Abundance: plentiful
What: ripe berries (dark blue colored)
How: raw or cooked
Where: sunny yards, borders, fields
When: summer, fall
Nutritional Value: low
Dangers: Leaves and unripe fruit are very poisonous and eating them can lead to death.
Lantana plant and flowers. TOXIC! DEADLY!
Another lantana. TOXIC! DEADLY!
Lantana berries, edible only when fully ripe.
Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.
North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Cooked lantana berries are considered starvation food in that they aren't eaten unless there's nothing else to eat. All other parts of the plant are deadly! Boil or toast the berries before eating them.
The pungent leaves of Lantanas contain powerful antibiotics and after mashing the fresh leaves they can be used EXTERNALLY on wounds to reduce the chance of infection. Do NOT chew the leaves to make the poultice as they'll poison you.
Buy my book! Idiots Guide Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.
