Identify a plant?

see317

Couple of quick questions...
First, can you identify this plant?


Second, is eating that plant likely to hurt this dog?


I've seen her nosing around the plant in the past when playing fetch (occasionally actually dropping her tennis ball to do so), I don't think she's been eating it, but it's hard to tell.
I'd like to believe she's smart enough not to eat something that's going to make her sick, but she's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

Edit: not sure if it helps, but I live in Colorado and both pictures were taken today.

Iruka

A close up of the leaf shape and flowers or berries would probably help. Its kinda hard to tell what I'm looking at (but im no plant expert)

JebusUD

Specifically the bottom of the berries and the top of the berries are usually good ways to help identify them. They tend to have certain looks to them.

Gaffero

Also, what region you are in will help. PAers cover a wide range and someone here is bound to live in your area or have knowledge of what grows there.

If you can get a closeup of a branch, the leaves, the berries, or the buds I'll do my best to give you an ID of what it is. I have very good knowledge of native and ornamental plants for New England.

Druhim

You haven't provided a good enough photograph, but it looks like it could be Vaccinium parvifolium, or red huckleberry.



If so, the berries are at least harmless to humans. Unless your dog is actually displaying any symptoms, I doubt there's anything to worry about but like other said, a better picture of the leaves and berries would help in identification.

HK5

Does the bush ever display purple flowers? There is a species of plant with red berries that sometimes has purple flowers (Daphne) that is poisonous. It doesn't really look a lot like the picture you posted but to be safe I'd rule it out before letting your dog mosey around there too much. Here's the wikipedia article on them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_mezereum

Note that they're native to Europe but they are found in North America due to importation for ornamental purposes.

bowen

Just as an fyi, in the wild, red is usually a good indicator that a plant is poisonous unless you know specifically what you're eating isn't. Just like a milky sap from the stalk/stem of plants is an indicator of toxicity.

Druhim

There are plenty of fruit that are red and safe to eat. So it's not really a good guideline.

bowen

Druhim wrote:

There are plenty of fruit that are red and safe to eat. So it's not really a good guideline.

"...unless you know specifically what you're eating..." and "...in the wild..."

Druhim

But it's not a very good guideline if it's largely hit and miss. The same applies to other colors of fruit. It's unwise to eat unfamiliar fruit of any color.

Enc

Druhim wrote:

There are plenty of fruit that are red and safe to eat. So it's not really a good guideline.

There are more toxic red things on plants than the other way around, especially to dogs.

bowen

Yes. The chance of getting a poisonous berry from red is far higher than black. You're more likely to run across poisonous red berries in your yard than black. It's a good rule of thumb to be more cautious as red is a warning color. Nightshade and ivy come to mind of the blackberries, as opposed to literally every red berry except a few from the rose family (strawberry/raspberry) and unless you want to chance an adverse reaction (a lot of people have them to the berries considered "not toxic" of the red berries) or boil the shit out of some of the few that are still edible.

A good rule of thumb of course is don't eat any berry, but if someone ate a red berry you might want to get help.

bowen

Also, keep in mind, if it is the plant HK5 linked, the entire plant is toxic. Roots, leaves, everything, not just the berries.

see317

Sorry about the poor photos. Only got my cell phone for a camera.
Don't know if these are any better, clipped a small branch off...

Penny for size comparison.


Best shot I could get of the berry's themselves.

I'm pretty sure it's not the plant HK5 linked, this plant is lower, more spread out, and the leaves are entirely different
More then anything I've found the plant looks like a cranberry plant.

bowen

Possibly hawthorne.

Chop Logic

If you bring it to a nearby hardware/gardening/landscape place, they should be able to identify it for you.

Burtletoy

bowen wrote:

Yes. The chance of getting a poisonous berry from red is far higher than black. You're more likely to run across poisonous red berries in your yard than black. It's a good rule of thumb to be more cautious as red is a warning color. Nightshade and ivy come to mind of the blackberries, as opposed to literally every red berry except a few from the rose family (strawberry/raspberry) and unless you want to chance an adverse reaction (a lot of people have them to the berries considered "not toxic" of the red berries) or boil the shit out of some of the few that are still edible.

A good rule of thumb of course is don't eat any berry, but if someone ate a red berry you might want to get help.

Neither raspberries nor strawberries are berries.

Burtletoy

From your photos and descriptions:

woody shrub, red fruit, alternate leaves, dissected leaves

Good luck with that.

Edit: Does it have any flowers left? That's the easiest way to identify most plants.
Edit2: No idea how complete this list is but...

Poisonous Range Plants of Temperate North America

bowen

Burtletoy wrote:

bowen wrote:

Yes. The chance of getting a poisonous berry from red is far higher than black. You're more likely to run across poisonous red berries in your yard than black. It's a good rule of thumb to be more cautious as red is a warning color. Nightshade and ivy come to mind of the blackberries, as opposed to literally every red berry except a few from the rose family (strawberry/raspberry) and unless you want to chance an adverse reaction (a lot of people have them to the berries considered "not toxic" of the red berries) or boil the shit out of some of the few that are still edible.

A good rule of thumb of course is don't eat any berry, but if someone ate a red berry you might want to get help.

Neither raspberries nor strawberries are berries.

Thank you for the nitpick. To your average person they are berries, just like most people think achenes are seeds on a strawberry, I figured that would be more informative than confusing them with the fruiting flower of a plant from the rosaceae family. Just like there's a difference between botanical and culinary fruit (tomatoes being a vegetable in that sense, but a fruit by a scientific sense), I would hardly fault someone for calling a strawberry a berry even though it's a fruit in the loosest definition of the term. I don't think someone is going to go around using psuedocarps (accessories), pomes, aggregates (compound fruits).

I'm glad we're on the same page now.

Dunadan019

It looks like Bearberry (aka wild cranberries)

Spoiler:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_cranberry

Gaffero

The leaves and berries seem right for bearberry. From your original picture, it's hard to discern the habit of the plant but it appears to be short growing woody plant which is what one expects for Arctostaphylos. Another possibility is Cotoneaster apiculatus. It is very similar in size, leaf shape, and berries -- broken stems have a slight maraschino cherry odor when broken which can be a handy ID feature. Branching on bearberry tends to be more linear whereas branching on Cotoneaster is a herringbone fashion. Cotoneaster horizontalis is a slightly taller and much more common specimen to residential landscapes growing 3 to 4' tall instead of 2 to 3' for C. apiculatus. This could very well be your mystery plant. Bowen had a good guess of hawthorne but the red berries are usually in clusters, the leaves are lobed, and the entire plant is a small tree with prominent thorns on the stems and trunk -- not much of a match to what you've posted and described.

Cotoneaster berries can give you (or your dog) a mild stomach ache, but that's about it --and you need to eat a good number of them. Luckily, they are quite hard and unappetizing despite being a shiny red color. Bearberries are non-toxic unless large amounts are consumed, but again, they are not particularly alluring as they have a quite hard red exterior.

Hope that helps.

More info:
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/a/arcuva/arcuva1.html
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/c/cothor/cothor1.html
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/c/crapha/crapha1.html