Fall Edible Plants of the Inland Pacific Northwest

Though the bulk of the gathering season is definitely in the spring and summer, fall still has a few things to offer before winter carpets the ground in snow.

Some hardy berries actually stay good for most of the winter.

Bearberry

Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), also known as Kinnikinnick, has many uses. The dried leaves were often smoked by the Natives and the plant is powerful medicine, notably against urinary tract infections. The fresh berries can be eaten but they're not extraordinary, somewhat reminiscent of a grainy apple in texture. The berries will remain on the plant through the winter and it is said that Natives would dig up into the snow to find them. Though that's nice to know if you're craving fresh berries in the winter, that's not necessarily worth the trouble in my opinion, and I usually harvest them right now, in the fall. They were traditionally fried and I have to admit that they're much better that way, although the seeds are particularly unpleasant to deal with that way. Still, the strategy of mixing foods that don't taste so good on their own with other more palatable ones is common in a subsistence economy and worth keeping in mind to extend food stores.

Rose Hip

Rose hips (Rosa spp.) are very high in Vitamin C and are delicious, especially after a few frosts, which make them quite a bit sweeter. They generally stay on their bushes well into the winter, frozen, and they're great to pick then. Just make sure to pick the bright red ones. You can eat the hip as is but the rind is really the only edible and palatable part. The center of the hip is filled with hairy seeds and I don't recommend eating them, though I know a few people who do. Natives warned that eating the whole hip would give you an itchy bottom when the seeds came out. Rose hips are also great added to teas.








Fall is also the time to gather root crops that you didn't have the opportunity to harvest in the spring. A few plants lend themselves well to this as their seed heads are still visible well into the fall. It's generally best to wait after a rain before harvesting these roots, at least in our arid climate, as the soil is much easier to dig then.

Chocolate Lily Bulb

Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria lanceolata), a close relative to Yellowbell (Fritillaria pudica), seems to prefer more shaded areas than its cousin. It is also known as Riceroot because, just like Yellowbells, there are many little bulblets on top of the main bulb. These bulblets can be eaten as well and/or they can be dispersed back into the freshly dug hole for future plants to emerge. Both the bulb and the bulblets are best cooked, particularly boiled.

You can harvest Chocolate Lily bulbs in the spring but their seed heads remain erect throughout the fall so they're easy to spot then as well. An untrained eye may have a hard time identifying the dried seed heads so I'll show you their progression throughout the year.

Chocolate Lily Flower

Up where we live, Chocolate Lilies flower around mid-May. Towards the end of June you can see the green seed heads becoming erect on the plant (note that the flowers were actually hanging down!). Over the summer, these seed heads will mature and then open to reveal three double-chambered capsules full of seeds that will then be dispersed.

Green Seed Head of Chocolate Lily

Dried Seed Head of Chocolate Lily

By the end of October, the dried seed heads have spread their seeds but remain clearly visible and are pretty cool looking in and of themselves! This is a great time to gather the bulbs, when the ground has been softened by the fall rains.

Just as was true for the other roots featured in this series, you can get a decent idea of the size of the bulb by counting the number of flowers (or seed heads) on one stalk, which typically range from 1 to 5. Personally, I don't dig up a bulb unless there are at least two flower heads on the plant.

The Scales of a Tiger Lily Bulb

Tiger Lily (Lilium columbianum) is also a species that keeps its seed heads visible through the fall. Curiously, it very much has the same growth pattern and seed heads as the Chocolate Lily but it has a very different kind of bulb, which is composed of many little scales, somewhat like a garlic bulb but without all the papery sheath to keep it all together.

Just as for the Chocolate Lily, I'll show you the progression of the plant so that you can more easily spot the dried seed heads in the fall.

Tiger Lily Flower

Tiger Lily Going to Seed

Up where we live, the flowers appear in early June and are remarkably beautiful with their distinctive upturned petals. Once they are fertilized, the green seed heads start forming, first with their head hanging down but soon going to an erect position.


By the fall, their dried seed heads are virtually identical to the seed heads of Chocolate Lily and it can be difficult to tell them apart for sure, though the former tend to be quite a bit taller

Dried Seed Head of Tiger Lily

Again, it's best to dig up the more mature bulbs, as indicated by the number of flowers/seed heads on one plant. For Tiger Lilies, there can be up to 30 flowers on one stalk!


I can't say that the scaly bulbs taste great; they actually have a quite strong bitter taste though not in a bad way. Cooked and used as a sort of condiment, like you would use garlic for instance, they actually make a decent addition to a meal.








So far I haven't experimented much with the propagation of Tiger Lily. I have heard that the bulblets will grow a new plant. When I dug up the bulb I was surprised that it actually had very strong roots going deep into the ground from the bulb. So as an experiment I left the roots intact (the scaly bulbs detached very easily) as well as a couple of the scales attached. I marked the spot and will be visiting it again next year to see what happened to it.

A Scale (Held by my Finger) and the Fleshy Roots Below

Finally, watch our video on Black Tree Lichen (Bryoria fremontii), which can be gathered and eaten at any time of year.


Also visit the other posts of this Edible Plants Series:

• Edible Spring Plants
• More Edible Spring Plants
• Even More Edible Spring Plants
• and Summer Edible Plants

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As usual, I'm 100% confident of the accuracy of this information and I have much personal experience with these plants. However, don't rely on my pictures to identify plants on your own. You should always, always have someone knowledgeable by your side to actually show you the plants and their characteristics until you have enough personal experience to be able to tell them apart from other plants. You take full responsibility for the mistakes you may make in the field.