Common Wild Edible Lookalikes
The ability to forage for, gather, and prepare wild food is an important tool to keep in your homesteading tool box. Foraging allows you to find your own food and medicine in day to day situations and in an emergency. When you are looking for edible or medicinal plants, you want to be sure that you positively ID them. Many wild edibles have lookalikes that don’t have the same qualities and some are toxic.
Common Wild Edible Lookalikes
Before you start foraging, grab a good field guide or a journal and let’s jump right into the lookalikes of some of the most common edible wild plants.
Dandelion Lookalikes
Common Name: Common Dandelion
Botanical Name: Taraxacum officinale

Cat’s Ear (Hypochaeris radicata)
non-toxic
This non-toxic plant has flowers that look similar to dandelion flowers. It does not have a hollow stem like the dandelion, however. You can also tell them apart from dandelions because they have branching stems and hairy leaves.

Sow Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)
non-toxic
This plant is also non-toxic. The leaves and flowers look similar to the dandelion. They differ from dandelions in that they do not have hollow stems, they have multiple flowers per stem, and the leaves are spiky.

Wild Lettuce (lactuca virosa and lactuca serriola)
potentially toxic
There are two main types of wild lettuce: prickly lettuce and bitter lettuce. These plants have leaves that resemble the shape of dandelion leaves, but they are prickly as the name suggests.
The flowers also look the same, but wild lettuce will grow multiple flowers per stalk while dandelions will only grow one.
Dandelion will not grow a stalk, but the wild lettuce plant will.
Wild lettuce has been known to cause hallucinations if taken in large amounts so contact a master herbalist if you plan to use it medicinally.

Wild Violet Lookalikes
Common Name: Common Blue Violet / Wild Violet
Botanical Name: Viola sororia

Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna)
toxic
This toxic plant has bright yellow flowers that do not resemble the violet flower, but the leaves are similar. Lesser celandine is toxic so be sure you collect violet leaves after flowers bloom so you can positively ID the plant.

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
non-toxic
These edible plants have similar leaves to violets. Garlic mustard is edible and medicinal so it isn’t a dangerous lookalike.

Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
non-toxic
Ground Ivy is another a wild edible lookalike that is edible itself! Its leaves have a similar shape to violet leaves, but they are more rounded and they are scalloped around the edges.

Purple Dead Nettle Lookalikes
non-toxic
Common Name: Purple Dead Nettle, Red Dead Nettle, Purple Archangel
Botanical Name: Lamium purpureum

Thankfully, Purple Dead Nettle has no poisonous lookalikes. However, there are a few different plants that could potentially be mistaken for this wild edible by new foragers.
>>Read more about foraging for purple dead nettle here<<
Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule)
non-toxic
This plant has similar purple flowers, but once you familiarize yourself with the two plants they are easy to distinguish from one another.
While Purple Dead Nettle leaves are triangular in shape and have a purple tint, henbit leaves are heart shaped and scalloped around the edges with no purple tint. It sometimes looks like the leaves are circling around the stem.
The stems of each of these plants are square (since they are both in the mint family), but henbit stems are red.
The flowers of these two wild edible plants are extremely similar, although henbit flowers tend to grow longer, so it is best to ID using the leaves and stems.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)
non-toxic
Stinging nettle can be mistaken for purple dead nettle because the leaves look similar before flowering. After flowering, the stinging nettle leaves are longer and thinner.
The leaves of Purple Dead Nettle and Stinging Nettle are hairy, but stinging nettle leaves tend to be hairier. The stems of Stinging Nettle are also hairy.
Stinging nettle leaves also tend to be more sharply serrated around the edges than Purple Dead Nettle.
Stinging Nettle is not a part of the mint family, so the stems are not square like Dead Nettle.
If you are unsure if the plant you are looking at is Stinging Nettle or Dead Nettle, brush the back of your hand across it gently. You will feel stings if it is stinging nettle. These stings are usually mild, but they can affect each person differently so take care when touching this plant.

Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
Ground ivy, also known as Creeping Charlie and Gills-over-the-ground, can be a wild edible lookalike for purple dead nettle when it is flowering because the flowers of both plants are light purple and similarly shaped.
This plant creeps along the ground unlike dead nettle which grows straight up along a stem. It is a member of the mint family so its stem is square.
Ground ivy has kidney shaped scalloped leaves in contrast to Dead Nettle’s triangular shaped serrated leaves.

Red Maple Seedling (Acer rubrum)
non-toxic
This isn’t a wild edible lookalike that I have ever heard anyone talk about, but I have noticed this season that I have a lot of red maple seedlings popping up around my property. While these little trees do not have many similarities to the purple dead nettle plant, the coloration of the leaves and stem are similar.

Chickweed Lookalikes
Common Name: Chickweed
Botanical Name: Stellaria media

Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis)
toxic
Looks like chickweed, but has orange flowers. This plant is toxic. It is best to forage for chickweed after the plants flower for positive identification.

Morel Mushroom Lookalikes
Common Name: Morel Mushroom
Botanical Name: Morchella esculenta

There are a number of false morels to look out for.
Early False Morel (Verpa Bohemica)
potentially toxic
This mushroom looks very similar to true morel mushrooms. The differences are subtle, but easy to spot if you are aware of them. The Early False Morel has a cap that is free hanging, not attached to the stem except at the top. The cap of this mushroom also has brain-like folds while a true morel has a pitted cap.

Bell Morel (Verpa Conica)
potentially toxic
The Bell Morel is a wild edible lookalike with a bell shaped cap instead of a pitted cap. The cap is free hanging like the Early False Morel.

Deadly False Morel or Beefsteaks (Gyromitra Esculenta)
toxic
These mushrooms contain monmethylhydrazine which builds up in your body and can be deadly. The caps are not pitted, but they have a misshapen brain-like cap. If you cut the stem, you will see that it is not hollow like a true morel.

Wild Garlic / Wild Onion Lookalikes
Common Name: Wild Field Garlic a.k.a Crow Garlic / Wild Onion
Botanical Name: Allium (vineale, canadense)

Death Camas (Zigadenus venenosus)
The leaves on this plant are similar to wild onions in that they are flat. Flowers grow along the stem unlike wild garlic and wild onion. There is no smell.

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)
This plant is poisonous. It has flat leaves like wild onions and the leaves have a white line down the middle of each one. It has white flowers with 6 petals and no odor.
When foraging remember… if it looks and smells like garlic or onion, you can eat it. If it doesn’t have that identifiable scent, it is most likely a poisonous lookalike.

Garlic Mustard Lookalikes
Common Name: Garlic Mustard
Botanical Name: Alliaria petiolata

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata)
This wild edible lookalike is very similar to garlic mustard, especially the flowers, but the leaves are divided while garlic mustard leaves are undivided.

Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora)
The leaves look similar to garlic mustard, but the leaves and stem are hairy. Garlic mustard leaves are smooth.

Wild Violet (Viola sororia)
Garlic Mustard and Wild Violet both have similarly shaped leaves, but very different flowers. Both are edible. Garlic mustard leaves have more heavily pronounced veins.

Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
The leaves of Ground Ivy can be confused for Garlic Mustard, but the growing pattern is very different. Ground Ivy “creeps” along the ground and garlic mustard grows straight up.

Wild Comfrey Lookalikes
Common Name: Wild Comfrey
Botanical Name: Cynoglossum virginianum

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
Foxglove leaves look very similar to wild comfrey leaves, but foxglove leaves are jagged around the edges and wild comfrey leaves have smooth edges. This plant is poisonous.

Ground Ivy Lookalikes
Common Name: Creeping Charlie / Ground Ivy
Botanical Name: Glechoma hederacea

Ground ivy is different from all of its wild edible lookalikes in that it creeps along the ground instead of growing up or in a clump.
Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule)
Henbit has little purple flowers and blooms at the same time as ground ivy. It has fuzzier leaves and it grows straight up instead of creeping along the ground.

Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum)
Purple Dead Nettle leaves are more pointed than ground ivy. The leaves are also fuzzier and the top leaves are purple.

Violet Leaves (Viola sororia)
Violet leaves have a similar shape to ground ivy leaves, but the stem is not square like ground ivy.

White Clover Lookalikes
Common Name: White Clover
Botanical Name: Trifolium repens

Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella)
Wood sorrel leaves look almost identical to clover. Clover leaves are rounded and wood sorrel leaves are heart shaped. If the plants are flowering, you can easily tell them apart.

Red Clover Lookalikes
Common Name: Red Clover, Crimson Clover
Botanical Name: Trifolium pratense

Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella)
Wood sorrel leaves look almost identical to clover. Clover leaves are rounded and wood sorrel leaves are heart shaped. If the plants are flowering, you can easily tell them apart.

>>Use Picture This to help you positively ID plants in the wild.<<
Wild Strawberry Lookalikes
Common Name: Wild Strawberry
Botanical Name: Fragaria vesca

Mock Strawberries (Duchesnea indica)
Wild Strawberry flowers are white and mock strawberry flowers are yellow.
Mock strawberries are round with hard seeds that stick out of the fruit. This wild edible lookalike isn’t poisonous, but it doesn’t taste great.

Plantain Lookalikes
Common Name: Narrowleaf Plantain, Ribwort / Broadleaf Plantain / Blackseed Plantain
Botanical Name: Plantago lanceolata /Plantago major/ Plantago rugelii



Hostas (Hosta plantaginea)
Young leaves of hosta plants are similar to plantain leaves. They are edible.

Curly Dock Lookalikes
Common Name: Curly Dock, Yellow Dock
Botanical Name: Rumex crispus

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
Curly Dock leaves look similar to foxglove leaves. Foxglove is poisonous.

Fiddlehead Fern Lookalikes
Common Name: Fiddlehead Fern, Ostrich Fern
Botanical Name: Matteuccia struthiopteris

Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis L.)
potentially toxic
This common wild edible plant has “fiddleheads” in the spring that are pale red. The stalk will not have the signature celery-like stalk of a true fiddlehead. The toxicity of this plant is debated.
Several other non-edible ferns have the fiddlehead shape when they are unfurling. The lookalikes are hairy and the outer covering doesn’t rub off. A true fiddlehead isn’t hairy. It has a brown papery covering that rubs off easily. True fiddleheads also have a celery-like stalk.

Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)
Several other non-edible ferns, like the Christmas fern have the fiddlehead shape when they are unfurling.
The lookalikes are hairy and the outer covering doesn’t rub off. A true fiddlehead isn’t hairy. It has a brown papery covering that rubs off easily. True fiddleheads also have a celery-like stalk. These are non-toxic, but not recommended to eat.

Wild Asparagus Lookalikes
Common Name: Wild Asparagus
Botanical Name: Asparagus officinalis

Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba and Baptisia australis)
toxic
The young shoots of this plant are easily mistaken for asparagus. This plant has been reported to be toxic for humans and livestock.

Horsetail (Equisetum)
non-toxic
I have always heard of this plant being mistaken for bamboo and wild asparagus in my area. When I went to take a closer look, I realized it was horsetail! A non-toxic plant with hollow stems that come apart at each segment. The stems of horsetail somewhat resemble asparagus stalks.

Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)
This plant can resemble asparagus stalks in the spring. The stalks will look reddish and the inside will be hollow unlike asparagus. It looks more like bamboo shoots to me, but to an untrained eye it could be mistaken for asparagus.

Wild Elderberry Lookalikes
Common Name: Wild Elderberry
Botanical Name: Sambucus nigra
Elderberry is an incredible plant, but it has some pretty sketchy lookalikes…

Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)
toxic
Giant hogweed is poisonous to the touch and its flowers are extremely similar to that of the elder plant. Thankfully, this toxic lookalike doesn’t produce berries.

Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata)
toxic
This plant is highly toxic and the flowers look very similar to elderflowers. The flower clusters are more spaced out and the stems are different in that they are very tall, hollow, and have purple streaks on them. Elderberry stems are woody and have bark while water hemlock stems are herbaceous and green (no bark). Water hemlock does not produce berries.

Pokeweed (Phytolacca decandra)
toxic
Poke berries are toxic is eaten whole. Some master herbalists use them, but you don’t want to do this without the proper knowledge. The berries do look similar to elderberries, but they grow in cylinder shapes instead of clusters. The stalks are purple and herbaceous whereas elderberry stems are woody and covered in bark.

Devil’s Walking Stick (Aralia spinosa)
toxic
The leaves and berries of the Devil’s Walking Stick are almost identical to elderberry, but they are toxic to humans. The stalks are woody like elderberry, but they are covered in thorns.

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