Stacy M. Coplin and Eric M. Knight - Foraging Texas: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods in Texas

First, we would like to thank our family and friends for their ongoing love, support, and encouragement. Wed especially like to thank Erics parents (Steve and Mary) and Stacys parents (Lennard and Boots) for encouraging an interest and respect for nature early on. Being outside and participating in the natural world has always been part of our lives and its thanks to them.

Developing the skills, knowledge, experience, and confidence to forage wild edible plants is a lifelong pursuit. We are continually learning new methods of preparation, honing our botany skills, and learning about new-to-us species (whether edible or not). We would like to take a moment to acknowledge some of the important mentors, teachers, peers, and elders who have helped us along the way.

Thank you to Ingwe for the wisdom, poetry, and stories that have inspired and enriched us over the years. Ingwes words have been a source of grounded reason and strength in our lives, and we take his words to heart: The wilderness holds all truth and knowledge. Thank you.

Thank you to the Austin Nature & Science Center, where the authors met and fell in love while working together as environmental educators. Special thanks to Dave and Michel Scott, who founded Earth Native Wilderness School in Bastrop, Texas. Eric was one of their first students when they opened the school and learned and honed many of his primitive skills both while apprenticing under them and then while leading classes as part of their staff. Dave has been an important mentor, and we truly appreciate his drive to connect his students to the natural world. Also, a huge thank-you to Dave for putting us in contact with FalconGuides to begin this whole process.

Special thanks to the late Texas botany giant Dr. Billie Lee Turner, Director Emeritus of the University of Texas (UT) herbarium and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT). Dr. Turner described numerous new plant species and significantly influenced Texas botany throughout his career. We corresponded with Dr. Turner a number of times over the years, and he never failed to inspire us and encourage Eric in particular to pursue botany and field botany. Thank you, Dr. Turneryou will be missed!

Thank you to herbalist Nicole Telkes of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine. Nicole was Erics first herbalism teacher, and we thank her for her knowledge, wisdom, and encouragement. Thanks also to herbalists Sam Coffman (The Human Path) and Ginger Webb (Sacred Journey School of Medicine) for sharing their expertise with us.

Thank you also to all the preceding edible plant authors and experts including Euell Gibbons, Michael Moore, Bradford Angier, Scooter Cheatham, Samuel Thayer, Delena Tull, Jon Young, John Slatterly, Charles Kane, Mark Merriwether Vorderbruggen, Tom Elpel, John Kallas, Steve Brill, and Green Deane. We have learned from all of you through various field guides, talks, and websites over the years; thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

A huge thank-you to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for providing opportunities for Eric to lead edible plant walks on-site and for helping him develop his botany skills while volunteering on vegetation surveys with Dick Davis and crew. And fun fact: We got married in a large live oak grove at the center.

Thank you to our past and future students at the Austin Nature & Science Center, Earth Native Wilderness School, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and Local Leaf for humbling us and allowing us to share our experiences. A certain Latin proverb comes to mind: docendo discimusby teaching, we learn. We also want to thank all the plant identification experts who have helped us identify plants over the years. Thank you especially to botanist Nathan Taylor (for his assistance with identifying several species in this book) and Texas Parks & Wildlifes Sam Kieschnick (for his broad base of plant knowledge and photos used in this book). Thanks also to iNaturalist contributors Frances and Clark Hancock and Suzanne Dingwell for letting us use some of their photos in this book, and to Texas A&M AgriLife and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for permission to reprint the Gould Ecoregions of Texas map. And a special thank-you to the renowned forager Samuel Thayer for reviewing the draft manuscript of this book and providing valuable insight and feedback.

Thank you to our editor Katie ODell at Falcon for guiding us on this book-writing adventure and keeping our wild ideas in check.

We would also like to send out a special thank-you to our collective ancestors. No matter your ethnicity, race, or heritage, someone in your lineage passed down vital knowledge of the plant world to future generations. Thanks for passing it on; were here to keep it going. Specifically, though, we would like to acknowledge that none of this book would have been possible without the deep knowledge of the native plants shared by the past and current indigenous people of what is now called Texas. Further, this land that we live on and the beautiful lands we have traveled to for plant photos and harvests over the years were originally stolen from or (at best) coercively ceded by one or another indigenous tribe. Our hearts ache for what was done to our indigenous brothers and sisters, and a profound respect and gratitude goes out to them for sharing their intimate knowledge of the plant world.

And lastly, a profound thank-you to the non-human beings we interact with on a daily basis. The live oak trees, mockingbirds, grackles, salamanders, bats, yaupon, and limestone of this special spot along the Colorado River, where the Edwards Plateau meets the Blackland Prairie, keep us sane and grounded. Thank you.

While this book details many of the more common and abundant wild edible plants in Texas, we couldnt cover everything. Below is an abbreviated list of other edible wild plant species in Texas that didnt quite make the cut. This list is by no means exhaustive.

An asterisk (*) before a plant listed below denotes that it is an invasive or nonnative species.

Maple (Acer spp.)

American chinquapin (Castanea pumila)

Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.)

American beech (Fagus grandifolia)

Crabapple (Malus spp.)

Red bay (Persea borbonia)

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

American basswood (Tilia americana)

American hog-peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata)

Groundnut (Apios americana)

New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus)

Seagrape (Coccoloba uvifera)

Mormon tea (Ephedra spp.)

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)

Mangle dulce (Maytenus phyllanthoides)

*Kudzu (Pureraria lobata)

Rose (Rosa spp.)

Desert yaupon (Schaefferia cuneifolium)

Giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)

Wrights yellowshow (Amoreuxia wrightii)

Searocket (Cakile spp.)

Bittercress (Cardamine spp.)

*Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica)

*Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)

Prairie tea (Croton monanthogynous)

Chufa (Cyperus esculentus)

*Storks-bill (Erodium cicutarium)

Strawberry (Fragaria spp.)

Sumpweed (Iva annua)

*Horehound (Marrubium vulgare)

*Mint (Mentha spp.)

Partridge berry (Mitchella repens)

Indian breadroot (Pediomelum hypogaeum)

*Beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens)

Grasses (Poaceae)

*Indian strawberry (Potentilla indica)

Devils claw (