blackberry v. raspberry v. dewberry v. loganberry v. boysenberry
Monday, June 7, 2010 Members of the genus Rubus are not true berries. Rather, they are aggregate fruits consisting of many small drupelets. These berries grow on brambles with prickly stems called canes. Growers select for desirable features, such as improved flavor, reduced seed size, larger fruits, or higher yields, by crossing existing varieties. Some of the more well-known Rubus cultivars are mentioned here.
Blackberry
Blackberries have large seeds, and are purple or black when ripe, with shiny, hairless drupelets. Blackberries and raspberries grow on upright canes, with blackberry brambles usually being taller.
Raspberry
When picked, a raspberry’s receptacle remains on the stem, leaving a hollow core in the berry; most other receptacles come off with the fruit. Raspberries have hairy drupelets, and can be red, purple, black, or golden yellow, depending on the species. Raspberries ripen in mid-summer, before blackberries, and have a higher tolerance for cold temperatures.
Dewberry
Dewberries look like small, deep purple-blue blackberries. The berries themselves are tender and sweet. Dewberry brambles grow prostrate along the ground.
Loganberry
The loganberry is a large, tart, dark red hybrid of a blackberry and a raspberry, created in 1881 by James Harvey Logan. It is primarily used as a parent for other hybrids.
Boysenberry
A boysenberry is a cross between a blackberry, a raspberry, and a loganberry. Boysenberries are very large, deep red-purple berries with a sweet-tart flavor. They are softer and have smaller seeds than blackberries. Like dewberries, they have trailing horizontal brambles. Boysenberries were originally grown on Rudolph Boysen’s farm in northern California, and developed commercially by Walter Knott (of Knott’s Berry Farm fame).
Many other berry crosses have been cultivated, such as:
- Tayberry (blackberry x red raspberry) - sweeter and larger than loganberries
- Youngberry (blackberry x dewberry)
- Olallieberry (loganberry x youngberry)
- Marionberry (Chehalem blackberry x olallieberry) - a very popular blackberry variety; also the name of a Democratic congressman from Arkansas
PickYourOwn.org on unusual fruits of North America and Europe