How to identify wild fruits

Find out how to identify 15 types of fruits in the countryside, plus which ones can be foraged and some recipe ideas.

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Published: August 11, 2021 at 11:00 am

Autumn is a bountiful time of fruits, when trees and bushes seem to be dripping with beautiful berries – great for both wildlife and keen foragers.

Some of these berries are safe for humans to eat, although a few do need to be cooked first. Care must be taken as there are some safe fruits which can be easily mixed up with poisonous ones. If in doubt of plant identification, do not forage.

More recipes using berries:

Picture taken from above, open jar of red jam with a spoon in it. Some berries are on the table around it.

Illustrations by Felicity Rose Cole, unless otherwise credited

Do birds prefer berries of particular colours?

Yes. Berry colour is traditionally viewed as an adaptation, increasing the detectability of a plant’s fruit to species likely to ingest it and then disperse its seeds at a new location. This view is reinforced by the fact that most berries change colour as they ripen, becoming more visible.

Each berry offers specific nutritional rewards, such as sugars or antioxidants, for the intended seed disperser, and colour may be one way to advertise these offerings. Carotenoids and anthocyanins are important pigments, and research has revealed that they are also antioxidants.

Experiments with blackcaps have shown that birds are capable of discriminating the anthocyanin concentrations present in berries, and use fruit colour to do this. Berries rich in anthocyanins are black or ultraviolet-reflecting (birds can detect the UV spectrum better than humans), and are preferred. Deep red may also be favoured, though yellow and white
are less sought after.

This originally appeared as a Q&A in BBC Wildlife Magazine, and was answered by Mike Toms.

Do any animals get drunk on fermenting berries?

Humans started brewing alcohol 9,000 years ago, but nature has been doing it much longer, via yeast fermentation in rotting fruits and other sugary substances. The (aptly named) bohemian waxwing may gorge on so many fermented rowan berries in winter that it’s unable to fly or even walk in a straight line.

Bohemian waxwing sitting in rowan tree with rowan berries around, in Gällivare, Swedish Lapland, Sweden. © Mats Lindberg/Getty Images

Mammals also get in on the drinking action, and one of the keenest mammalian boozers is a tiny Malaysian tree shrew, whose nectar diet is 3.8% alcohol by volume, akin to drinking beer all day.

This originally appeared as a Q&A in BBC Wildlife Magazine, and was answered by Ellen Husain.

How to identify wild fruits

Bramble (Rubus fruticosus)

Vintage engraving of bramble. © Getty

A very familiar plant to many, which produces blackberries – one of the most abundant fruits in autumn. There are over 300 microspecies of bramble in the UK.

Foraging recipes with blackberries:

Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus)

Guelder rose branch with leaves and berries. © Getty

Also known as dogberry or water elder, guelder rose produces bright red berries in autumn that hang in bunches. When eaten raw, the berries are mildly toxic, but can be used in jams or jellies.

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

Vintage engraving of blackthorn. © Getty

The fruits of the blackthorn tree are known as sloes, which are a classic flavouring for gin.

Learn more about blackthorn and using sloes in foraging recipes:

Why not give a handmade gift this year, perhaps using foraged fruit, such as this sloe port. Oksana Schmidt/Getty.

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Small or medium-sized thorny tree of hedgerows, rough ground and upland areas. Scarlet oval ‘haws’.

Learn more about hawthorn and using it in foraging recipes:

Dog rose (Rosa canina)

Vigorous hedgerow briar: our most common wild rose. Oval to flask-shaped scarlet rosehips.

Foraging recipes with rose petals and rosehips:

Elder (Sambucus nigra)

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Small hedgerow tree with flat clusters of edible black berries. Frothy white flowers in May–June.

Foraging recipes with elderflowers and elder berries

How to make elderflower gin. © Rostislav Sedlacek/Getty

Crab-apple (Malus sylvestris)

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Thorny tree with small, hard, yellow, apple-shaped fruits that can be used to make jelly.

Foraging recipes with crab-apples:

Black nightshade (Solanum nigrim)

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Tiny, tomato-like annual with dull black berries. Although the ripe berries are edible, the plant is easily confused with the poisonous deadly nightshade, so unless you’re very confident at plant identification, it is best avoided.

Burnet rose (Rosa pimpinellifolia)

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Low shrub of coastal dunes and chalk grassland. Unlike other wild roses produces purple-black hips.

Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara)

More of a dainty scrambler than a climber. Sprays of small, red, oval, bitter-sweet berries; lilac-and- yellow flowers may linger to September. Also known as woody nightshade.

Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)

Small hedgerow shrub with garish clusters of coral-pink berries held in orange sheaths.

Black bryony (Tamus communis)

Britain’s only native wild yam. Climbing sinuous tendrils twine around other hedgerow plants. Heart-shaped leaves and hanging swags of luscious, red, poisonous berries like glacé cherries.

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)

Vigorous shrub that grows up trees and bushes, twisting around trunks and branches like a vine. Tight, firm clusters of small, bright scarlet berries – dormice love them.