![]() ![]() I recommend you see a real doctor if this ever becomes a problem, of course, but isn’t it fascinating to get a peek into the maladies and treatments of the 16th century?Īnd if you’re getting tired of your bottle of lotion, your bar soap, or your toothpaste, you can always try Gerard’s all-purpose mix: “The leaves of the Bramble boyled in water, with honey, allum, and a little white wine added thereto, make a most excellent lotion or washing water, and the same decoction fastneth the teeth.” If your eyes are ever “hanging out,” fear not, for Gerard says this plant can soothe such a malady: “The yong buds or tender tops of the Bramble bush, the floures, the leaves, and the unripe fruit, being chewed, stay all manner of bleedings. “The fruit or berry is like that of the Mulberry, first red, blacke when it is ripe, in taste betweene sweet and soure, very soft, and full of grains: the root creepeth, and sendeth forth here and there young springs.” Lest our taste for blackberries get ruined forever, let’s move on quickly and see what English herbalist Thomas Gerard had to say about these fruits in his 1597 book, Gerard’s Herball: Scientists discovered this slightly nauseating information during an autopsy on her well-preserved body in 2000. They’ve probably been around for at least 2,500 years the Haraldskær Woman, a well-studied bog body found in Denmark in 1835, had eaten millet and blackberries shortly before her death in 490 BC. ![]() As you read above, their native range varies widely. These delicious drupelet fruits have long been popular around the world. The cylindrical berries are anywhere from half to one inch in length. The plant blooms and sets fruit continuously between March and August. ![]() The white flowers have narrower petals than the other species mentioned here. Photo by Walter Siegmund, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.Ī trailing species, it grows just two to five feet tall and spreads up to six feet. It grows wild in the eastern and central parts of North America, favoring open meadows, rocky forests, fields, and fencerows. allegheniensisĪlso known as the Allegheny or highbush blackberry, this erect species grows five to eight feet tall with a spread of five feet. They’ve also been mixed and crossed endlessly by plant breeders to create today’s most popular varieties. Many subspecies, cultivars, and hybrids exist for each of the following species. This term does not refer to any specific botanically known species of blackberry. The various blackberry species are grouped this way for practical purposes of taxonomy, and to distinguish them from other Rubus fruits, such as raspberries and dewberries. It’s important to note that in the wild, species freely interbreed.Īlso, keep in mind that the category of blackberries as a whole are sometimes referred to as Rubus fruticosus agg., with “agg.” being an abbreviation for aggregate. Now, let’s dig into the five most notable species of blackberry. Trailing: vines require support, usually with a trellis these tend to be the least winter hardy of all but produce loads of juicy, sweet berries.Semi-erect: bushes that require some support, are either thorny or thornless, and produce a greater amount of berries than erect cultivars berries are sweet and tart.Erect: upright bushes that don’t need support, are more winter hardy than their semi-erect and trailing counterparts, and produce sweet, large berries.There are three different plant structures when it comes to blackberries: Their average height and spread varies widely, but in general, you’ll need to place each plant about three to five feet apart if you plan to grow more than one. Though rare, a newer breakthrough in blackberry breeding, primocane-fruiting varieties, also called “fall-bearing” blackberries, bear a small crop the first fall after being planted from a bare root, with a full crop following in the second year.īlackberries prefer loamy, well-draining soil with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0, and thrive in a full sun location with six to eight hours of direct sunshine. Many varieties have prickles, but some have been bred to be thornless. These fruits can be grown in USDA Hardiness Zones 4-9. ![]()
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