# Wild Grape or Poison Moonseed???



## CarolynRenee

Ugh! I finally go out to pick the ripe wild grapes & then remember someone on here saying something that there is a look-alike that is poison.

So, of course I do a search & find the Moonseed. And there are pictures that look grapes and pictures that don't really look like grapes.

I think the best way to tell is from the seed, as the Moonseeds look like little moons, and the "grapes" that I picked today have, well, grape seed looking seeds.

Anyone have any other way to ID if they are going to kill me if I make them into grape jelly????


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## bee

" it lacks tendrils and has only a single cresent shaped seed"; the leaf bases are also NOT attached to the leaf stalk. Personally I think the lack of tendrils would be enough for positive ID..never seen a grape vine without them!


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## CarolynRenee

Thanks bee!

I was hoping the seed thing would be enough, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a look at the actual vines.

I questioned it again because I had two different "types" of grapes in my harvesting bag. One set were much smaller, and they were dark purple & shiny & the skins REALLY stained my hands when crushed. The others were larger (medium sized blueberry) and had the purple "frosty" skin. But both had the grape-looking seed(s) inside.


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## bee

stain your hands stuff ripening now is mostly poke berry..be careful you don't get any of it. I bent the plants out of my way as I was harvesting black cherry for wine. The seed/berry pods were tall enough I could have stripped some of them while striping the cherry strings.


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## Ravenlost

Smaller than a medium sized blueberry and stained your hands while picking? I agree with bee...sounds like poke berry. You don't want to be eating poke berry!


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## ksfarmer

I am not familiar with moonseed, but here is some info on pokeweed:
Pokeweed
We have had a number of people wanting to know the 
name of the weed with the large leaves and 
purple-black berries that hang in a cluster. This 
perennial is known as pokeweed. All parts of this 
plant are poisonous, especially the roots. Signs 
of poisoning include abdominal craps, diarrhea, 
vomiting, weakness, drowsiness and difficulty in 
breathing. One of the toxins found in pokeweed is 
the protein lectin which can cause abnormalities 
in white blood cells.


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## Jim Bunton

I go by the leaves. Grape leaves are pretty distinctive.

Jim


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## motdaugrnds

I thought "pokeweed" was another name for "poke salad". I must be mistaken though I haven't as yet googled it!

We eat poke salad greens here all the time. They are delicious and have never caused any problems. Our goats eat the leaves AND the black berries and they have not suffered from doing so either. (I have heard the black berries were poisonous and will not feed them to my family. Was actually concerned when I saw our goats chowing down on them as, before I could get to them, they had eaten all the berries off a large bush.)


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## pancho

motdaugrnds said:


> I thought "pokeweed" was another name for "poke salad". I must be mistaken though I haven't as yet googled it!
> 
> We eat poke salad greens here all the time. They are delicious and have never caused any problems. Our goats eat the leaves AND the black berries and they have not suffered from doing so either. (I have heard the black berries were poisonous and will not feed them to my family. Was actually concerned when I saw our goats chowing down on them as, before I could get to them, they had eaten all the berries off a large bush.)


We ate it all of the time when I was young. I have some growing in my garden now. Birds will eat the berries in the winter. Sometimes my free ranging guinea pigs will eat it and the chickens and ducks pick at it.


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## Terri

I took mine to the Parks and Recreation office. They KNOW! which are which.

We had grapevines.


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## Danaus29

Pokeweed is poke salad. Young leaves are ok, berries are not.
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Cook-Poke-Salad


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## Cyngbaeld

Carolina moonseed isn't poisonous (though I've seen stuff on the web that says it is, but without good documentation. My goats love it). The vine looks a lot like the Greenbrier, except without the thorns. Pokeweed doesn't look anything like grapes or moonseed. Poke grows in stems, not a vine.


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## CarolynRenee

(ashamed because I hadn't been keeping up on the thread I started)

Well, it was wild grape, not the moonseed. And definately not poke. We eat that stuff (poke) as much as we can get in the spring.

I guess that the two "different" grapes were actually the same type, just different growing conditions & they didn't get as large / mature as the better looking ones.

Oh, and we're still eating the jelly and none of us have died yet!


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## vicker

Poke seeds are medicinal and only poisonous in large quantities. I am 200lbs and take 4 or five 2 or three times a day, when in season, as an anti-inflamitory. to preserve them for medicine you make wine of them. 
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/herbal/msg1115292317689.html


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