Where:
Found along waterways, roadsides, trailsides and wet forest edges. Maps>

Identification:
In early spring red/purple asparagus-like shoots emerge from the ground and grow rapidly. Spade-shaped leaves unfurl as the plant matures. Stems are green with red speckles, stout, hollow, and cane-like. Plants grow in dense thickets 5-8 feet tall, choking everything else out. Flowers are small, creamy white to greenish white, and grow in plume-like branched clusters near the ends of stems in late summer.
 
When to collect:
Early spring, as soon as new shoots are visible.

Which parts are edible:
Young shoots and stems of plants up to two feet tall. Plants over six inches may need to have fibrous skin peeled off.