Eating every edible plant part is easier said than done – so let’s at least say it before setting out to do it. I’m making it a “bucket list” goal to eat every edible part of every edible plant, not including those which shouldn’t be eaten because they’re so endangered, or are illegal or poisonous.

• This includes only plants, not fungi (at least at first). Seaweeds are kind of a borderline case because they are “plants” in some senses but not others. I’ve eaten a “seaweed salad” at a Japanese restaurant that contained both nori and hijiki – it turns out that nori (a red alga) is more closely related to all land plants than hijiki (a brown alga) is related to either! But the quest is defined to include at least all so-called “land plants” (Embryophyta).
• Endangered plants are included, but not parts of them that you can’t eat without harming the plant. So an endangered tree with edible fruit would be included, but an endangered plant with a single edible taproot would not. I won’t take part in eating anything to extinction.
• Illegal plants are excluded. (Well, I might eat them anyway, but I won’t post on the internet about it.) If I can obtain it legally, I’ll eat it – for example, since I live in California I can just go to a grocery store and buy hemp (Cannabis sativa) seeds as food (hemp leaves, also edible, might be harder to come by…). If there’s no legal way for me to obtain something, it’s excluded.
• Plants that are so poisonous or psychoactive that you can’t eat a reasonable portion without serious effects are excluded. For example, nutmeg is commonly used as a spice (even though a few tablespoons will send you on quite a trip), so it’s included, but Datura stramonium is excluded because although it’s certainly possible to eat some and not die, nobody eats it for the flavor. It’s squarely in the “drug” category rather than “food”.

With all that said, it seems like a good way to start upon my quest to eat every edible plant would be to begin compiling a list of every edible plant. What plant lists are out there?

One amazing resource is The Plant List, which aims to list every land plant (embryophyte). The Plant List’s 642 families contain 17,020 genera, which in turn contain over a million species (depending on how synonymous or questionable species names are counted). This is obviously much too large a list to start out with, and the majority of plants on it have no edible parts, but it’s reassuring to know that a definite, comprehensive list is available. The task is finite!

On the other hand, plucodes.com has a much more narrowly defined list which is also useful. PLU codes are those 4-digit (sometimes 5-digit) codes on the little stickers when you buy a piece of fruit at the grocery store. They’re also the codes you write on the bag or twist tie if you ever buy anything in bulk. Most produce items have a PLU code, even fairly exotic ones like arracacha or pitahaya (“dragon fruit”). It doesn’t include things like wheat or soybeans, because those aren’t often found in the produce section, so obviously it’s nowhere near a comprehensive list of all food plants.

You can download an Excel spreadsheet from that site with every standard PLU code, of which 1008 are actual varieties of produce. However, this does include many varieties of each item, such as 182 varieties of apple. The number of distinct “commodities” on the list is only 174, but that’s a start!

Another resource I might use in compiling lists is the index of The New Oxford Book of Food Plants. I haven’t yet entered these plants into a spreadsheet to see how many there are, but it seems like there ought to be all the ones that have PLU codes plus many more.

If you know of another list of edible plants (the more authoritative/canonical the better), I’d love to hear about it!

Just for fun, here’s a list of all the distinct commodities that have PLU codes (obviously the formatting is a little wonky):
ALFALFA SPROUTS, ALMONDS, ALOE VERA LEAVES, ANISE, APPLES, APPLE SLICES, APRICOTS, ARRACACH, ARTICHOKES, ARUGULA/ROCKET, ASPARAGUS, ATEMOYAS, AVOCADOS, BABACO, BANANAS, BASIL, BAY LEAVES, BEANS, BEAN SPROUTS, BEET GREENS, BEETS, BELGIAN ENDIVE (WITLOOF CHICORY), BERRIES, BITTER MELON/BITTER GOURD, Foo Qua, BOK CHOY (PAK CHOI), BONIATO, BORAGE, BRAZILNUTS, BREADFRUIT, BROCCOLI, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, CABBAGE, CACTUS LEAVES (Nopales/Cactus Pads), CACTUS PEAR (PRICKLY PEAR), CARAMBOLA (STARFRUIT), CARDOON (CARDONI), CARROTS, CASHEWS, CAULIFLOWER, CELERY, CELERY ROOT/CELERIAC, CHARD (SWISS CHARD)/SILVERBEET, CHERIMOYA, CHERRIES, CHERVIL, CHESTNUTS, CHICKPEAS, CHIVES, CHOY SUM/PAK CHOI SUM, CILANTRO (CHINESE PARSLEY/CORIANDER), COCONUTS, CORN, CUCUMBER, CURRANTS, DAIKON, DATES, DILL, EGGPLANT (AUBERGINE), ENDIVE/CHICORY, ESCAROLE/BATAVIAN CHICORY, FEIJOA, FENNEL, FENNEL LEAVES, FIDDLEHEAD FERNS, FIGS, FILBERTS, FRISEE, GAI (GUI) CHOY (CHINESE or INDIAN MUSTARD), GAI LAN, GARLIC, GINGER ROOT, GOBO ROOT/BURDOCK, GOURD, GRAPEFRUIT, GRAPES, GREENS, GUAVA, HOMLI FRUIT, HORSERADISH ROOT, JICAMA/YAM BEAN, KALE, KIWANO (HORNED MELON), KIWIFRUIT, KOHLRABI, KUMQUAT, LEEKS, LEMONGRASS, LEMONS, LETTUCE, LIMEQUATS, LIMES, LONGAN, LOQUATS, LOTUS ROOT, LYCHEES, MACADAMIA, MADROÑA, MALANGA, MAMEY, MANGO, MANGOSTEEN, MARJORAM, MELON, MINT, MIXED NUTS, MUSHROOMS, NAME, NECTARINE, OKRA, ONG CHOY, ONIONS, ORANGES, OREGANO, OYSTER PLANT/SALSIFY, PAPAYA/PAWPAW, PARSLEY, PARSLEY ROOT(HAMBURG PARSLEY), PARSNIP, PASSION FRUIT, PEACHES, PEANUTS, PEARS, PEAS, PECANS, PEPPERS (CAPSICUMS), PERSIMMON, PHYSALIS/CAPE GOOSEBERRY/GROUND CHERRY, PINEAPPLE, PINE NUTS (PIGNOLI), PISTACHIO, PITAHAYA, PLUMCOT (INTERSPECIFIC PLUM), PLUMS, POMEGRANATE, POTATO, PRUNES, PUMPKIN, QUINCE, RADICCHIO, RADISH, RAISINS, RAMBUTAN, RHUBARB, ROSEMARY, RUTABAGAS (SWEDE), SAGE, SALAD BAR, SAPODILLO/NISPERO, SAPOTE, SAVORY, SORREL, SOURSOP, SPINACH, SQUASH, SUGAR APPLE, SUGAR CANE, SUNCHOKES (JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES), SUNFLOWER SEEDS, SWEET POTATO/YAM/KUMARA, TAMARILLO, TAMARINDO, TANGELO, TANGERINES/MANDARINS, TARO ROOT (DASHEEN), TARRAGON, THYME, TOMATOES, TURNIP, VANILLA BEAN, WALNUTS, WATER CHESTNUTS, WATERCRESS, YUCA ROOT/CASSAVA/MANIOC, YU CHOY