Very Berry

Utah has many berries growing along the creeks in late August and September, and I thought you might be interested in seeing some of them.

Redosier dogwood.  Native Americans smoke the inner bark of redosier dogwood in tobacco mixtures used in the sacred pipe ceremony. Dreamcatchers, originating with the Potawotami, are made with the stems of the sacred redosier dogwood. Some tribes ate the white, sour berries, while others used the branches for arrow-making, stakes, or other tools. In California, peeled twigs were used as toothbrushes for their whitening effect on teeth. Bows and arrows were made from Cornus shoots. The inner bark is used for tanning or drying animal hides. (www.gardenguides.com)

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana).
The fruit has a sweetish, astringent taste and is fit for human consumption. The fruit makes excellent jellies and jams and is occasionally used for wine. Chokecherry leaves are poisonous, even fatal, to cattle, sheep, and horses, although they usually will not consume the plant unless no other forage is present. The poisoning agent is hydrocyanic (prussic) acid.
Western chokecherry is excellent to good forage for deer and elk. The fruit is relished by bear, many species of songbirds, pheasants, and grouse.  www.gardenguides.com
Native Americans would grind up the fruit, stone included, and store for future use, sometimes mixed with dried meat to make pemmican.

Black Twinberry Honeysuckle  (Caprifoliaceae Lonicera involucrata). The paired black berries are about one-third inch in diameter and are unpleasantly bitter tasting. The berries were used by Native Americans as a dye for hair and other materials. The fruits, stems and leaves were also used for a variety of medicinal purposes. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/lonicera_involucrate.shtml

Blue Elderberry (Sambucus glauca). The berries are used as food for birds and human delicacies. The berries are somewhat distasteful when green. Ripe berries produce an abundance of sweet juice that is used for jelly, jam, syrup, etc. The whole berries, even though somewhat seedy, make excellent pies.
The native Americans had a use for almost all parts of this plant; berries for food
(fresh or dried); stems for tubes, pipes and musical instruments. Some Indians called this plant “the tree of music,” since the smaller twigs and limbs made excellent flutes.
Strips from larger limbs made arrow shafts. Flowers were used for external antiseptic washes.
Most of the berries which are gathered are used to make wine. Suggestions for home use are fresh or with cream as desserts such as pies, cobblers and fruit dumplings. Elderberries are often preserved whole, as juice, syrup and jelly. The flavor might be enhanced by combining with other fruits or fruit juices such as apples.http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_252.pdf
Red Baneberry (Actaea rubra).
All parts of the plant are poisonous. However, Accidental poisoning is not likely since the berries are extremely bitter. The berries are the most toxic part of the plant. A healthy adult will experience poisoning from as few as 6 berries. Ingestion of the berries causes nausea dizziness, increased pulse and severe gastrointestinal discomfort.[6][7]The toxins can also have an immediate sedative affect on the cardiac muscle tissue possibly leading to cardiac arrest if introduced into the bloodstream. As few as 2 berries may be fatal to a child.[7]
Native Americans used the juice from the fruits of various baneberry species to poison arrows.
-Wikipedia.  Admire these pretty berries from afar!
Serviceberry (Amelanchier utahensis).  Utah serviceberry is widely scattered throughout the state. It is common in the more arid areas in canyons, rocky areas, and foothills, usually between 3,000 and 9,000 feet in elevation. Once it is established, it tolerates drought well. The fruit of Utah serviceberry is an excellent source of bird food while the foliage is good browse for both wildlife and domestic livestock. It is a very important species for mule deer in the Great Basin. It provides good forage in late winter and early spring because it leafs out and blooms earlier than associated species. Utah serviceberry also provides good ground cover for watershed protection. The fruit, both fresh and dried, was extensively used as food by Indians. The branches were used for making bows. http://extension.usu.edu/range/woody/utahserviceberry.htm

Mountain Snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus). Snowberry occurs on the edges of riparian zones, in woodlands, and in moist areas of the mountain brush zone, at elevations between 4,800 and 10,500 feet.

Although not highly nutritious or palatable, mountain snowberry is frequently one of the first species to leaf out, making it a highly sought after food in the early spring.  Small mammals and birds utilize the fruits. Native Americans used the fruits as an ematic and laxative, and steeped the roots to treat colds and stomachaches. http://extension.usu.edu/range/Woody/snowberry.htm

Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), also known as kinnikinnick. The fruits of kinnikinnick are eaten by songbirds, gamebirds, including five species of grouse and wild turkey, deer, elk, and small mammals.

Black bear and grizzly bear eat kinnikinnick fruits in the autumn, but fruits are especially important to bears in the early spring.
Smoking the leaves as a tobacco substitute is the most widely mentioned human use of kinnikinnick. The leaves have been used for treating urinary tract disease. They can also be used to make a highly astringent wash and as a vasoconstrictor for the endometrium of the uterus. Some Native American tribes powdered the leaves and applied them to sores. For medical use the leaves are best collected in the fall.
The berrylike fruit have dry, insipid, and tasteless flesh when raw but are useful emergency food. Native Americans fried them or dried them and used them in pemmican. The fruit is also used in jelly, jam, and sauces. http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/arcuva/all.html

Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium).

The small purplish-black fruits, which are quite tart and contain large seeds, are included in smaller quantities in the traditional diets of Pacific Northwest aboriginal peoples, mixed with Salal or another sweeter fruit. Today they are sometimes used to make jelly, alone or mixed with salal.[1] Oregon grape juice can be fermented to make wine, similar to European barberry wine folk traditions, although it requires an unusually high amount of sugar.[2] The inner bark of the larger stems and roots of Oregon-grape yield a yellow dye, the berries give purple dye. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_grape

To our great disappointment, we found only a few thimbleberries (above)

or wild raspberries this year.  (But we did make good use of those we located!)

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