← Forage Calendar mapKnow this look-alike
Edible Berries vs Nightshade: Telling Them Apart
These look-alikes can make you seriously ill. Get the identification right before you eat anything. Black and bittersweet nightshade berries are mistaken for blueberries, huckleberries, cranberries, and groundcherries. Nightshade berries hang in loose clusters from a sprawling herbaceous plant, not a woody shrub, and the unripe and green parts are toxic.
The dangerous species
⚠ do not eatNightshade Berries
Solanum americanum / S. nigrum / S. dulcamara (Bittersweet Nightshade)
Forest & Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0
How to tell it apart
Edibles people confuse with these
If you are foraging any of these, rule out the look-alikes above every time.
The notes above are an educational starting point, not a substitute for a field guide or an experienced forager. If you are not completely certain, do not eat it.
