Growing up in Northern California’s Mediterranean climate, there are lots of wild, non-native fruits that have naturalized
. In order of commonality:
Himalayan blackberry
Fig
Olive
Mulberry
Callery Pear
Cherry plum
Quince
Pecan
Pyrus (euro) pear
Apples (very rare) - the ones I found were questionable if they were old homestead trees.
That non-native fruit/nuts grows in your region?
In northern NV, my current home, we don’t have much due to the dry hot/cold climate.
Russian olive is fruit producing and the most common, but would not be considered edible by many.
In farming communities, mulberry comes up as volunteers around irrigation ditches.
That’s about it for here that I have seen.
In Tennessee… we have…
wild blackberry
dewberry
raspberry in part of the state
deerberry
The occasional wild plum
wild grapes… very tart
muscadine
elderberry
Persimmons
Lots of oak varieties that produce acorns
Several types of hickory… red, pig, mocker, shag, shell, bitternut
Black walnut
Redbud blossoms
Yellow and pink wood sorrel
Broadleaf and english plantain
Polk
Dandelion greens and flowers
Stinging nettle
Morel mushrooms, chanterelle, turkey tail, etc…
Mulberry
Black cherry
and I am sure many more I forgot to list.
Some of my favorite wild edibles are… deer, turkey, dove, quail, squirrel, rabbits, groundhog, bullfrogs, bass… large and smallmouth, blackperch, catfish, crappie, shellcrackers, brem, rattlesnake, softshell turtle.
TNHunter
There are tons of roadside wild apples in south-central BC. In my town specifically, cherries have also gone wild and can be found all over town, covering a spectrum of size and flavor from sweet red cherries to pie cherries to chokecherries and everything in between.
I’m surprised I can’t think of more. We have so many great wild fruits, especially berries… maybe those are just better at dominating our ecosystem.
The only non-native naturalized edible fruits I can think of in Tennessee are wineberries, white mulberries, callery pears and trifoliate orange. The last two very marginally edible. There are probably autumn olive somewhere, but I have never seen one here.
The correct term is feral.
I was in a local Tractor Supply store recently looking at a pamphlet with a title of something like “the wild vines of Tennessee”. I was surprised with how many were listed as poisonous.
I’m far from being knowledgeable about vines that look like muscadines. Mine are probably what I call “possum” grapes. May or not be edible.
lots and lots of wild apples here. seems every year i find a outstanding one without barely looking. and thats within 30 mi. area mostly. the apple belt is mostly in s. maine but most of those are planted cultivars. we get mostly wild seedlings growing up here. its suprising to find so much variability due to so few apples that would even survive up here in the past. my lastest find i call limestone apple. its a sept. ripening apple i found near the main road near a farmers mailbox in said town. its light yellow/ white apple with red streaks of medium size has a great balance of sweet and tart. very firm for a sept apple. taste is similar to zestar but still different enough to want to grow it. i grafted it on my black oxford. its firmness makes me think its a keeper. we’ll see. found another near a running track at a school last month at another nearby town . ill have to go back and get some scions of that one as well. that one has slight citrus under tones and is a long instead of squat yellow apple. if never seen that shape on apples around here.
We’ve got 'em in East TN. The TVA planted lots way back when.
wine berries, autumn olive, white mulberry, though I dont think theyre naturalized technicality. just invasive. golden oysters?
calgary pear?
I think most else are native as far as FRUITS. but plenty of invasive plants generally