Interesting things in the woods of Ontario, Canada

I went for a walk in the woods to pick up some blackberry canes, and saw a few plants I was pretty happy to be able to identify, albeit not with absolute certainty.

I think I saw a lot of Chokeberry (aka Aronia) that is supposed to be one of these forgotten superfoods of North America. I didn't take any pictures of those since I already have one growing in the yard, but I have some pictures of some others.

My guess at the first one is red currant.
The second one I mistook for pawpaw. I was hoping to stumble across some growing in the wild and so got a bit over-optimistic, although it does look a bit similar. I knew it wasn't pawpaw though, because all over the trees a lot of foliage looked yellow and eaten. Does anyone know what it is?
And the third one just plan looks interesting, does anyone know what it is?

If that is red currant, what would be the best way to get a plant growing for myself from the wild ones, short of digging one up?

Thank you,

Amjad

(I don't see my pictures in the "preview" but hope that they will upload once I post, although I think the first time I posted pictures they were visible in the preview.)

hi Amjd,

the second is not a pawpaw
these leaves are toothed, pawpaws are not
i'm not sure what it is

the third looks like a type of milkweed to me

Does anyone have experience propagating red currants? (If that is in fact what I had found in the woods.)

I found this website that says you simply cut about 12 inches of new growth, cut at the top on an angle and plant the other end. Is it really so simple?
The internet is such a beautiful resource!

First one looks like a Viburnum, some are edible but tasty???
Second could be a chestnut.
Red currants are easily propagated by cuttings. This years growth is cut +/- 12" late fall and potted up with 2/3 of cutting underground, leaves removed.
Wait for regrowth in next spring.

Dirk - I just looked up Viburnum and I think you're right on with that. Its a bit disappointing because some are mildly toxic. If it was red currant I would have been going back to get some cuttings.
- There appears to be a fair bit of variation in chestnut leaves, I'm not sure with that.. but it wasn't pawpaw so again, I'm 0 for 2.

Thank you for your input everyone. It was fun to check out the woods and be able to identify some wild grapes at least! Like I said I think I saw some chokeberries, and hopefully I'll learn to identify more edibles.

The third pic looks like dogbane to me. Do any of the plants fork?

Niko Economides wrote:The third pic looks like dogbane to me. Do any of the plants fork?

I don't remember if any of the plants from the third picture forked. I don't think that they did though.

I've looked at pictures of both milkweed and dogbane and I do remember seeing the very strange, curled, bumpy green pods that are associated with milkweed on something in the woods that day.
The shine on the leaves, and their size of the plants from pic #3 led me to think they looked almost tropical. From what I can see, dogbane has smaller leaves and doesn't have a shine to it.

But then again I haven't a clue! Thanks for the input Niko