Western North Carolina is home to over 300 wild edibles, at least half of which are quite common. These are listed below, with the 30 most common appearing in boldface; for images, follow link. See also alphabetical list of the 150 most common and the 75 most common by type.
Keep in mind that “most common” does not mean safe or easy to identify. Our area is also home to at least one very common deadly mushroom and one common deadly plant. Always learn in person from an expert.
April
black morel, ramp, wild ginger, violet leaf & flower, redbud flower, forsythia flower, daylily shoot and tuber, burdock root, Japanese knotweed shoot, creasy greens, bittercress, onion grass, stinging & wood nettle, dandelion leaf & flower, dead nettle, evening primrose root, waterleaf, sweet cicely, sochane, chickweed, wild mustard, garlic mustard, daisy leaf, oyster mushroom, toothwort leaf & flower, spring beauty leaf & flower, spiderwort, basswood leaf, solomon seal leaf, stone crop, sweet birch twig, spicebush twig, trout lily leaf, angelica leaf & stem, cattail pollen, trout, turkey
May
waterleaf, violet flower & leaf, onion grass, ramps, yellow morel, wild ginger, bamboo shoot, wisteria flower, black locust flower, milkweed asparagus, dryad’s saddle mushroom, chickweed, money plant pods, stinging & wood nettle, sochane, reishi mushroom, greenbriar tips, spruce & hemlock (tree) tips, strawberry, elder flower, chicken of the woods, pine pollen, rose, Oregon grape fruit, sassafras leaf, sweet birch twig, spicebush leaf, stone crop
June
chicken of the woods, strawberry, reishi mushroom, greenbriar tips, mulberry, serviceberry, feral cherry, elderflower, day lily bud, daisy, honeysuckle & other flowers, blackberry, wood nettle, milkweed flower buds, sassafras leaf, sweet birch twig, mimosa flower
July
chanterelle mushroom, lambsquarter, wineberry, blackberry, may apple fruit, purslane, elderberry, bee balm leaf & flower, day lily, milkweed & rose of Sharon flower, quickweed leaf, sassafras leaf
August
elderberry, blueberry, lambsquarter, purslane, milkweed pod, paw paw fruit, lobster mushroom, leatherback milk cap, boletes, and other mushrooms
September
honey mushrooms and many others, fairy potato, autumn olive berry, amaranth seed, paw paw, persimmon, wild black cherry, chestnut, kousa dogwood fruit, pears, apples, quince, lambsquarter seed
October
acorn, hen of the woods mushroom, brick top mushroom, fairy potato, autumn olive berry, kousa dogwood fruit, persimmon, chestnut (for grubs), chickweed, beauty berry, calendula, honey locust pod, nettle, sochane, waterleaf, fox grape, prickly pear fruit, red sumac berry, quince, hickory nut, spicebush berry, hawthorne berry, black walnut, evening primrose seed, squirrel
November
brick top mushroom, jerusalem artichoke, burdock root, dandelion root, sassafras root, lambsquarter seed, chickweed, nettle, black walnut, beauty berry, prickly pear fruit, passionfruit, hawthorne, red sumac berry, deer, acorn grubs
December
burdock root, dandelion root, sassafras root, chickweed, foxtail millet, oyster mushrooms
January
onion grass, bittercress, rose hips, sweet birch twig, sassafras root, dandelion root, honey locust pod, turkey tail mushroom & chaga fungus (both year-round), carpenter ants
February
rose hips, onion grass, bittercress, sweet birch twig, pine needle, honey locust pod, chaga fungus, carpenter ants
March
pine needle, sweet birch twig, bittercress, wintercress, onion grass, chickweed, dead nettle, garlic mustard, daylily tuber, wild ginger, burdock root, evening primrose root, chaga fungus, tree syrups