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And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.  Genesis 2:15
Brambles (Rubus L.):  Blackberry, Dewberry, Raspberry, etc.
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     Bramble fruits like blackberries, dewberries, raspberries, etc. are all in the large genus Rubus L., which has over 200 (over 350 world wide) species of native or naturalized species including many that are very local in range thus possibly apomictic hybrids, therefore, only those clearly found in the TAG (Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia) tri-state area are listed below followed by some hybrids that are readily available for cultivations, but first is a discussion of brambles as mentioned in the Bible.
      The most notable Bible passage that mentions brambles is Judges 9:8-15.  This is a parable about trees looking for a king, but the better choices among the trees offered the position all had more important things to do and refused.  Finally the bramble was chosen although giving a conditional warning that if offer was not serious and its rule was not accepted then fire originating in brambles would devour the trees, which is ecologically sound.  This parable was spoken by
Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, after the men of Shechem made Abimelech (another son of Jerubbaal by a woman of Shechem) their king after he slew all his (half) brethren save the youngest who hid.  The curse literally came true for the people of Shechem later in the same chapter while Abimelech also got what he deserved.  The other passages that mention brambles are Isaiah 34:13 and Luke 6:44 where nettles and thorns are respectively mentioned.

garden dewberry                         R. aboriginum Rydb.               Reported in AL, GA & TN

Allegheny Blackberry                   R. allegheniensis Porter           Cleburn Co.

oldfield blackberry                       R. alumnus L.H. Bailey            Reported in TN

falling dewberry                           R. apogaeus L.H. Bailey          Reported in AL

Sawtooth blackberry                 R. argutus Link                      Native but invasive in HI

Himalayan blackberry                  R. armeniacus Focke               Exotic reported in AL

field blackberry                            R. arvensis L.H. Bailey            Reported in AL

Tampa blackberry                       R. audax L.H. Bailey                Reported in GA

Bailey’s dewberry                        R. baileyanus Britton                Reported in TN

Himalayan blackberry                  R. bifrons Vest ex Tratt.           Exotic in NW AL

smooth blackberry                       R. canadensis L.                      GA & TN Mtn.

sand blackberry                           R. cuneifolius Pursh                 Native mostly S. AL

Deam’s dewberry                        R. deamii L.H. Bailey               Reported in TN

DC dewberry                              R. fecundus L.H. Bailey           Reported in AL & TN

northern dewberry                       R. flagellaris Willd.                  Native

Yankee blackberry                      R. frondosus Bigelow               Reported in GA & TN

bristly dewberry                           R  hispidus L.                           Franklin Co. TN

Savanna dewberry                       R. ictus L.H. Bailey                  Reported in AL & GA

American red raspberry           R. idaeus L.                             NE TN otherwise circumpolar

Watauga River blackberry           R. immanis Ashe                      Reported in AL & TN

Upland dewberry                         R. invisus (L.H. Bailey) Britton Reported in TN

Cutleaf blackberry                       R. laciniatus Willd.                  exotic SE & NE TN

Plains blackberry                         R. laudatus A. Berger              Reported in AL, GA & TN

Bottomland dewberry                  R. leviculus L.H. Bailey            Reported in GA

Manatee dewberry                      R. lucidus Rydb.                      Reported in GA

Dryslope dewberry                      R. meracus L.H. Bailey            Reported in TN

Black raspberry                        R. occidentalis L.                   Native just into N. AL

Purpleflowering raspberry            R. odoratus L.                         TN & GA Adj. to NE AL

Pennsylvania blackberry               R. pensilvanicus Poir.              Reported in TN

Persistent blackberry                   R. persistens Rydb.                  Reported in AL & GA

Wine raspberry                            R. phoenicolasius Maxim.        Exotic [AL,] GA & TN

Tree blackberry                           R. probabilis L.H. Bailey          Reported in AL & GA

Birmingham blackberry                R. probativus L.H. Bailey        Reported in AL & GA

Plymoth blackberry                      R. randolphiorum L.H. Bailey  Reported in AL & GA          

New Orleans dewberry               R. sons L.H. Bailey                   Reported in AL & GA

Branched blackberry                   R. suus L.H. Bailey                   Reported in AL, GA & TN

Great Britain blackberry               R. thyrsoides Wimm.                Exotic reported in GA

southern dewberry                       R. trivialis Michx.                    Native

Lookout Mountain blackberry      R. trux Ashe                            Reported in GA & TN

Wharton’s dewberry                    R. whartoniae L.H. Bailey       Reported in TN

 

Loganberry = raspberry X blackberry (or possibly just a red fruited California or Pacific blackberry, Rubus ursinus Cham. & Schltdl.)

Boysenberry = dewberry X Loganberry where loganberry is more important as breeding stock than for fruit.

Youngberry = blackberry X dewberry

olallieberry = Loganberry X Youngberry

Marionberry = olallieberry X Chehalem berry whose parent is Himalayan and grandparents are Loganberry and California blackberry

     Another notable species is thimbleberry, R. parviflorus Nutt., which I have seen at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.  The thimbleberries were not ripe but a few raspberries were.

     There are simple difference between the blackberries, raspberries and dewberries found here in northeast Alabama.  Dewberries are a trailing vine that runs along the ground and may even root at nodes, unfortunately they seem to be declining due to herbicides.  The blackberries and raspberries are both upright or arching, while the tips of raspberries sometimes or at least more often touches the ground and roots.  The fruit of raspberries totally separates from the supporting structures and thus appear hollow.

     Blackberries are aggregate fruits that develop from separate ovules in a single flower thus pollination is very important to ensure the maximum number of drupelets are produced.  Mulberries, Morus L., look similar to blackberries but they are multiple fruits produced from a cluster of individual flowers.  The degree of pollination can be strongly influenced by the weather, whether it be rain, heat, or in the worst but fortunately least likely case of cold that could damage the blossoms.  As a bonus blackberries are good honey plants.  If it is too hot bees may not be out all day.  Rain can wash the pollen away before the bees get covered with it.  Similar to Indian summer in autumn there is blackberry winter in the spring.  This follows dogwood winter, which is typically the last freeze.  While blackberry winter is just the last cool weather before May.  It is probably synonymous with strawberry winter, which is often blamed for damaging strawberries because they are at ground level and thus more susceptible to a late frost.

      Blackberries are easy to grow because wild ones will appear if you do nothing such as neglecting to mow a lawn for a few years.  Blackberry patches have a reputation for chiggers and snakes, but both these are exaggerated.  The chiggers were probably in the vegetation such as grass surrounding the patch while the snakes if any are usually only looking for bird nests.  Some people even suspect the presence of snakes due to the "snake spit" they often see on blackberries, but this so called snake spit is actually produced by a spittle bug nymph that is hiding by blowing bubbles in sap oozing from a wound that it created.

     Commercial production is different so these issues are mute, but many people don't like the larger commercial blackberries because the seeds are proportionally larger but the flavor isn't especially on thorn-less varieties.  The advantage of the improved varieties is the larger crops, but if the orchard is not well maintained it is no better than a wild patch.  A typical method is to have a (relatively light) trellis, with a couple of wires.  Each plant is allowed to produce a couple of pimacanes but only after the berry season ends.  These cane are cut when they reach the respective wire (i.e. taller to the upper wire) to encourage lateral buds to grow and the resulting branches are tied to the wires.  One person after initially experiencing the u-pick harvest at Petals from the Past described it as a sin for it to be that easy to pick a couple gallons of blackberries, but they planned on "sinning" again within a week.  A variation on the trellis is a couple wires at the same height where one is for the primocanes and the other is for the floracanes while this alternates each year, but the spacing between plants seems to be larger in this case while it saves the steps of keeping primocanes cut back until time for harvest and then pruning them to the height of the wires.  The former method is also used for raspberries.

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