wild berry bush ID ?

[Josh B]

I'm running around the east coast and I've been seeing these berry bushes everywhere.  Specifically I'm in Western Virginia(not West Virginia) and I picked this twig off one of the bushes.  I'm wondering if they're edible?  The fruit seems to grow in pairs if that helps.  The local fellas that I asked said they thought that they were mountain berry.  While that's a little less vague than saying it's a bush, it didn't really narrow it down much.  Any help would be appreciated.  Josh

[PEARL DRUMS]

We call them choke cherries and they will make you sick as hell!

[Pat B]

Josh, it is one of the Asian honeysuckles, Lonicera  maackii. Planted by wildlife folks way back in the 1890. I Googled it and it didn't say if it was edible or not. Give it a try and let us know. 

[mullet]

The leaves don't look like choke cherries I saw in Colorado when I lived there. You could eat those but they were real bitter.

Try one, Josh and tell us how it taste.

[Josh B]

Thanks Pat!  That confirms my suspicions.  We have amur honeysuckle around home which has bigger leaves and much smaller fruit, but enough similarities to suggest some variety of honeysuckle.  Yep Pearlie ,  you sure don't want to eat honeysuckle berries.  They are poisonous.  Josh

[Josh B]

The leaves don't look like choke cherries I saw in Colorado when I lived there. You could eat those but they were real bitter.

Try one, Josh and tell us how it taste.

I can tell you what they taste like.  Years ago when I found my first one, I worked it through the steps to determine edibility.  I made it to the touch it to your tongue point.  The immediate taste is extremely sweet and pleasant for about a second.  Then you're hit with a nasty chemical aftertaste that sets off warning bells in your head that say "POISON! POISON ".  That aftertaste lingers for a long time!  Josh

[Outbackbob48]

Josh, we called them Tartarian Honeysuckle and Pa. Game Commision used to put the invasive little things in a seed packet to plant for wildlife,That and Multi-Flora Rose  2 most common plants in NW Pa. Bob

[PatM]

Some varieties of honeysuckle are edible, just not those ones.  Real Chokecherries can be quite sweet although they still have an astringent quality.

[Marc St Louis]

If the wildlife doesn't eat them then you can be pretty sure they are not edible

[Zuma]

Is Russian Olive out of the question?
Zuma

[Pat B]

I thought Russian olive at first but when I Googled it I was convinced it was honeysuckle.

[dylanholderman]

Yeah definitely looks like a honeysuckle from the pics I see, can you get a picture of the bark from a mature plant?

[GlisGlis]

If the wildlife doesn't eat them then you can be pretty sure they are not edible

that's a good point but on the contrary if the wildlife eat it you can never be sure it's edible
and remember some poisons do cumulative and/or irreversible damages to your body even in small portions so be very careful with edibility test

[Josh B]

Is Russian Olive out of the question?
Zuma

I'm very familiar with Russian olive.  I'm sure that's not it.  Likewise it's not autumn olive either.  I think Pat nailed it.  Josh

[Josh B]

If the wildlife doesn't eat them then you can be pretty sure they are not edible

that's a good point but on the contrary if the wildlife eat it you can never be sure it's edible
and remember some poisons do cumulative and/or irreversible damages to your body even in small portions so be very careful with edibility test

Absolutely correct on all points.  Try the edibility test with something like wolfsbane(monkshood) and it will stop your heart well before the touch it to your tongue test.  Thanks for the input Fellas.  Josh