It’s Mushroom Monday, and this week I’m introducing you to another of PEI’s many edible fungi. Meet the Swollen-stalked Cat (Catathelasma ventricosa). Swollen-stalked Cats grow directly from the ground and look a bit like greyish puffballs when they first appear (main photo). If you pull one up, you’ll find it has a heavy, dense feel and short, tapered stalk. Cut one open, and you’ll see solid white flesh, along with a cap and gills that – at this stage – are covered in tissu

It’s mushroom Monday, and this week we have the eye-catching, edible, and ecologically-helpful Flame Trumpet (Craterellus ignicolor). No matter how much or how little interest you have in wild mushrooms, you’ve likely heard of Chanterelles. That common name usually applies to fungi in the genus Cantharellus, but there are other, equally edible, members of the Chanterelle family. I’ve posted about two before: Black Trumpet (Craterellus fallax) and Winter Chanterelle (aka Yel

You’re likely familiar with sweet, seedless supermarket grapes, and perhaps you’ve visited one of PEI’s commercial vineyards. But did you know that the Island has wild grapes as well? Meet the Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia). Riverbank Grape is native to Canada, including neighbouring New Brunswick where it’s relatively common. Here on PEI, Riverbank Grape was introduced about a century ago (likely from NB), and I occasionally find it having escaped from old homesteads and gr

It’s Mushroom Monday, and if you’ve never noticed the similarities between the smell of maple syrup and that of curry, today’s species might surprise you. Meet the Curry Milkcap (aka Candy Cap, Lactarius camphoratus). Milkcaps are mushrooms that exude a milky juice (sometimes called ‘latex’) when broken or cut. I’ve written about this group before, including the edible, orange-latex Saffron Milkcaps that are common across PEI. Curry Milkcaps are small, with reddish-brown ca

What comes to mind when you think about wild foods: bitter greens, sweet berries, meaty mushrooms? Spicy may not be at the top of your wild tastes list, but PEI does have some delightfully peppery plants, including this one: Horseweed (Erigeron canadensis). Horseweed is among the Island’s native ruderal species: plants that naturally prefer disturbed habitats. Before European settlement, this member of the Aster Family would have grown mainly along our sandy and rocky shore

September on PEI doesn’t just mean shorter days, cooler weather, and back to school. It also means the return of Mushroom Mondays! Let’s kick the season off with a species that reminds us just how strange fungi can be: meet the Stinky Squid (Pseudocolus fusiformis). You could be forgiven for thinking this looks more like an alien than a mushroom. Stinky Squids start out as greyish eggs in the soil (inset photo) and, as they mature, develop three to four orange arms each cov

One of the most common questions I’m asked this time of year is: what are these berries on my tree? In many cases, the answer is Crab Apples (Malus spp.)! On PEI (and probably elsewhere), it’s common to call any wild Apple a Crab Apple. But technically, a Crab Apple tree consistently produces fruit less than five centimetres (two inches) in diameter at maturity. That means most or all of the fruit is that size, every year. A tree sporting Apples in a variety of sizes, or la

The Mi’kmaq have a name for each full moon of the celestial calendar, with August’s being the Berry Ripening Moon (Kisikewiku’s, pronounced gis-ig-ay-we-goos). This is indeed peak berry season on PEI, with SO many wild fruits on offer right now. But there’s one you may have overlooked: Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina). Staghorn Sumac is native to the Island, and was also used as an ornamental, meaning it can be found around towns, cities, and rural homesteads. It’s a beautiful

I get lots of questions about where to find certain PEI plants, but three species top the list: Common Elderberry, Serviceberry, and today’s subject: Mugwort (aka Common Wormwood Artemisia vulgaris). Unlike Elderberry and Serviceberry, Mugwort is not native to PEI. It was brought to North America as a culinary and medicinal plant in the 1600s and has been well-established on the Island since at least the mid-1800s. Mugwort is a perennial that spreads primarily by rhizomes

One of PEI’s most common woodland plants is often overlooked, occasionally misidentified, and fruiting now. Meet Sarsaparilla (pronounced ‘sass-parilla’, Aralia nudicaulis). Sarsaparilla is about 30 to 45 centimetres (a foot to 1.5 feet) tall and is divided into three branches, each with three to five leaflets (main photo). Those leaflets are often reddish when they first appear in spring, and they turn red again in fall. This, coupled with the old saying “leaves of three,

PEI has wildflowers that are beautiful, edible, and ecologically important. Today we have an example that’s all three, and flowering now: Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium)! Fireweed can be found across the Island, blooming in vacant urban lots, along rural roads and fields, and among forests impacted by 2022’s Hurricane Fiona. While it gets its name from an ability to recolonize land following wildfire, it doesn’t need fire to appear: any disturbance will do. Fireweed i

This week, we’re looking at a couple of edible non-native wildflowers that are in season right now. On Monday, it was Tufted Vetch; today we have Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare). Most people are familiar with Ox-eye Daisy’s distinctive white petals (ray flowers) surrounding the golden-yellow centre (disk flowers). This cheerful-looking plant can be found across the Island, pushing up through cracks in sidewalks, growing among the stone landscaping of highway dividers, l

This week, we’re looking at a couple of edible non-native wildflowers that are in season right now. First up: Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca). Tufted Vetch is a member of the Pea Family (Fabaceae) with clusters of purple flowers at the ends of stalks that arise from the leaf axils. (If you look closely at a flower cluster in person, you’ll see that each tiny blossom resembles a little bird with its beak against the flower stalk). Vetch leaves are like narrow versions of garden

I love meeting a new-to-me mushroom, and so was quite happy when I found these among my favourite patch of King Boletes (aka Porcini) last week. Meet the aptly named Red-mouth Bolete (Neoboletus subvelutipes). Followers of this page will know that mushrooms with spongy pores rather than gills, folds, or teeth under the cap are boletes. (Not all boletes have spongy pores, but mushrooms that do are boletes. And if you haven’t been following this page, you can get caught up on

When we think about wildflowers, coastal areas often get overlooked in favour of fields, forests, and roadsides. But that means missing some of PEI’s loveliest native plants, including Starry False Solomon’s Seal (Maianthemum stellatum). Starry False Solomon’s Seal is a relative of Wild Lily-of-the-Valley, which I introduced you to earlier this spring. If you guessed these plants are members of the Lily Family (Liliaceae), you’d be sensible, but wrong! The genus Maianthemum

This year’s damp weather may not be popular with everyone, but it has been great for mushrooms! The abundance of fruiting fungi has brought out a crop of social media posts asking about edibility. Here are some tips to help you ask the right questions and get reliable answers! I love encouraging people to try wild plants and fungi, but I cringe every time someone asks “is this edible?” That should never be your first question; instead, start with “what is this, and how can I

If you’ve been travelling in central PEI lately, you’ve likely noticed a showy roadside tree with dense clusters of white flowers along the topsides of its branches – gardeners may be reminded of a giant version of the popular Bridal Wreath Spirea. This is English Hawthorne (Crataegus monogyna) and it’s having a banner year! PEI has several native species of Hawthornes that hybridize readily, making them notoriously hard to tell apart. However, our non-native English Hawtho

Some PEI plants are inextricably linked with people – not only in how the species arrived here, but also in their ongoing social and cultural value. I can think of no better example than the Common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris). Lilacs are not native to North America but were among the earliest flowers brought by European settlers. Considering the harsh conditions and limited space on ships crossing the North Atlantic in the 17th century – not to mention the utilitarian worldvie

Public awareness of invasive species is high now, but that hasn’t always been the case. In the 1800s, if a foreign plant was edible, medicinal, or pretty, it was brought to North America without much thought. As a result, we are now dealing with dozens of problematic species, including invasive Honeysuckles. Tartarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tartarica) was introduced to North America from Asia in the 1840s as an ornamental garden shrub. The same traits that make it attractive

I love flowering tree season on PEI. Right now, roadsides and hedgerows are alive with blossoms of Chokecherry, Pin Cherry, Hawthorne, Serviceberry and soon, the showiest of all: wild Apple. Unlike many of our other familiar fruit, Apples are not native to PEI. Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, and wild Cherries have all been here for thousands of years, but Apples were brought by the earliest settlers in the 1700s. Given the limited and unpredictable nature of wild