berries in Taos - August 31

I learned a new berry today, rosy twisted stalk, which we’ve been seeing in the mountains around Taos.  Andre bravely ate our only sample taken to ID the plant with one of my books.  Based on his reaction to the taste, moderately sweet, not particularly flavorful but fine when other tastier fruits are unavailable (sort of how I feel about the Utah honeysuckle), I was correct in my identification.  Actually, I learned two new berries today.  We’ve been seeing a plant that I intuitively felt was toxic all over the forest, but didn’t know its name until today.  Turned out to be baneberry, highly toxic, even deadly.  Because the forest floor is blanketed in plants and berries, my strategy for learning who’s who has been to, first, learn what is edible, medicinal, and deadly.  What can I eat, what can kill me?  Two very important questions.  Everything else is a mere inconvenience… well, I suppose severe diarrhea and painful gastrointestinal cramping might go beyond “mere,” particularly for a forest dweller, but thankfully I haven’t experienced any “poisonings” in my nearly 10 years of hunting wild mushrooms and a lifetime of eating random plants.  Sometimes I also learn the names of pretty flowers, but everything else gets lost, if learned at all.