Field guide

Poison ivy

Toxicodendron radicans

Three leaflets, urushiol oil. The plant that hospitalizes more Hoosiers than any snake.

Virginia creeper

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Five leaflets from one point. Harmless lookalike of poison ivy.

Boxelder

Acer negundo

Maple with compound leaves. Seedlings are often mistaken for poison ivy.

Poison hemlock

Conium maculatum

Purple-splotched hollow stems, lacy leaves, white umbels. Deadly. Do not touch your mouth after handling.

Water hemlock

Cicuta maculata

The most violently toxic plant in Indiana wetlands. Chambered root, purple-streaked stems.

Queen Anne’s lace

Daucus carota

Wild carrot. Hairy stem, one dark floret in the white lace, carrot-scented taproot.

White snakeroot

Ageratina altissima

Shade wildflower that makes milk poisonous. Caused milk sickness on the Indiana frontier.

Pokeweed

Phytolacca americana

Magenta stems, black-purple berries. Young shoots were cooked as poke sallet; roots and berries are toxic.

Canada moonseed

Menispermum canadense

Grape lookalike with no tendrils and a crescent seed. Fruit is poisonous.

Wild grape

Vitis riparia / V. aestivalis

True grapes: peeling bark, forked tendrils, several pear-shaped seeds.

Jewelweed

Impatiens capensis

Orange spotted flowers, watery stems. Traditional wash for poison ivy and nettle.

Stinging nettle

Urtica dioica

Opposite toothed leaves, stinging hairs. Excellent cooked green and fiber plant.

Mayapple

Podophyllum peltatum

Umbrella leaves in colonies. Only the ripe yellow fruit is edible; the rest is toxic.

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Arisaema triphyllum

Hooded pulpit flower, three leaflets, clusters of red berries. Calcium oxalate — do not eat raw.

Bloodroot

Sanguinaria canadensis

Early white flower; orange-red sap. Sap is caustic — not a folk cure to play with.

Common milkweed

Asclepias syriaca

Thick opposite leaves, pink flower balls, milky sap. Monarch host. Young shoots and pods are traditional food if boiled.

Hemp dogbane

Apocynum cannabinum

Milkweed cousin with branching stems and toxic sap. Superb cordage, bad food.

American sycamore

Platanus occidentalis

The white-boned giant of Laughery Creek. Mottled bark, maple-like leaves, hanging seed balls.

Tulip poplar

Liriodendron tulipifera

Indiana’s state tree. Four-lobed leaf with a notched tip; tulip flowers green and orange.

White oak

Quercus alba

Rounded lobes, light bark. The best wild starch in these woods — acorns leach sweet.

Northern red oak

Quercus rubra

Pointed bristle-tipped lobes. Acorns are bitter and need longer leaching than white oak.

Shagbark hickory

Carya ovata

Long curling bark plates and the sweetest wild nut in the county.

Bitternut hickory

Carya cordiformis

Sulfur-yellow buds, tight bark, bitter nuts. Smoke wood, not table nuts.

Black walnut

Juglans nigra

Chambered pith, tennis-ball green husks, rich oily nuts. Hulls stain everything.

Pawpaw

Asimina triloba

Indiana banana. Large tropical leaves, maroon flowers, custard fruit in September.

American persimmon

Diospyros virginiana

Blocky bark, orange fruit that is inedible until soft-ripe or frosted.

Sugar maple

Acer saccharum

Five-lobed leaf, sharp brown buds, the tap tree of a Dearborn winter.

Red maple

Acer rubrum

V-shaped leaf sinuses, red buds and twigs. Sap is thinner than sugar maple.

Eastern redcedar

Juniperus virginiana

Scale-leaved evergreen of old pastures. Blue ‘berries’ season gin and stew; mothproof chests.

Flowering dogwood

Cornus florida

Four white bracts in April, blocky bark, red berries for birds — not for you.

Eastern redbud

Cercis canadensis

Magenta pea-flowers on bare wood in April. Flowers and young pods are edible.

Spicebush

Lindera benzoin

Lemon-spice crushed leaves. The understory compass of rich creek woods.

American elderberry

Sambucus canadensis

Flat white flower plates, then purple berry clusters. Cook the fruit; raw berries upset stomachs.

Multiflora rose

Rosa multiflora

Invasive living wire. Fringed stipules, clusters of small white roses, then hips.

Garlic mustard

Alliaria petiolata

Invasive. First-year rosette, second-year white four-petal flowers. Pull it and eat it.

Dandelion

Taraxacum officinale

The emergency salad. Entire plant is food if you can stand the bitter.

Broadleaf plantain

Plantago major

The ‘bandaid plant’. Ribbed basal leaves and a rat-tail flower spike.

Christmas fern

Polystichum acrostichoides

Evergreen woodland fern. Each leaflet has a Christmas-stocking thumb.

Yellow / gray morel

Morchella spp.

Honeycomb cap continuous with the stem, completely hollow. The spring prize — and a deadly lookalike test.

False morel

Gyromitra spp.

Wrinkled brain cap, stuffed stem. Contains gyromitrin, which becomes monomethylhydrazine.

Destroying angel

Amanita bisporigera

Pure white amanita. Cup at the base, ring on the stem. Liver-killing. Looks like a button mushroom if you are careless.

Chicken of the woods

Laetiporus sulphureus

Bright sulfur shelves on trees. Choice edible when young and on hardwood — still try a small bit first.

White-tailed deer

Odocoileus virginianus

The county’s main wild meat. Flag of white tail, summer red coat, winter gray.

Eastern cottontail

Sylvilagus floridanus

The small wild meat of fencerows. Rusty nape, white powder-puff tail.

Raccoon

Procyon lotor

Masked night forager. Smart enough to open latches. Rabies and raccoon roundworm matter.

Coyote

Canis latrans

The night singer of the ridges. Takes chickens and kids of goats if you let it.

Groundhog

Marmota monax

Woodchuck. Garden thief, decent meat, burrows that break livestock legs.

Eastern gray squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

Everyday bushmeat of the oak-hickory woods.

Northern cardinal

Cardinalis cardinalis

Year-round red bird of fencerows. Indiana’s state bird. Not a food species people bother with.

Wild turkey

Meleagris gallopavo

Big woodland fowl. A real emergency meat if you can hunt or trap legally — or must.

Canada goose

Branta canadensis

Black stocking head, white chinstrap. River and pond meat, greasy and dark.

Great blue heron

Ardea herodias

Creek sentinel. Leave it — a poor meal and a working fisher you want around.

Eastern copperhead

Agkistrodon contortrix

The venomous snake you will actually meet in Dearborn County. Chestnut hourglasses on a copper body.

Timber rattlesnake

Crotalus horridus

Rare on these ridges now, still possible in rough Ohio River hills. Rattle, chevron bands, black tail.

Northern watersnake

Nerodia sipedon

The snake people kill at the creek, thinking it is a water moccasin. It is not. Cottonmouths are not established here.

Eastern ratsnake

Pantherophis alleghaniensis

Black climber. Eats rats and eggs. Harmless, often in barns and rafters.

Eastern box turtle

Terrapene carolina

High-domed woodland turtle. Leave it. Populations cannot take harvesting.

American toad

Anaxyrus americanus

Warty garden ally. One or two big warts in each dark spot. Eats slugs.

Spring peeper

Pseudacris crucifer

The first loud night of late winter. An X on the back. Tiny.

American bullfrog

Lithobates catesbeianus

The pond meat frog. No dorsolateral ridges down the back; a fold around the eardrum.

Black-legged tick

Ixodes scapularis

Deer tick. Lyme and other diseases. Smallest of the common ticks here.

American dog tick

Dermacentor variabilis

Larger ornate tick of fields. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is possible; Lyme is not its usual gift.

Brown recluse

Loxosceles reclusa

Violin mark, six eyes in pairs. Bites are uncommon and over-diagnosed — still take necrotic wounds seriously.

Northern black widow

Latrodectus variolus

Shiny black, red hourglass or split spots on the belly. Neurotoxic bite. Rarely fatal now, still an ER visit.

Monarch

Danaus plexippus

Orange migrant. Caterpillars on milkweed. Not food. A sign your pasture still works.

Channel catfish

Ictalurus punctatus

Forked tail, spots on young fish, four pairs of barbels. Main eating cat of the creek and river.

Bluegill

Lepomis macrochirus

The pond staple. Black ear flap, dark spot on the soft dorsal.

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

Feathery aromatic leaves and a flat plate of tiny white flowers. Wound herb and fever tea.

Common mullein

Verbascum thapsus

Woolly first-year rosette, then a tall yellow candle. The cough leaf of dry lots.

Boneset

Eupatorium perfoliatum

Wet-ground white flower plate. The stem grows through the joined leaf pair. Not white snakeroot.

Black willow

Salix nigra

The creek aspirin tree. Narrow leaves, brittle twigs, catkins in spring.

Self-heal

Prunella vulgaris

Low purple flower clubs in the lawn. A gentle throat gargle.

Catnip

Nepeta cataria

Gray-green mint that makes cats foolish and people sleepy. Old barn-lot plant.