This is for new foragers, like my coworker:
'Medicinal' does NOT mean 'good for you and safe to eat all the time'. A plant being 'medicinal' does NOT mean that eating it, without any idea of WHY and HOW it's considered medicinal, is a good idea. It is UNWISE to consume a plant that has a long history of use in a way that DOES NOT have a long history of use.
In addition to learning that a plant is edible, you need to learn how it is eaten, what part is eaten, when it's harvested, and how to harvest it sustainably and in a way that supports its continued existence (unless it's invasive). If people only eat the ripe berries as food, then don't eat unripe berries. Don't. Eat. Unripe. Berries. UNLESS! There's! precedent! For that plant!
I know there's this idea going around that Americans only eat sweet or salty things, and that we've eliminated bitter things from our diet, and we should thus be eating more bitter things. But! Bitter things are bitter for a reason, and sometimes that reason is poison! Some of them are medicinally useful at the correct dose, but! You need to know what that is! You need to be doing it on purpose! DO NOT! Assume that bitter means that it's good for you!
Yes! Foxgloves can be medicinal in the right dose but they're also really poisonous if you just eat them randomly. Willow bark has the compound that can be refined into aspirin but if you eat it it's really easy to give yourself ulcers. Also, you must get a foraging book that is specific to your local environment, poisonous lookalikes vary by region
Eliminated bitter things from our diets? Nonsense, what about coffee?
Anyways, yes. Medicinal plants are medicines. They have drug interactions and side effects. You can overdose. Modern pharmaceuticals are a good thing because you know exactly how much of the active ingredient you are consuming, and there is a lot of information on the safety.
Also, like any food, you can randomly have a sensitivity or an allergy to a plant you haven't eaten before, so maybe only eat a little the first time you eat it.
