I've read dozens and dozens of these books, and own a good percentage of the same, so it's no easy answer for me. First of all, I'm not aware of anything out there that is specific to the SoCal Coast. Most are more general or have a regional bias without making that clear in the title. My all-around favorite is without a doubt: Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods, by Thomas Elias, Peter A. Dykeman. It packs loads of information into a manageable sized book, including harvesting methods, nutritional stats, and preparation instructions. It is the only user friendly edibles guide that can really be used anywhere on the continent. A Taste of Nature by Kahanah Farnsworth is a nice little book for the beginning forager with an obvious SoCal bent, and some useful recipes. Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and The Southwest by Delena Tull is another great resource, although it's too big to take in the field with you. I could not give any recommendations under this topic without mentioning Euell Gibbons. His books remain the most accessible, realistic, and interesting to date. His Stalking the Wild Asparagus is a general guide with a Northeast focus, but includes all of the major edibles that are common anywhere. Finally -- I apologize for the length of this, but you've hit on a passion of mine -- you might want to familiarize yourself with the host of temperate and sub-tropical zone weeds and cultivated edibles. When I go to Southern California, my best finds are not native wild plants, but rather naturalized non-natives. In fact I would say that the native flora of Southern, especially coastal, California is one of the poorest for fleshy fruits especially, and edibles in general. BUT, add to this the multitude of introduced plants that produce numerous luscious things and you have a region that is hard to beat for the forager. So I hope you find some books that suit you, and don't be afraid to check out that vacant lot loaded with fruiting olive trees, pineapple guavas, fruiting palms, or the dandelions in your yard, and the weedy mallow coming up in the park.

I'm currently looking for alexanders, golden alexanders, stinging nettle, white yarrow, ramp ( wild leek), sweet white clover, yellow sweet clover, and peppergrasses ( cow cress, field penny cress, or poor man's pepper). Or any other wild edible that can do well in northern vermont. If you'd like to swap I have- italian aromatic sage, queen anne's lace, globe thistle, bachelor buttons, black eye susan, pole bean, radish, spinach, purple morning glory, red and green scallion mix. Thank you.

Without going through the effort of looking them all up, I think the only north american native plant you have on your list is jack-in-the-pulpit. Most on your list probably already grow in your area without you needing to plant them. And some like garlic mustard are very invasive and not suggested at all for planting. If you are looking to plant edibles, why don't you research what north american native plants are edible? They would have all the advantages of native plants (see the many back posts here) and many are quite tasty in their own right. BTW, I know people stupid enough to taste raw jack-in-the-pulpit and others that were mean enough to get someone else to taste one. I believe it was referred to as "spikes going through your mouth." The corms take prep and lots of time to get to an edible form. IMHO, too much work and they are too pretty in a woodland setting to use or food. I think I'd opt for winter harvesting rosehips or hawthorn berries. FataMorgana

Poor black snake, just catching some rays and gets disturbed. I too think that he was scared. I have seen black snakes lying rippled up like that before. It is an old wives tale that persimmons have to be frosted to sweeten up but it's not true. Persimmons just need a long time to mature, and most years they don't get it til after a frost. But if a frost delays til late Nov early Dec as it has some recent years you can eat persimmons before frost. I boil poke just once for about 5 min in plenty of water, pour off the water and then scramble it with eggs. I like it but my California raised husband doesn't. He will eat lambsquarters though, especially if I mix it with spinach. Watercress is one of my favorite spring greens. I eat it raw after washing well in water with a dab of bleach and then rinsing and when I can get enough I steam it or scramble with eggs. I like all the wild fruits, blackberry, mulberry, wild grape, wild cherry, mayapple, passionfruit, persimmon, but only eat them raw in moderation because so many wild animals depend on them. This year though I hope to make persimmon bread, which I like, expecially with black walnuts.