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Contents Of This Page:

• Blackberry
• Black Raspberry
• Cloudberry
• Dewberry Group
• Northern Dewberry or Common Dewberry
• Upland Dewberry
• Red Raspberry

Season: Mainly Summer

All the members of this family are technically different, but as far as I'm concerned, I treat them as basically the same. Whichever one I find, I eat. There seems to be some members of this family almost everywhere. In the city, I have found them along fence edges, along rivers, in fields and along bike paths. The bushes do have thorns, as they are part of the Rose (Rosaceae) family. I have noticed there can very often be Poison Ivy, Western Poison Ivy and the very dangerous Poison Sumac where any of these grow, so be careful. Also, I've noticed that inexperienced people can confuse Poison Ivy leaves for leaves of some in this group like the Blackberry and Raspberry. Know what each looks like, and be cautious when approaching anything you think might be Blackberry, Raspberry or the others. One more thing: even if you do know it is a Raspberry or Blackberry, take a look around before going in and picking, as you can have both in the same spot and sometimes you forget yourself when you see a great harvest in front of you.

So how do you distinguish between a Blackberry and a Black Raspberry or other Raspberries? Simple. When you pick the ripe fruit of a Blackberry, the center (torus) stays with the fruit, whereas when you pick any kind of Raspberry, the center (torus) stays with the bush, and you get the hollow fruit only.

Pick and eat, or pick and take home. They freeze well, cook well and go great in baked goods.

Growing these plants in your home garden:

For detailed growing instructions, go to my Wild Foods Home Garden website Rubus genus: (Blackberry, Black Raspberry, Dewberry & Red Raspberry) page.

Blackberry

Blackberry.

Season: Summer - Mainly August

Urban, Rural or Both: Both

Description:

• Plant Size: Normally up to 2 meters (6 feet), although can reach 3 meters (10 feet) occasionally
• Duration: Perennial root bush that replaces older Biennial canes (branches) from the ground with new ones creating a long lived bush
• Leaf Shape: On first year canes (primocane), there is a Palmate Compound leaf with 5-7 leaflets. On second year canes (floricane) the leaves have 3-5 leaflets. Each leaflet is Ovate
• Leaf Phyllotaxis (Leaf Arrangement) on branch: Alternate
• Leaf Margin: Serrated (saw toothed edge)
• Leaf Notes: Veins on leaf underside are raised above leaf surface creating recessed leaf channels on the upper side
• Flowers: 2-3 cm (4/5 to 1 1/5 inches) five petal white or pale pink flowers with yellow center on racemes
• Fruit: Aggregate fruit, dark purple to black when fully ripe, center of fruit comes off stem and stays with fruit when picked.
• Bark: Covered in prickles
• Habitat: Adaptable to a large variety of conditions, and hence is all over North America, tends to quickly colonize disturbed and abandoned areas. Along fence lines, edges of woods, waste land, poor soils.

• Recipe search on the web here (Google search) and here (Bing search).
• Pictures on the web here (Google images) and here (Bing images).
• USDA distribution map and plant profile here.

Black Raspberry

Black Raspberry: (Rubus occidentalis). Can be also known as Black Caps, Black Cap Raspberry, Scotch Cap, Thimbleberry, Wild Black Raspberry. If you find what looks like a Red Raspberry, and it is hard, it probably is just an unripe Black Raspberry. Just remember: A green, Black Raspberry is red.

Season: July

Urban, Rural or Both: Both, but mainly Rural

Description:

• Plant Size: Generally, up to 2 meters (6 feet) tall
• Duration: Perennial root system Shrub that replaces Biennial canes (branches) creating a long lived, spreading bush
• Leaf Shape: trifoliate leaf (sometimes 5 leaflets - Palmate Compound). Each leaflet is more-or-less Ovate
• Leaf Phyllotaxis (Leaf Arrangement) on branch: Alternate
• Leaf Size: 7.5 cm (3 inches) long, 5 cm (2 inches) wide
• Leaf Margin: Double Serrated (saw toothed edge)
• Leaf Notes: Underside of leaf looks lighter in color due to white hairs covering underside. Top of leaf has obvious indented channels where the veins are
• Flowers: Five petal off white in clusters
• Fruit: Dark purple to black Aggregate fruit, though there are some yellow cultivars, about 8-9 mm (1/3 inch) diameter
• Bark: Young first year canes are green, turning a light reddish brown by second year, covered in prickles
• Habitat: Partial sun, moist, rich, well drained soil. Too much shade or not enough moisture will result in low yield of fruit.

• Recipe search on the web here (Google search) and here (Bing search).
• Pictures on the web here (Google images) and here (Bing images).
• USDA distribution map and plant profile here.

Cloudberry

Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus). Also known as the Knotberry and Bakeapple. I don't know a lot about these personally - they don't seem to grow where I've lived. For the most part, they live in northern regions.

Urban, Rural or Both: Rural

They produce fruit that looks like a light tangerine-orange to gold-yellow colored version of the Raspberry. They are in the same family as the Raspberry and Blackberry. All in this family produce fruit that are drupelets - tight bunches of drupes.

They grow 1025 cm (4-10 inches) tall and you will only find them in wet, high acid soils. If you live where there are soil conditions like that, look for them. I lived in Central Ontario for years just South-East of Algonquin park, but never found them even though there were lots of spots in this area that had the right conditions.

Even though I have not personally found them, I mention them as I've read and heard they are very good tasting fresh and make a great jam. So if you see what looks like a yellow-orange (amber) raspberry on a low plant in a damp acid soil area, do some research, you might be in for a treat.

Description:

• Plant Size: 1025 cm (4 to 10 inches) high
• Duration: Perennial
• Leaf Shape: Simple, Maple leaf like with 5-7 lobes
• Leaf Phyllotaxis (Leaf Arrangement) on branch: Alternate
• Leaf Size: 3-7 cm (1 1/5 to 2 3/4 inches) wide
• Leaf Margin: Serrated (saw toothed edge)
• Leaf Notes: Leaves are wrinkled, with sunken veins (from top of leaf) and slightly funnel shaped overall - not a flat leaf
• Flowers: White 5 petal flower with yellow center.
• Fruit: Raspberry like amber Aggregate fruit ripe in early autumn
• Habitat: Wet, acidic soil in full sun, generally found in cold northern areas

• Recipe search on the web here (Google search) and here (Bing search).
• Pictures on the web here (Google images) and here (Bing images).
• USDA distribution map and plant profile here.

Dewberry Group

Dewberry Group. There are a few in this group, but the only one that I know of in my area that is good enough to eat is the Northern Dewberry or Common Dewberry. A Dewberry is very similar to a Blackberry, but instead of growing on upright canes, it is a low growing plant - that is, the canes bend over often leaning on the ground. Canes can reach a meter (3 feet) or more off the ground.

Season: Late Spring to Early Summer

Since these grow so close to the ground, they are a big food source for all sorts of critters. Keep that in mind when looking for them. Look for a horizontal growing vine with prickles that can cut the skin and trip you when walking among them.

Northern Dewberry or Common Dewberry

Northern Dewberry or Common Dewberry (Rubus flagellaris).

Urban, Rural or Both: Both, but mainly Rural

Growing this plant in your home garden:

Should be no problem, takes well to most environments. If you find some berries, save the seeds and plant. I've personally never seen them for sale at a nursery, so you are probably on your own to find it. I have seen the plants for sale on the web though. Since it roots from where the horizontal vine like branches touch the ground, finding a vine and transplanting it shouldn't be a problem either.

Description:

• Plant Size: Horizontally growing stems can grow as long as 4-5 meters (13-16 feet), canes can reach a meter (3 feet) or more off the ground
• Duration: Perennial
• Leaf Shape: Compound leaf with either 3 or 5 leaflets - most often is 3. Terminal leaf is on end of leaf stem, while other 2 or 4 leaves come from same spot on the stem which is about 2/3 of the way from where the leaf stem meets the branch. Each leaflet is Ovate
• Leaf Phyllotaxis (Leaf Arrangement) on branch: Alternate
• Leaf Size: Compound leaf up to 13 cm (5 inches) long, 13 cm (5 inches) wide
• Leaf Margin: Serrated (saw toothed edge)
• Leaf Notes: Underside of leaves are lighter green than the upper side, on the upper side of the leaf, the area between the veins is raised
• Flowers: Five petal white flower about 2.5 cm (1 inch) diameter, flowers close at night
• Fruit: Dark purple to black when ripe, but red when unripe. 12-25 mm (1/2 to 1 inch) diameter. Ripe in later June.
• Bark: Young stems are green with white colored prickles, older stems are brown, woody with harder prickles
• Habitat: Very wide range of environments, moist well drained loose soils, does well after a forest fire. Seems to show up most often in grassy type areas that are between woods and roads for instance.

• Recipe search on the web here (Google search) and here (Bing search).
• Pictures on the web here (Google images) and here (Bing images).
• USDA distribution map and plant profile here.

Upland Dewberry

There is also the Upland Dewberry (Rubus invisus) in the Eastern USA, but I have never had any experience with it.

Red Raspberry

Red Raspberry: (Raspberry). There are quite a few Raspberries, though the one I am most familiar with in the wild is the Rubus strigosus.

Urban, Rural or Both: Both

Growing this plant in your home garden:

This one is fairly easy to start and grow. These came up in my yard years ago and keeps spreading through gardens and provides good berries for most of the summer.

Description:

• Plant Size: Up to 2 meters (6 feet) tall
• Duration: Perennial roots with Biennial canes (branches)
• Leaf Shape: Odd Pinnate with 3-7 leaflets. Each leaflet is more or less Ovate
• Leaf Phyllotaxis (Leaf Arrangement) on branch: Alternate
• Leaf Size: Compound leaf can reach 20 cm (8 inches) long
• Leaf Margin: Serrated (saw toothed edge)
• Leaf Notes: Young leaves have red with green color, fully green when leaf is mature
• Flowers: Five petal white flowers on racemes
• Fruit: Though most commonly red in the wild, there are Blue, Black, Purple and even Golden or Yellow fruit hybrids with other varieties that have escaped and naturalized in the wild.
• Bark: Woody canes with prickles, red in first year
• Habitat: Highly varied. Edges of woods, disturbed areas, power line openings, ditches, waste land, Boreal to Carolinian forest openings and edges.

• Pictures on the web here (Google images) and here (Bing images).
• USDA distribution map and plant profile here.

There are hundreds of species in the Rubus genus, and you may find berries that don't fit the three I've mentioned above. Do more research starting with this link: Rubus.

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