Big Apple also produces nuts and berries

It was just past 11:30 AM when a thin, bearded man in baggy pants, a patched and faded hand painted T-shirt and a safari hat, carrying a backpack, appeared from the subway across the street.

It was "Wildman" Steve Brill, a naturalist who's been leading field walks through New York parks since 1982, introducing city folks to the joys of eating wild edibles and the wonders of local ecology.

In a few minutes 14 walkers assembled, a cross-section of the city's residents.

We paid our donation, and were given a schedule of walks and release forms to sign. Then we took off into the amazing greenery of Central Park.

In search of black cherries, we made our first stop at a large clump of poison ivy, a good plant to recognize. We trekked up a small hill for our first taste of the small cherries which seemed to be everywhere. Like life in New York, they were bittersweet.

We were cautioned, when tasting, not to overdo it, to make sure the wild things agreed with our stomachs.

Then we fanned out in search of blackberries. One veteran walker found a prime patch I immediately got a thumbful of thorns, but was rewarded with some plump, juicy berries, a good source of vitamin C and pectin. Brill said.

Someone brought up what looked like a small green tennis ball for identification. A black walnut, which ripens in fall. Brill did his "black walnut dance," stomping on the nut to avoid getting brown dye from the husk on his fingers. We examined the huskless nut and went on.

Close by, there were sassafras trees. We learned how to make tea from the leaves or roots. Sassafras tea is an ingredient in root beer.

On to mugwort: a few leaves under your pillow may cause vivid dreams. Boiled, they're used to alleviate menstrual problems. (All the women in the group gathered these.)

We tasted poor man's pepper - nice and spicy - and some spinachy lamb's quarter. Several people elected to dig up edible burdock roots in a ditch near a rest room, and we lunched nearby, close to some tall gingko trees, which also produce nuts.

During lunch, Brill told us the story of how he was arrested several years ago for "eating dandelions in Central Park." Arrested by undercover rangers posing as nature lovers, Brill was hauled off to jail, but saved himself from punishment by contacting media all over the country to publicize his case, he said. Afterward, he was hired by the Parks Department; now, under a new administration, he's back on his own.

On the trail again, we sampled wood sorrel, which has a pleasant lemony taste and looks like large three-leaf clover. We gathered fallen carnelian cherries, bright red and oval, which must ripen off the tree till they're almost mushy. Picked from the tree, they are very sour and astringent. They can make the skin as well as your mouth pucker, and can be used to close wounds, according to Brill.

Nectarines up ahead!" he called, we were off to pluck a few green, rock-hard fruits, to see if they'll ripen home. Nectarines, Brill said, are not a hybrid, but a peach mutation.

Then we walked around the Delacorte Theater. By the side of Belvedere Lake, ringed with bulrushes and cattails, we found blueberries: their leaves, we were told, lower blood sugar.

We stuck to the berries. They were the last course.

Hewitt is coauthor of "Walking San Diego."