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All around Vancouver, edible plants are hiding in plain sight. The Falling Fruit map is one useful tool to help you find those growing along city streets.

For instance, Falling Fruit shows that there’s a Japanese flowering crab apple tree or shrub at the corner of East 15th Avenue and Windsor Street.

A block away, a black walnut tree is located along East 16th Avenue, east of Windsor.

Also close at hand, the East 16th Avenue-Glen Drive intersection is home to cherry plum and chokecherry trees.

There's a lot of trees waiting to be harvested in Vancouver. Falling Fruit

All of these plants bear fruits or nuts that people can eat. However, you should know what you are doing before eating anything you harvest.

For instance, chokecherry plants have poisonous parts. A USDA fact sheet states:

The seeds are toxic due to production of hydrocyanic acid in the leaves, stems and seeds. The almond-like nuts are treated to deactivate the poisonous glycosides before they are put on the market. Cases of illness and deaths have been traced back to eating the seeds of these trees.

Falling Fruit is a nonprofit project based in the U.S. The map uses imported data sets—one source is the Vancouver park board—and can be edited by anyone.