September 04, 2008 - All your berries in one basketThe Suffolk Times • September 4, 2008
40
in one
tome time dacx we ceieorateu 'ne
strawberry season. Other berries hav
their day, too; whether they be cran-
berries, pokeberries or others, they all
have their time of wonder.
Most of the fruit that comes to mar
kdt today has been hybridized to look
inviting to the consumer, but I believe
in doing so the fruit has lost some of
the good taste of the original.
Take the small wild strawberry, for
instance; it might be smaller in size,
but it wins my vote for being tastier. I
wonder how many of you have come
upon a "patch"
FOCUS of these delica-
cies and been
i0 N rewarded by
their taste.
NATURE There are
by Paul many interesting
Stoutenburgh berries and fruits
that ripen at this
time of year, some good, some not so
good. Have you noticed the clusters of
pokeberries growing on large weedy
plants in waste places? These dark
purple berries look most tempting,
but beware: They are poisonous, and
no matter what part of the plant you
might think edible, it may not be.
Pokeweed is a perennial with a
tough taproot that is persistent in
oming back each year no matter how
any times you cut it down. Yet there';
omething to be said about this persis-
ent grower. The black berries seem to
ave little effect on birds that feed on
hem or the deer that browse on them.
The early settlers extracted a juice
from the pokeberries that made a
erect natural dye found in early
American paint. This was the same
idea the Native Americans had used tc
dye basket materials. One of the most
interestiniz facts about vokeberrv, also
11 vour
asket
•
erries
Left: Bittersweet is a climbing invasive plant that will try to take over you
garden if you let it. It has colorful clusters of orange berries that are used fc
decorations in the fall. Right: Bitter nightshade shows clusters of scarlet be
ries as fall approaches. It's an aggressive climber and if given a chance wl
take over most other plants and bushes, and its berries are poisonous.
known as inkberry, is that the Constitu
tion was signed with pokeberry ink.
Another berry that you want to stay
clear of is the bitter nightshade that
has a beautiful little purplish flower
similar to a potato blossom. Green
berries are produced, which turn
bright red when ripe and can remain
on the vine into winter. The berries
produced by this plant are poisonous
to humans but edible by birds. It grow!
in disturbed areas, thickets, roadsides,
open forests and moist clearings,
where it can form a dense, tangled
mass over other vegetation.
Bittersweet is a climbing vine that
has bright orange berries on it in the
fall. Used mainly for colorful decora-
tions during the holidays, it is later dis-
get rut ot, for ius an aggressive giuwei.
Birds enjoy the berries and distribute
them throughout the area as the ber-
ries pass from them.
Autumn olive was supposed to pro-
vide wildlife with food and shelter, and
it does both quite well. But a problem
arose from all the free cuttings from
the state and a multitude of new plant,,
from seeds dispersed by birds that had
eaten the berries. Today autumn olive
has become a pest and is proving itself
a difficult plant to eradicate.
Another berry that has been known
since colonial times is the cranberry.
This low- growing plant needs a bog
and a cool area to produce its colorful
red berries that are most apparent to
us at turkey time.
The cranberries were important
r ,
survive in their early years when
food was short. Being strangers in a
m r
new land, they probably got valuable
w
information about survival from the
°
local Indians. One of the choice foods
of the Indians was pemmican, made
of dried deer meat, crushed cranber-
a
ries and melted fat.
N
y,
Few people know that at one time
00
e �:
,
there were extensive cranberry bogs
L
a
f„
in Riverhead and Manorville. None
E 1 d
„
of these cranberry bogs are function -
m
,
ing today. The one in Manorville
o d
3
has become a golf course and the
area has opened to development.
The cranberry bog I remember the
°' ('
i ..
most in Riverhead is now part of the
0
county park system.
Q c
Just a little sidelight: Cranberry Bog
_
County Preserve in Riverhead was
ioio °
where I first got involved in conserva-
tion work many years ago. At that time
Nthere
was a strong effort by many to
ea °
preserve these unique bogs.
a
I traveled with the Riverhead
0
Garden Club, and sometimes with Dr.
° ..
Robert Cushman Murphy, throughout
d -0
the county showing my slides of the
c .o
area, including some of the beautiful
2
orchids that grew there. Eventually the
county bought 460 acres in the Pine
Barrens with wetlands and woodlands
including a 3/4 -mile interpretive trail
U
around Sweezy Pond that is open to
s —
the public year round.
It is interesting to note that there
are smatterings of natural cranberry
T as
bogs in isolated places on the North
Autumn olive
Fork. They are where the water table
= E
is a plant out
creates boggy places year round. The
3 °
of control, but
cranberries that grow there are small
c
birds enjoy
in comparison to commercially grown
r
its massive
berries. But if you are patient, you can
°a c
clusters of
pick enough for that all- important
R 42
berries in the
Thanksgiving dinner. Good luck!
N E
fall. Given out
>
by the state
3 ' �
for food and
c =
shelter for
ildlife, it will
grow most
°o
anw
Don't be
CL c
fooled by
pokeweed's
E —
tempting
.(D
dark purple
�+ F-
berries; ever
s
part of this
plant can be
poisonous,
c
although de(
and birds
c N
feast on the
T
Ni
berries with