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Is Virginia creeper safe to eat?

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By: Willk All content is licensed under CC BY-SA
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Q: Is Virginia creeper safe to eat?

Spring and the Virginia Creeper is growing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia

It is native to North America, and common. I read on Wikipedia the berries have "dangerous amounts of oxalic acid" and I have not tried those. The leaves taste good to me; sour and much like sorrel.

I wonder if anyone knows if historically, anyone ate this stuff. Rhubarb has oxalic acid but is good if cooked a little, and cooking is recommended for old sorrel. One would think that back in the days that people ate pokeweed someone would have tried creeper; it is everywhere. But my googlefu is pretty strong these days and I have turned up nothing.

Answer

Virginia Creeper can be toxic if eaten. Both the leaves and berries should be considered poisonous and not eaten.

According to poison.org:

Although they are pretty, Virginia creeper and wisteria can be harmful if they are chewed or swallowed. Both plants can cause mouth pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea and should not be eaten.

Both the berries and leaves contain oxalate. While not everyone may have a severe reaction, it's difficult to predict when a reaction may happen, and thus it's best to never eat Virgina creeper.

Since you mention rhubarb in your question, rhubarb contains oxalate in it's leaves at toxic levels, only the rhubarb stalks are safe to eat. Rhubarb stalks do still have oxalate, but at lower concentrations, reducing the chance of illness or death.