Edible: Fruit

Description: Tree 10-15m tall, can live up to 125 years.

Native to: Eastern and Central North America

Use: The berries are edible and sweet. Fruit can be eaten raw, used in the fillings of pastries, or fermented into wine. The berries are not commercially sold because they have very short “shelf lives” and pack/ship very poorly.

Ecology: The berries are widely sought after by birds in spring and early summer. It is the host plant for the Mourning Cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa).

Toxicity: The leaf sap and unripe fruit are toxic.

Growing: Drought & frost tolerant. Berries can be messy so it's best not to plant these trees close to sidewalks, paths, and homes. 

Edible: Fruit

Description: Medium-sized bushy deciduous shrub 1-1.5m tall

Native to: Eastern and Southern US (Zones 5-8), as well as Eastern Canada.

Use: Was an important source of food for Native Americans. Blueberries keep longer in storage making them an important forage crop and can be dried and stored for winter. They were eaten fresh when in season and incorporated into a variety of basic stews and other food combinations.  

Edible: Fruit

Description: Tree/shrub 15-24m tall

Native to: Eastern North America, Mexico, and Central America.

Use: The fruit is edible raw, or can be made into jelly, the juice can be used as a drink mixer, hence the common name 'rum cherry'.

Ecology: Host plant of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly and Cherry Gall Azure. Fruit is eaten by birds such as bluebirds, robins, catbirds, mockingbirds and blue jays pick trees clean before the cherries fall.

Toxicity: The bark, leaves, and seeds of this species are especially toxic. Leaves are poisonous to livestock.

Invasive in other countries.

Edible: Fruit

Description: Deciduous tree, 4–8 metres tall. 

Native to: North America. Eastern beaked hazel is found from southern Canada south to Georgia, while the Western beaked hazel is found along the west coast from Alaska to California

Use: Nuts are edible. The beaked hazelnut does not produce as many nuts as commercial European species such as the common hazel or filbert, it is however, more resistant to common diseases and has been used in breeding programs to create high-yield, disease-resistant hybrids.

Ecology:  The nuts are an important food source for squirrels, especially as a backup in times of acorn crop failure. Species such as Douglas squirrels, red squirrels, and chipmunks eat the nuts. Deer, moose, and livestock browse the foliage of the Eastern beaked hazel. Ruffed grouse consume the protein-rich catkins and young buds of Corylus cornuta.

Edible: Ripe fruit

Description: Perennial vine with climbing or trailing stems

Native to: Southeastern USA

Use: Fruits may be used for jams, jellies, and desserts. The fruit has a mildly sweet-tart taste similar to an apricot and a pleasant scent when fully ripe. The "maypop" was a staple food for the Cherokee. 

Ecology: It is the exclusive host plant for the Gulf fritillary and non-exclusive for the variegated fritillary butterflies.

Toxicity: Toxic parts of the plant are bitter and not usually eaten so poisoning is not common and rarely serious.The leaves and unripe fruit can cause nausea and vomiting in humans and animals.

Edible: Nut

Description: Giant tree 30m tall 4m wide

Native to: North East America

Use: Chestnuts are edible raw or roasted, though typically preferred roasted. One must peel the brown skin to access the yellowish-white edible portion.

Conservation: Endangered. In the mid-20th century, American chestnut trees were devastated by chestnut blight, imported with the Japanese chestnut trees. There are some large trees outside its historical range, in areas with less virulent strains of blight such as Northern Michigan. The American Chestnut Foundation is working on a blight-resistant tree for the great American Chestnut restoration project.

Growing: Chestnut trees are slow-growing, but last for generations. You can help plant the blight-resistant (15/16%) American chestnut tree on your property and help bring back the giants.

Edible: Ripe Fruit

Description: Tree 2-12m tall, An understory tree.

Native to: North East America

Use: Fresh pawpaw fruits are commonly eaten raw; or made into jams, jellies, or pressure canned. Fruit has a flavor somewhat similar to both banana and mango. It has more protein than most fruits.

Ecology: Pawpaw fruit is eaten by foxes, opossums, squirrels, and raccoons. It is the host plant of the zebra swallowtail.

Toxicity: Avoid seeds as they are toxic just like apple and cherry seeds.  The unripe fruit is poisonous. Under the proper circumstances, pawpaw fruits are highly nutritious.

Youtube video: I found a Pawpaw fruit and grew it into a plant. Update! 

Edible: Fruit

Description: Tree 10m tall

Native to: The eastern and south-central United States

Use: Fruit is astringent, and acidic, when raw, but can be used to make jelly, preserves, and cider.

Ecology: Bloom pollen is especially useful for bees as a food source in early spring as this tree blooms early. The small apples in late summer and fall are eaten by multiple birds and small woodland and neighborhood mammals including deer. 

Edible: Flowers & ripe berries

Description: Shrub or small tree, 6m tall

Native to: Eastern North America

Use: Fruit can be made into jams, jellies, and syrups, all of which cook down the fruit and strain out the seeds.

Toxicity: Inedible parts of the plant, such as the leaves, stems, roots, seeds and unripe fruits, can be toxic.

Edible: Fruit

Description: Tree 20m tall (dioecious)

Native to: South East USA

Use: The fruit is high in vitamin C, and extremely astringent when unripe. The ripe fruit may be eaten raw once bletted, cooked, or dried. Fruit pulp can be made into pie, pudding, jam, and candy. An herbal tea can be made from the leaves and the roasted seed is used as a coffee substitute. Commercial varieties include the very productive Early Golden, the productive John Rick, Miller, Woolbright, and the Ennis, a seedless variety.

Ecology: Fruit is eaten by birds, raccoons, skunks, white-tailed deer, semi-wild hogs, flying squirrels, and opossums.

Toxicity: Usually not toxic to people, pets, and livestock 

Edible: fruits and leaf pads.

Description: Succulent Cactus 20 feet

Native to: Southeast except for the Florida peninsula

Use: Ripe fruit edible can be eaten raw or in jelly. Pads can be eaten raw or cooked and have a mucilaginous texture. Remove spines and glochids from pads and fruit before eating.

Growing: Heat, drought and salt tolerant. Found in coastal dunes, sandy riverbeds, and pine forests

Edible: Fruit

Description: Perennial shrub 1m - 3m (without hard frost can live 35–50 years)

Native to: southern North America and northern South America.

Use: Fruit heat levels can vary from weak during drought years, and normal rainfall years produce the highest heat levels.

Edible: Fruit

Description: Ground cover 

Native to: Much of the United States and southern Canada.

Use: The berries are edible. Cultivated Strawberries are hybrids developed from this native species and the South American one.

Ecology: Host plant of the Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus centaureae) and the Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus).