The Blackberry Family: Juicy and Delicious
The large and diverse blackberry family (Rubus sp.) includes blackberries, raspberries, dewberries, salmonberries, and many hybrids and combinations of various North American and Eurasian species and cultivars, including the loganberry (raspberry x blackberry), the boysenberry (loganberry x raspberry x blackberry), the youngberry (blackberry x dewberry), and the marionberry (raspberry x blackberry x dewberry x loganberry x youngberry). There are more than 700 total Rubus species, hybrids, and cultivars, many of them native to or developed in North America.
The blackberry family is treasured for its delicious and nutritious berries. They grow vigorously both in the wild and in cultivation and are eaten fresh or made into dozens of different foods and drinks.
Blackberry species are also major food sources for many species of wildlife, and the dense, thorny thickets they develop in the wild provide shelter for many birds and small mammals.
Avoid the non-native Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus), which is invasive in many states and out-competes native blackberries and most other native vegetation. Himalayan blackberries are extremely difficult to get rid of. Options include cutting them back and digging out as much of the roots as possible, cutting them back and using spot applications of herbicides, and grazing the area with goats, which seem to relish blackberries.
[...] blackberries and raspberries [...]
[...] blackberries and raspberries [...]
[...] Blackberry family (Rubus sp.) [...]
[...] blackberries and raspberries [...]
[...] blackberry and raspberry [...]
[...] Brambles [...]
[...] summer, black bears favor soft mast species such as blueberries, blackberries, pawpaws, serviceberries, grapes, and [...]
[...] Fruit is the favorite food of adult orioles. Their favorite species include mulberries, serviceberries, wild cherries, mountain ash, blackberries, and raspberries. [...]
[...] sp.) has lost some popularity as an ornamental plant due to the messy berries, which resemble blackberries and (like blackberries) stain sidewalks, clothes, and more. However, for many years mulberries were [...]
[...] non-native mast-producing shrubs that are good choices for an edible hedge, including blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, serviceberry, hazelnut, elderberry, chokecherry, aronia, wild cherry, wild plum, [...]
[...] Blackberry (Rubus sp.) [...]
[...] shrub layer includes fruiting shrubs such as blueberry, raspberry, hazelnut, serviceberry, elderberry, chokeberry, wild cherry, and [...]