Hi! We recently moved to a neighborhood that has a lot of edible plants. We noticed berries behind our house but haven’t been able to get an idea of what the plant is and if the berries are safe. Any help is appreciated!
Thank you!
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I am thinking a bush honeysuckle. Not edible.
Welcome to the forum.
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Nope … 90 days till red berries on honeysuckle in zone 6…and you’re in zone 5.
(Or is it an old picture?)
It does LOOK like invasive honeysuckle… Can you get us a picture of the bark near the trunk?
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Thanks so much for the replies! I have more photos but as a new user, was only allowed to upload one. The photo is current (from today).
So, these pictures are taken in July 2021?
Yes, sorry taken today. We’re in zone 5, just north of chicago.
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I cannot imagine there are red berries on the imported ‘invasive’ honeysuckles at this point in the season.
However, I cannot think of just exactly what the bush is…if I even know it’s not coming to mind right now. (I mean I have one in the back yard…an it’s far from close on red coloring…typically a food of starlings as they migrate in the fall).
The leaves do sort of look like honeysuckle.
So?
Maybe somebody else?
That does look way too big to be bush honeysuckle, but at the same time, someone clearly trimmed it to grow as a tree by looking at the base of the trunk. So it could be, but that zoomed out view definitely looks like something else. Maybe @steveb4 has an idea with all the wild stuff he grows up north…
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Invasives/fact/BellsHoneysuckle.html
I knew there was more than one species, and one ripened berries before the fall crop of raspberries, and was an important food source for swd… Turns out there is a hybrid between the smaller early fruiting species, Morrow’s honeysuckle, and the larger Tartarian. It grows more upright to 20’, shaggy bark when mature, and has intermediate features of both parents, so some plants could fruit early like Morrow’s.
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Interesting…although I’ve never seen an early fruiter from Wisconsin to Myrtle Beach to South Florida.
There are several red-fruited invasive honeysuckles, some of which ripen now.
https://www.invasive.org/alien/pubs/midatlantic/lomo.htm
fruits paired, red to orange, many-seeded berries mature in July and persist through the winter.
Tatarian honeysuckle is also a possiblility.
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Yes ,several types,
One here ( WV.) had red berries two weeks ago , birds have since eaten them
Now you have.
They also started ripening a week or so ago here in the northeast (zone 5b / 6a).
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Margo, long story short, not edible. Keep reading on the forum and posting questions and you will quickly be able to add more photos as a member.
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