It should be common knowledge not to eat wild plants unless you can determine that they're safe, but starvation can lead to taking risks, especially when it comes to potentially edible berries. When your body is racked by hunger pains, you may be tempted to eat foods that might otherwise seem questionable in order to stay alive. Unfortunately, this is a dangerous proposition, since those same foods can contain toxins that will only worsen your condition through vomiting, diarrhea, or even death.
Left: edible grapes. Right: poisonous Pokeberries. (Photo via Poison.org)
Worst of all, Mother Nature seems to have a sick sense of humor — many edible plants have extremely poisonous dopplegangers which share a similar appearance. If you're unfortunate enough to misidentify these toxic plants as their edible cousins, it could end up being the last mistake you ever make. If you're feeling confident in your foraging skills, try your hand at our poisonous mushroom identification quiz, and see just how difficult it can be to correctly pick out the dangerous species.
Delicious grape tomatoes, seen here, can easily be confused with dangerous wild Horsenettle.
Berries may seem like a great source of survival food, but like mushrooms and other plants, it's essential to identify them correctly before you chow down. The following infographic from Alan's Factory Outlet shows 15 edible berries, and 15 poisonous berries which they closely resemble. Click here to download a full-size version of this infographic.
Studying this graphic can help you remember the risks, but if you're not positive a plant is safe, don't eat it! Or, at the very least, use the Universal Edibility Test to check if it will make you sick before consuming large quantities.
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