Foraging & Collecting

Wild-food calendar

Wild food in Missouri follows the seasons. This is a rough guide to roughly when to look for what — spring morels and greens, summer berries, fall nuts and fruit. Timing shifts with the weather, so treat these as starting points, not promises. And whatever the season, the safety rules below never change.

Season by season

Spring

Morels (April into early May, earlier in warm springs), early greens (dandelion, watercress, wild onion), redbud blossoms, and pheasant back (dryad's saddle). Note: pokeweed is popular but toxic if it isn't prepared correctly.

Summer

Black raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, mulberries, gooseberries, and elderberries (the flowers come early; the berries must be cooked); wild plums and early wild grapes; chanterelles and chicken-of-the-woods.

Fall

Pawpaws in September (the 'Missouri banana'), persimmons (only when fully ripe, usually after a frost), black walnuts (Missouri leads the country), hickory nuts, pecans, and hazelnuts; hen-of-the-woods (maitake) and giant puffballs.

Personal use, all year

The personal-use rule applies all year on public conservation land: it's for your kitchen, not the market. Take a reasonable amount and leave plenty for wildlife and the next person.

On public land where foraging is allowed — most MDC conservation areas and Mark Twain National Forest — you pick for personal use and don't dig up whole plants. Take leaves, fruit, nuts, or mushrooms; leave roots and bulbs in the ground.

The rule that never changes

Positively identify everything before you eat it — 100%, every time. A season tells you when to look, not whether something is safe to eat.

Hunting mushrooms? Read mushroom safety — morels have toxic lookalikes, and cooking does not make them safe.
Gathering greens, berries, or fruit? Read wild greens & plants — some common plants have dangerous lookalikes.

If someone got sick

If someone eats a wild mushroom or plant and feels sick, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or get emergency care. Save a sample, take photos, note where it was found, and don't wait for symptoms to get worse.

Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222 · Emergency: 911

Before you gather

Official sources and current guidance

The item and the land manager decide what you may gather.

Last checked: 2026-06-18. Rules differ by land type and change over time — and eating a wild plant or mushroom is a health decision, not a website decision. When in doubt, ask the land manager, check a field guide, and don't eat anything you can't name with certainty.

This is a summary, not legal advice. Foraging and collecting rules change and depend on whose land you're on and what you're taking — confirm with the landowner or land manager before you gather. For a suspected poisoning, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or 911.

Heads up: A calendar tells you when wild food tends to appear — it cannot tell you that what you found is safe. Identify every plant and mushroom with certainty before eating, and when in doubt, leave it.

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