Hello, I am trying to identify a wild berry plant in Lancaster County, PA. I live in the woods and saw this plant (we have wild red raspberries and blackberries, however this doesn't look like a blueberry plant to me). It is approx. 3' in height and has clusters of black berries. I am wondering if the berries are edible or toxic. I attached pictures. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance...
A species of Viburnum. Generally not edible (very slightly toxic), though some species can be eaten. Eating one or two won't hurt, if they taste revolting, don't eat any more. Even the toxic species, you'd need to eat a lot to suffer adverse effects.
Thank you very much for the quick answer! (It's a good thing I didn't feed the berries to my chickens) Thanks again.
Chickens have a different biology than humans. What is edible or poisonous to you may not be edible or poisonous to them.
Most fruit-eating birds will eat Viburnum berries very readily. Chances are, the chickens would like them. A lot of berries have evolved to be edible for birds (which are good seed dispersers), while being inedible for mammals (which are not good seed dispersers).
Those with fruits that are eaten by humans include VV. alnifolium, cassinoides, edule, lentago, nudum, opulus, prunifolium, setigerum and trilobum.
