Foraging & Collecting

Wild greens & plants — what to pick, what to leave

Many Missouri wild greens are mild and familiar. A few lookalikes can hurt you, so pick only what you can name with certainty.

The rule for picking and eating

Take the leaves or fruit, not the whole plant — no digging up roots or bulbs on public land — and remember that edible greens are off-limits on Missouri Natural Areas.

Edible, with care

Greens worth getting to know

Watercress

From clear, clean streams only — and confirm every plant, because deadly water hemlock grows in the same wet, streamside habitat. Never eat a streamside plant you can't positively identify.

Dandelion

Young leaves are best — harvest the leaves, and don't dig up the root on public land.

Wild onion & wild garlic

Use the smell test below before you trust one.

Lamb's quarters

A mild wild green, cooked like spinach.

Chickweed

A common, mild salad green.

Pokeweed — toxic unless prepared carefully, or just skip it

Pokeweed ('poke salat') is toxic raw. Traditionally the young shoots are boiled in several changes of water — but the berries, roots, and mature plant are poisonous. If you're unsure, don't.

Elderberry — cook it, never raw

Elderberry flowers and COOKED berries are used in syrup and jelly — but the raw berries, leaves, and stems are toxic.

Dangerous lookalikes — these can hurt you

Learn these before you pick

Poison hemlock & water hemlock

These look like wild carrot, parsley, or parsnip, and they are among the most poisonous plants in North America — water hemlock can kill quickly. Never eat a wild carrot- or parsley-family plant unless an expert confirms it.

Wild parsnip

Its sap causes sun-triggered skin burns and blisters (phytophotodermatitis) — handle with care.

Buckeye, nightshade, pokeberries & many white berries

Toxic. Don't taste-test to find out.

The wild-onion smell test

The wild-onion smell test: if a plant looks like an onion but doesn't smell strongly of onion or garlic, don't eat it — some poisonous bulbs look onion-like.

The golden rule

100% identification before anything goes in your mouth.

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: No web page — including this one — is enough to eat a wild plant by. Confirm every plant with a field guide and an experienced forager, and when in doubt, don't eat it.

MDC — Discover Nature field guide
Poison Help — or call 1-800-222-1222

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