Plant comparison guides

Hairy stems = safe. Smooth purple-spotted stems = deadly.

Crown on bottom = blueberry. Single shiny berry in leaf crook = nightshade.

Tendrils and multiple seeds = grape. No tendrils and one crescent seed = moonseed.

Clear sap = safe purslane. Milky white sap = toxic spurge.

Crush a leaf. Garlic smell = safe. No smell = death camas.

Slice in half. Completely hollow = true morel. Cottony inside = false morel.

Purple-black berry clusters = elderberry. Carrot-smell root with chambers = water hemlock.

White star flowers with split petals = chickweed. Orange-red flowers = scarlet pimpernel.

Single flower on hollow stem = dandelion. Branching solid stems = cat ear.

Same plant. Root = edible cooked. Sap on skin + sunlight = chemical burns.

Crush a leaf. Onion smell = wild onion. No smell with a white midrib stripe = star-of-Bethlehem.

Bumpy berry of many beads on a thorny cane = blackberry. Smooth berries on a pink-magenta stalk = pokeweed.

Soft red fruit, no spines = tomato. Yellow berry with spiny stems = horse nettle.

Fresh-herb smell, no bracts = parsley. Foul smell with long drooping bracts under the flowers = fool's parsley.

Soft leaves from a fibrous root = daylily (buds edible; try a little, some stomachs react). Stiff sword leaves from a thick surface rhizome = iris (toxic).

Round pods you would shell for dinner = garden pea. Showy fragrant flowers with winged stems = sweet pea (ornamental; seeds cause harm only if eaten in quantity over time, not a one-bite emergency).