. Expert only: a potentially deadly lookalike that is hard to separate, or (for not-recommended harvests like pokeweed) a plant whose safe preparation can’t be guaranteed. Toxic parts that are obviously separate and thrown away anyway (pits, seeds, skins) don’t raise it; the Toxic parts mark carries that warning.

Safety marks and flags

Uses

Deadly lookalike / Toxic lookalike: a cited source names a lookalike of that danger. Deadly means a source says eating it may be fatal or calls it deadly, or NC State rates it high severity with life-threatening symptoms (sources sometimes disagree; for example Virginia creeper). Each plant’s Lookalikes list says how to tell them apart; “harmless (may be edible)” lookalikes are listed so you know a mix-up isn’t dangerous. Cook first: cooking is needed for safety (for daylilies it is a precaution, not a sourced requirement). Eat in moderation: a source says to limit quantity or frequency (for example oxalates in sorrels and dock, ginkgotoxin, safrole). Spray risk: a source says the plant is commonly treated with herbicide in parks or lawns (invasive control, lawn weeds) or, for ginkgo, sprayed to stop fruiting. Contamination: a source says the plant concentrates pollutants. Each plant’s Safety flags list gives the details and sources.

Handling hazards

Stings, thorns, irritating or phototoxic sap, staining hulls and spiny husks, with a severity: minor = brief discomfort; moderate = rash or blisters lasting days; serious = burns, scarring or medical care possible.

Soil risk

Based on the part you eat, following the urban-soil lead guidance on the Field safety page: higher for greens, shoots and roots; moderate for flowers; low for fruit, nuts and sap.

Habitats

Listed where the plant’s own sources place it in that habitat. “Disturbed ground & waste places” means a cited source places it on disturbed areas, sites, soil or ground, on waste places or waste ground, on construction or abandoned building sites (old home sites count), on rubble or in strip mines. When the source gives examples of the disturbed places, at least one example must be of that kind. Examples that do not count: natural or forestry disturbance (treefall gaps, fire, windthrow, flood scour, old riverbanks and creeks, clear-cuts); roadsides, railroads and rights-of-way; and abandoned fields, pastures and farmland, which are “Old fields & meadows”. “Vacant lots” only where a source says vacant or empty lots.

Most-logged places

The places with the most research-grade iNaturalist sightings within 25 km of downtown DC (re-counted in October 2026 over every named place, campuses, condominiums and private grounds included), each marked legal to pick or not. A sighting inside several named places counts once, for the smallest of them, but a sighting inside a National Park Service park never counts for a private, campus or unchecked place. iNaturalist shows where people walk and log plants, not true abundance. Private campuses, condominiums, museums, estates and utility land (Pepco’s power-line land near Sligo Creek) are marked “no” (pick only with the owner’s permission); public university campuses, city parks and other places whose picking rules were not checked (county stormwater land, the U.S. Capitol Grounds, Greenbelt’s North Woods, federal facilities such as the National Zoo) are “unknown”. A place needs at least 2 sightings, so plants with very few sightings (rugosa rose) have no places. No most-logged places are named for at-risk plants (ramps, chinquapin, American chestnut); chinquapin’s page names Mason Neck State Park, where picking is legal, and asks you to leave most nuts. For some places, mostly Rock Creek Park, the iNaturalist map shows more sightings than the count here, because a map link cannot leave out exactly the sightings credited to another place. iNaturalist is a website and phone app where people post photos of the plants and animals they see. A sighting is “research grade” when other users have confirmed what it is; “needs ID” sightings are not confirmed yet, and “cultivated” ones are marked as planted.

Where you may pick

For each park system: “yes” where its current rules (the park’s compendium or regulation) allow this plant or part, with the limit; “ambiguous” where the wording may or may not cover it, so ask the park; “no” where it is not allowed. Rock Creek Park, the GW Parkway sites (including Great Falls VA and Theodore Roosevelt Island), the National Mall, Montgomery and Prince George’s parks, Maryland state parks, and Fairfax and Arlington parks prohibit picking. Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts allows blackberries and raspberries (one gallon per person per day) and chestnuts (one gallon per person per day). National Park Service rules are reissued every year; other parks change theirs from time to time, so check the park’s current rules. The Where you may pick page has every park’s rules.

Native or not, and the invader stars

Origin is where the plant comes from: native, non-native, or mixed (the harvest covers both). The stars rate plants on invasive plant lists: ★★★ Virginia DCR “High” or Maryland prohibited invasive · ★★ Virginia “Medium” · ★ Virginia “Low” · ☆ listed only by the Maryland Invasive Species Council or the Mid-Atlantic Plant Invaders guide (advisory) · no stars: native or not listed.

Virginia DCR, Virginia Invasive Plant Species List (effective September 2024), verbatim: "Under the DCR Invasive Species Assessment Protocol, approved by the Virginia Invasive Species Working Group, January 2024, species were ranked as exhibiting high, medium or low levels of invasiveness based on their threat to natural communities and native species. Invasiveness rank is higher for species that: • Alter ecosystem processes, such as succession, hydrology or fire regime. • Are capable of invading undisturbed natural communities. • Cause substantial impacts on rare or vulnerable species or natural communities or high-quality examples of more common communities. • Are found widely distributed and generally abundant where present. • Disperse readily to new areas. • Are difficult to control." The list also states: "The list is for educational purposes only and has no regulatory authority."

Maryland Department of Agriculture, Maryland Prohibited Invasive Plant Law and Regulations page, verbatim: "Plants on the Maryland Prohibited Invasive Plant List may not be added to stock after the effective date and should not be sold after their phase-out period ends."

No official DC invasive plant list was found.

Canning

Shelf-stable canning, three levels. Lab-tested: a lab-tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) or Oregon State covers this fruit and product, or a generic recipe for its kind (the line says so, for example chokeberry). Extension recipe: a published Extension recipe (University of Alaska Fairbanks, written for Alaska species; University of Maine’s dandelion jelly), or a process that is safe only with a pH meter; follow it exactly, never improvise. No tested recipe: refrigerate or freeze, don’t can. “Hot-bottled syrup” = maple and walnut syrup, which keep when bottled hot at full syrup density. The Canning line names the exact product each source covers, for example “whole berries” or “juice”; a product not named there (such as juice from a berry with only a whole-berry recipe) has no tested recipe.

Keeping basis

“Specific to this plant” or “general guidance for its type” (for example NCHFP guidance for leafy greens applied to a wild green).

How the plants of the month were chosen

Each plant of the month is in season that month and easy and safe for a beginner: Beginner ID risk, no deadly or toxic lookalike, Find and Effort of 1 or 2, at least one natural habitat, no moderate or serious handling hazard, and not something you can buy in a shop. Among the plants that meet these rules, one at its peak that month is preferred, and every month that has one shows one. In four months none does. Nothing peaks in January. In February, of the calendar’s plants, only the saps peak, and tapping trees is a project. In August the plants at their peak are all rated Careful (harder to pick safely) or are patchy to find. In December only Jerusalem artichoke peaks, and it is patchy to find and sold in shops as sunchokes. So those months show a plant still in season: hackberries and rose hips hang on through winter, spicebush twigs are on the plant all year, though no source gives them a season, and black chokeberry is only beginning to ripen in August. December also shows Carolina rose beside multiflora rose, so the native and the invader can be told apart. It is patchier to find than the rules ask.

Flags

Sources disagree · Weakly sourced · Practically unavailable. Not recommended harvests are kept, with their warnings first, so the warning is on record; their pages leave out ways to use, keeping and nutrition.

Dates that change

National Park Service rules are reissued every year, and other parks change theirs from time to time; the deer-hunt dates on the Field safety page are for the 2026–27 season.

How sources are counted

A source is one web page or document; the same page at two addresses counts once. Publishers are counted once per organization: a university’s extension service and departments count with the university, and a copy hosted by someone else (a journal article on PubMed Central, a regulation on Cornell’s law site) counts with whoever issued it. Separately run bodies, such as a Master Gardener association or a journal, count on their own. Two calls are AI judgments: Maryland’s and Virginia’s official code websites count as publishers, and the American Chestnut Foundation’s Maryland chapter counts with the foundation. The 261 iNaturalist sources are sets of sighting records; links to iNaturalist maps of a single place are not counted.

No mushrooms

Mushrooms and other fungi are left out on purpose: mistaking a poisonous mushroom for an edible one can be deadly.

Invasive lists used