On the Trail: An Outdoor Book for Girls

s, Nuts, Roo

a thing with certainty before tasting in order to enjoy it in safety. It is well worth while to make a study of the wild-growing foods, but in the meantime this chapter will help you to know some of them. The italicized names are of the things

Rasp

approach the wonderful and delicate flavor of the little wild strawberry, unless it is the wild red raspberry; and the

lly ripe, is a deep, translucent red. The bush is shrubby, is generally about waist-high, and the stems bear small, hooked prickles. The leaves are what is called compound,

ripe to drop easily into your hand, leaving the receptacle and calyx on the stem. The sweet, far-carrying

Rasp

. The fruit, like the other, is cup or thimble shaped and grows on a receptacle from which it loosens when fully ripe. Blackc

lowering

ous. You will find it clambering among the rocks on the mountainside and in rocky soil. The leaves are larg

aspberry,

ant flavor of a honey-like sweetness. The receptacle of the berry is broad and flat, the color is yellow touched with red where exposed to the sun. It does not grow in clusters like the other raspberries, but is solitary. The leaves are roundish w

Straw

t. It is common everywhere, though it bears the name of wild Virginia strawberry. In Latin it is most appropriately called Fragaria, meaning fragrant. The leaves are compound with three coarsely toothed, hairy leaf

ning Bl

des, clinging to fence rails, and sprawling over rocks, you will find the wild blackberry. The

ompound leaves of from four to seven leaflets which are double-toothed. The berries are black and glossy and grow in small clust

not separate from it. When ripe they drop easily from the calyx carrying th

Swamp Bl

e. It takes a good many of these little berries to make a mouthful, but they are harmless. They are called the running swamp blackberry. They ripen in August and grow in sandy places as well

ush Bl

bush blackberry. Its stems are sometimes ten feet high; they are furrowed and thorny and the bush grows along country roads

in Bla

ut the fruit is small and dry. The leaves are more elongated toward the tip than

ess Bl

ornless blackberry. It ripens later than the other

Wild G

color and is free from all prickles. It grows on slender stems and, like the cultivated gooseberry, is tipped with the dry calyx. The leaves are small, rather

od on t

Blue

and grows in the thin, sandy, and rocky soil which is spurned by most other plants. You will find it upon barren hillsides, in rocky fields, and in dry pine woods. The berries are round, blue, about the size of peas, and

s rather narrow and pointed at each end; the under side is a lighter green than the upper and both are glossy. In th

Blue

iff and upstanding and prefers the edge of the woods and sheltered roadsides to the dry open fields. The berries are blue with a grape-like bloom

ush Bl

bare of leaves; some are sweet, others sour. The leaves are a pointed oval with the under side lighter in color than the upper; in some cases the under side is hairy. The flowers are pinkish and shaped somewhat like a cylinder. The bush

gle

dark-blue color with a bloom; they ripen late and are not very plentiful. The pale-green leaves are large, white,

een. Che

too decided. The evergreen leaves are leathery in texture and their flavor is stronger than that of the berry; they are whitish underneath and dark, glossy green above. They are oval in shape and have a few small teeth or none a

ose clusters at the top of the small plant where the leaves radiate. The berries are bright scarlet, round and smoo

ridg

g vine. Its leaves are small and heart-shaped; some are veined with white. They are evergreen. The flowers grow in pairs and are like four-point

erry.

ushes and vines, at least they are called

the rose; it grows in clusters and is graded in color from red to violet; it has a slight bloom and the calyx shows at the summit. It ripens in June and is said to be sweet an

is smaller and on shorter stems. It is also sai

pally in the south

Mulb

usetts to Florida and west to Nebraska. Birds are very fond of the mulberry. The first rose-breasted grosbeaks I ever saw were in a great mulberry-tree on a farm in the northern part of Connectic

tree; some have seven lobes, some none at all. The edges of m

growing wild. The fruit is like t

m. Nanny-Berr

val leaves, pointed at the tip and finely toothed. The flower clusters are large and, though white, they appear yellowish from the many yellow anthers at the centre. When entirely ripe the fruit is a dark blue or black and is covered with a bloom; before ripening

Fruite

thickets. The bark is rough and the thorns on the branches are long, sharp, and of a light-brown color. In flavor the fruit is sweet and apple-like; the flesh is dry and mealy; it grows on hairy stems and the seeds are

Haw. S

hy and crooked, with stout and spreading branches. It is found from Connecticut to Georgia and as far west as the Indian Territory. It grows among the underbrush in forests. The bark is scaly and of a reddish-brown color, the leaves are dark green and smoot

ums. Ca

from one inch to one and a half inches long and is red or orange in color. It has a tough skin and a flat stone. The flavor is considered pleasant but the fruit is generally used for

ch

s used for preserving. The color of the fruit is from red to red-purple, it has a bloom over it and grows on a slender stem. The thin stone is rounded on one edge, sharp on the other, and generally has pointed ends.

Red C

th, but also grows among the mountains as far south as Tennessee. The bark is a reddish-brown and has rusty dots over it. The leaves are oblong, pointed at the tips and rather blunt at the

pally in the north

d-C

ct branches as high as four feet. The fruit is dark red-black when quite ripe-and about half an inch long. It grows in small clusters or solitary, and is said to be sweet and edible. The leaves, dark gre

sim

it, very astringent until ripe. It is plentiful in Kentucky and one of my earliest memories is of going to market with my mother in the fall to buy pers

branch and its calyx is large. The color is yellow generally flushed with red. Some writers de

outh it often forms a thicket in uncultivated fields and along roadsides. The bark is dark brown or dark gray, the surface is scaly and divided into plates. The leaves are usuall

a

and feel the large, smooth, flat seeds in my mouth. In shape the papaw somewhat resembles the banana, the texture of the skin is the same, but the surface of the papaw is smoothly rounded and it is short

d Kansas. It flourishes in the bottom lands of the Mississippi Valley and seeks the shade of the forests. The bark is dark brown with gray blotches; the leaves are large, being from two to twelve inches long and four inches wide. They are oval, poi

-Ap

is finely flavored, sweet and juicy, but being a laxative one must eat of it sp

about the size of a plum. The flesh is like that of the plum and there are numerous seeds in fleshy seed coverings. It ripens in July and is quite soft when fully ripe. I have sometimes gathered the firm, y

apple is edible, the leaves and root are poisonous, not to the touch but to the taste. The flower is a clear white with from eight to twelve rounding petals and it generally measures about one and

d G

. The fruit ripens in September but few care to eat it. The vine grows luxuriantly and is very common. The summer grape is another tough-skinned grape. It is not musky but is generally as

n to most of

pe or Chi

, round, and black with a slight bloom. The clusters are well-filled and hang loosely. The vine grows luxuriantly, branching from a large trunk, and is found in wet places and on the banks of streams, though it does well in the open and i

s. Black

gh, pimply green which forms the outer husk. The nut is sometimes oblong, sometimes almost round, with a deeply grooved, hard, brown shell. It grows in pairs or solitary. The tree is large, often reaching the height of one hundred feet, and its trunk is from four to six feet in diameter. The bark is

ter

The butternut does not grow as far north as the walnut, but is often found side by side with the walnut in the Middle States. The green outer covering of the nut is oblong and sticky on the su

ts, sweet

ory-

l appearance they are alike. All have compound leaves and the leaflets are larger and fewer to the stem than the walnut, usually numbering from five to eleven. The nuts grow in small clusters as a rule, o

ark. S

nt. It is the bark of the tree that gives it the name of shagbark, for it separates into long, ragged strips

ker

t easily cracked. It is called the mockernut because while the nut is large, usually larger

shells. Beechnu

gn

he decidedly bitter kind that I found lying temptingly clean and white under the tree. The thin outer husk of the pignut is not much larger than the nut. It is broader at the top than at the stem, w

ec

tributed, but few people know anything about the nut. In Kentucky the nuts used to be plentiful, but I have seen none in New York. It is

three-sided with sharp angles. It is contained in a small, prickly husk and grows both solitary or in clusters of t

nd the leaf is oblong, pointed at the tip,

es

s. A round, green prickly burr is the husk of the nut, and this is lined inside with soft, white, velvety down. Nestled closely in this

ms at that time, so you cannot mistake it. Later you will know it by the prickly green burrs, which develop quickly. The tree is large and common to most States. The leaves are from six to

d Roots

pery

o the taste but are said to be nutritious. They have a glutinous qualit

the white elm, but there are differences by which you can know it. If you stroke the leaf of a white elm you will find that it is rough one way but smooth the other; stroke the leaf of the slippery-elm, and it will be rough both ways. The buds of the white elm are smooth, those of the slippery-elm are hairy. T

saf

. The edible bark is dark red-brown. It is thick but not hard and is deeply ridged and scaled. The cracked bark is one of the characteristics of the tree; it begins to split when the tree is about three years old. The strong a

medicines for purifying the blood, and the bark was brought

ly shaped leaves. Some will be oval, some with three lobes, and some mitte

. Wate

nd brooks. Its smooth green or brownish leaves lie on the top of the water; they are compound, with from three to nine small rounded leaflets. The flavor

del

te in the spring, are good. The flavor is slightly bitter with the wholesome bitterness one likes in the spring of the year. These young leaves are

ss stem crowned with a bright-yellow, many-petalled flower about the size of a silver fifty-cent piece. The seed he