Native Edible Fruits - Yuba-Sutter

Native Edible Fruits in the Yuba-Sutter area include all the native snowberries; pome fruits; cherries and plums; strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries; and the hips of all the native roses, in addition to the plants listed on this page. They span six plant families: the moschatel family, the barberry family, honeysuckle family, heath family (which also contains familiar non-native fruits such as blueberries and cranberries), gooseberry family, rose family (which also contains familiar non-native fruits such as apples, pears, and apricots), and grape family.

The most familiar-looking native fruits belong to the rose family, which includes native strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries and cherries and plums, although the native versions of these fruits are all slightly different species than the ones commonly sold in grocery stores. Many less familiar fruits taste just as good as the familiar ones. The Incredible Edibles page on the Las Pilitas Nursery website provides a guide to preparing unfamiliar native fruits and other edible plants.

In addition to feeding yourself and your family, you can attract many native birds to your yard by planting the native edible fruits that these birds evolved to eat or to forage for insects among. Many bird species will eat almost any fruits (native or non-native) as adults, but most very young birds require extra nutrition from insects. Since most insects can only eat native plants, most bird species cannot raise their young to adulthood without native plants.¹ Therefore, planting native edible fruits is one of the best things you can do to improve your bird watching opportunities at home.

Barberry family

Shining Netvein Barberry

Shining netvein barberry (also called Oregon mountain grape) is an three-foot-tall by three- to five-foot-wide, yellow-flowering, evergreen shrub that is native to Yuba and Sutter Counties and typically grows at elevations below 7,000 feet. It is most often found on rocky slopes in central oak woodland and yellow pine forest. It prefers shade and moderate to good drainage. It attracts Western bluebirds and Western tanagers. Monarch butterflies drink the nectar of its flowers. Botanist Willis Linn Jepson collected shining netvein barberry on the Sutter Buttes in 1891.²

You can read more about it at the Theodore Payne Wiki, the Las Pilitas Nursery website, and USDA Conservation Plant Characteristics. You can find out where to buy it at the California Native Plant Link Exchange. You can see pictures of it at CalPhotos, Flickr, and Picasa.

Moschatel Family

Blue Elderberry

Blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) laden with berries, in the California State University Sacramento arboretum. Photo by queerbychoice. Blue elderberry (also called tapiro) can be seen in Beckwourth Riverfront Park Complex and many other locations along the Feather River, Bear River, and Yuba River. It is a 25-foot-tall by 25-foot-wide, cream-flowering, deciduous tree or tall shrub that is native to Yuba and Sutter Counties. The entire plant contains small amounts of cyanide, which can poison people who eat large quantities of the berries raw. Cooking the berries destroys the cyanide and makes the berries completely safe to eat. It is found in central oak woodland and riparian forest. It prefers sun or partial shade and moderate to good drainage. It attracts Bewick's wrens, black-headed grosbeaks, California quail, Western bluebirds, and Western wood-pewees.

Blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) in Beckwourth Riverfront Park Complex. The unripe berries have a white coating; the coating slowly wears away as the berries ripen. Photo by queerbychoice.

Donna M. Landerman's column "A Drug Store in the Maidu's Back Yard," printed in the Territorial Dispatch on November 11, 2009, explains some of the many uses of blue elderberries:

Blue Elderberry, Kah-kah'kum du. Elderberry often looks more like a shrub (the Nisenan "du" at the end of its name means bush) than a tree with its many stems and short stature. Its flat, white blossom cluster looks like a bouquet. Each flower becomes a blue berry that tastes fairly awful when raw, but tasty enough when dried or cooked to be made into jam and jelly. Pioneers [of European descent] very quickly discovered that the berries would also ferment into wine which could be used for medicinal purposes. The Nisenan had no fermented drinks originally, but prized the berries for food, dye and as a cure for poison oak.

Elderberry stems are spongy inside and can easily be hollowed out and made into flutes, or split and tied at one end and used as clapper sticks or rhythmic accompaniment of chants and prayers. Elderberry was the Nisenan "Tree of Music."

Heath Family

Common Manzanita

Common manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita) in Auburn State Recreation Area, with paintbrushes beneath it. Photo by queerbychoice. Common manzanita is a 10- to 25-foot-tall by 18-foot-wide, pink-flowering, evergreen shrub that is native to Sutter County and typically grows at elevations below 5,000 feet. Its berries are edible. It is most often found in canyons and on rocky slopes in central oak woodland and yellow pine forest. It prefers sun or partial shade and moderate to good drainage. It attracts Anna's hummingbirds, Bewick's wrens, orange-crowned warblers, and Western tanagers. California tortoiseshell butterflies drink the nectar of its flowers.

Sticky Whiteleaf Manzanita

Sticky whiteleaf manzanita is a six- to twelve-foot-tall by four- to eight-foot-wide, white-flowering, evergreen shrub that is native to Yuba County and typically grows at elevations below 6,000 feet. Its berries are edible. It is most often found on slopes in central oak woodland and yellow pine forest. It prefers full sun and good drainage. It attracts Anna's hummingbirds, Bewick's wrens, orange-crowned warblers, and Western tanagers. Botanist Alice Eastwood collected sticky whiteleaf manzanita in Camptonville in 1918.³

You can read more about it at the Theodore Payne Wiki and the Las Pilitas Nursery website. You can find out where to buy it at the California Native Plant Link Exchange. You can see pictures of it at CalPhotos, Flickr, and Picasa.

Indian Manzanita

Indian manzanita is a six- to twelve-foot-tall by five-foot-wide, white-flowering, evergreen shrub that is native to Yuba County and typically grows at elevations between 2,500 and 6,000 feet. Its berries are edible. It is most often found on slopes in yellow pine forest. It prefers good drainage. It attracts orange-crowned warblers and Western tanagers.

Madrone

Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii) in the California State University Sacramento arboretum. Photo by queerbychoice. Madrone is a 25- to 100-foot-tall by 10-foot-wide, white-flowering, evergreen tree that is native to Yuba County and typically grows at elevations below 5,000 feet. Its berries are edible. It is most often found in canyons and on slopes in central oak woodland. It prefers partial shade and good drainage.

Thinleaf Huckleberry

Thinleaf huckleberry is a four-and-a-half-foot-tall, purple-flowering, deciduous shrub that is native to Yuba County. Its berries are edible. It is found in yellow pine forest. It prefers sun or partial shade and moderate to good drainage. It attracts Western tanagers.

You can read more about it at USDA Conservation Plant Characteristics. You can find out where to buy it at the California Native Plant Link Exchange. You can see pictures of it at CalPhotos, Flickr, and Picasa.

California Red Huckleberry

California red huckleberry is an eight- to twelve-foot-tall, white-flowering, deciduous shrub that is native to Yuba County and typically grows at elevations below 7,000 feet. Its berries are edible. It is most often found in canyons. It prefers shade and moderate to good drainage.

You can read more about it at the Theodore Payne Wiki and USDA Conservation Plant Characteristics. You can find out where to buy it at the California Native Plant Link Exchange. You can see pictures of it at CalPhotos, Flickr, and Picasa.

Cascade Bilberry

Cascade bilberry is a deciduous shrub that is native to Yuba County and typically grows at elevations between 2,000 and 6,500 feet. Its berries are edible.

You can find out where to buy it at the California Native Plant Link Exchange. You can see pictures of it at CalPhotos, Flickr, and Picasa.

Gooseberry Family

Rock Gooseberry

Rock gooseberry (also called oak gooseberry or foothill gooseberry) is a three- to five-foot-tall by five-foot-wide, yellow-flowering, deciduous shrub that is native to Sutter County and typically grows at elevations below 4,000 feet. It prefers partial shade and good drainage. Its berries are edible raw but can be rather sour; they can be used to better effect when sweetened with sugar in various recipes. It is most often found on rocky slopes in central oak woodland.

Sierra Gooseberry

Sierra gooseberry (Ribes roezlii) near Strawberry Valley. Photo by queerbychoice. Sierra gooseberry is a three- to five-foot-tall by five-foot-wide, purple-flowering, deciduous shrub that is native to Yuba County and typically grows at elevations below 9,000 feet. Its berries are edible raw but can be rather sour; they can be used to better effect when sweetened with sugar in various recipes. It is most often found on slopes in yellow pine forest. It prefers partial shade and moderate to good drainage. It attracts Western tanagers.

Grape Family

California Wild Grape

California wild grape (Vitis californica) in the small state wildlife area next to the Marysville City Cemetery. Photo by queerbychoice. California wild grape can be seen in Beckwourth Riverfront Park Complex and many other locations along the Feather River, Bear River, and Yuba River. It is a 40-foot-long, deciduous vine that is native to Yuba and Sutter Counties and typically grows at elevations below 5,500 feet. Its berries are edible. It is found in riparian forest. It attracts Western bluebirds.

Footnotes

1. Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy. Portland: Timber Press, 2007
2. Consortium of California Herbaria
3. Consortium of California Herbaria

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