State foraging calendar
Missouri Foraging Calendar
Missouri is one of the Midwest's great foraging states, anchored by the Ozark Plateau that covers most of the southern half of the state and constitutes one of the finest morel, chanterelle, and autumn mushroom landscapes in the country. The state also claims extraordinary pawpaw, persimmon, and black walnut abundance, with the Missouri River bottomlands offering some of the densest pawpaw patches in North America. Spring morel hunting is a deeply embedded cultural tradition in Missouri, with family spots passed down over generations and some localities holding informal morel festivals. The Ozarks also produce excellent wild berry crops including serviceberry, elderberry, gooseberry, and the wild black cherry that is a foundation of Southern foraging.
6 bioregions across Missouri
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Tap a region to see what's in season
Bioregions of Missouri
Foraging seasons shift sharply between Missouri's ecoregions. Pick the one nearest you for a 12-month calendar of what is in season.
Central Great Plains
189 speciesNorthwestern Missouri's prairie-and-river-bottom country, with morels in the cottonwood bottoms and chokecherries, rose hips, and wild asparagus along the grassland edges.
View calendar →Interior Low Plateaus
168 speciesSoutheastern Missouri's limestone plateau country, with strong ramp and pawpaw habitat, spicebush berries, black walnuts, and rich autumn mushrooms.
View calendar →Corn Belt Midwest
165 speciesNorthern Missouri's agricultural lowlands and Missouri River corridor with morels in bottomland hardwood woodlots, elderberries and wild plums on field edges, and pawpaws along the river floodplain.
View calendar →Piney Woods and Loess Hills
140 speciesThe shortleaf pine and loess woodlands of the Missouri Bootheel, with huckleberries, elderberries, black walnuts, and warm-season chanterelles and chicken of the woods.
View calendar →Ozark Highlands
129 speciesMissouri's Ozark Plateau heartland with prolific spring morels in the cedar-elm and oak-hickory river-bottom forest, summer chanterelles and hen of the woods, pawpaws and persimmons in the creek bottoms, and excellent black walnut and hickory nut crops in fall.
View calendar →Mississippi Alluvial Plain
120 speciesMissouri's Bootheel, the southernmost extension of the state into the Mississippi River delta, with muscadine grapes, elderberries, and pawpaws in the alluvial bottomland forest of this subtropical outlier.
View calendar →Always confirm any wild edible with multiple sources and an experienced local guide before eating it. Many edible species have toxic look-alikes.