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BLACKBERRY

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{{taxobox
|name = Blackberry
|image = Ripe, ripening, and green blackberries.jpg
|image_caption = Ripe, ripening and unripe blackberries on the same plant
|regnum = Plantae
|unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
|unranked_classis = Eudicots
|unranked_ordo = Rosids
|ordo = Rosales
|familia = Rosaceae
|genus = ''Rubus''
|subgenus = ''Rubus'' (formerly ''Eubatus'')
|subdivision_ranks = Species
|subdivision = *''Rubus ursinus''
*''Rubus argutus''
*'''''Rubus fruticosus''''' - Common Blackberry
*'''''Rubus ulmifolius'''''
And hundreds more microspecies<br>
(the subgenus also includes the dewberry|dewberries)
|}}
The '''blackberry''' is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the ''Rubus'' genus of the Rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an Fruit#Aggregate_fruit|aggregate fruit, composed of small Drupe|drupelets. The plants typically have Biennial plant|biennial canes and Perennial plant|perennial roots. Blackberries and raspberries are also called caneberries or brambles. It is a widespread, and well known group of over 375 species, many of which are closely related apomixis|apomictic microspecies native throughout the temperate northern hemisphere and South America.<ref name=rhs>Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.</ref>

Growth and anatomical description

Blackberries are perennial plants which typically bear biennial plant|biennial stems ("canes") from the perennial root system.<ref name=uga>[http://www.ugaextension.com/cobb/anr/Documents/BlackberriesandRaspberriesUGA.pdf Gerard Krewer, Marco Fonseca, Phil Brannen, Dan Horton, 2004. Home Garden:Raspberries, Blackberries] Cooperative Extension Service/The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences</ref>

In its first year, a new stem, the '''primocane''', grows vigorously to its full length of 3–6 m (in some cases, up to 9 m), arching or trailing along the ground and bearing large leaf shape|palmately compound leaf|leaves with five or seven leaflets; it does not produce any flowers. In its second year, the cane becomes a '''floricane''' and the stem does not grow longer, but the lateral buds break to produce flowering laterals (which have smaller leaves with three or five leaflets).<ref name=uga/> First and second year shoots usually have numerous short curved very sharp Thorns, spines, and prickles|prickles that are often erroneously called thorns. Prickle-free cultivars have been developed. Recently the University of Arkansas has developed primocane fruiting blackberries that grow and flower on first year growth much as the primocane-fruiting (also called fall bearing or everbearing) red raspberries do.

Unmanaged mature plants form a tangle of dense arching stems, the branches rooting from the node tip on many species when they reach the ground. Vigorous and growing rapidly in woods, scrub, hillsides and hedgerows, blackberry shrubs tolerate poor soils, readily colonizing wasteland, ditches and vacant lots.<ref name=rhs/><ref name=blamey>Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''. ISBN 0-340-40170-2.</ref>

The flowers are produced in late spring and early summer on short racemes on the tips of the flowering laterals.<ref name=uga/> Each flower is about 2–3 cm in diameter with five white or pale pink petals.<ref name=uga/>

File:Bee pollinating Blackberry.jpg|thumb|left|A bee pollinating blackberries
The drupelets only develop around ovules that are fertilized by the male gamete from a pollen grain. The most likely cause of undeveloped ovules is inadequate pollinator visits.<ref>[http://www.pollinator.com/blackberry.htm David L. Green 1996-2010. ''The Pollination Home Page'']</ref> Even a small change in conditions, such as a rainy day or a day too hot for bees to work after early morning, can reduce the number of bee visits to the flower, thus reducing the quality of the fruit. Incomplete drupelet development can also be a symptom of exhausted reserves in the plant's roots, or infection with a virus such as Raspberry bushy dwarf virus.

In botany|botanical terminology, the fruit is not a berry, but an Fruit#Aggregate_fruit|aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets.

Ecology

Blackberry leaves are food for certain caterpillars; some grazing mammals, especially deer, are also very fond of the leaves. Caterpillars of the concealer moth ''Alabonia geoffrella'' have been found feeding inside dead blackberry shoots. When mature, the fruits are eaten and their seeds dispersed by several mammals, such as the red fox and the Eurasian badger, as well as by small birds.<ref>Fedriani, JM, Delibes, M. 2009. Functional diversity in fruit-frugivore interactions: a field experiment with Mediterranean mammals. Ecography 32: 983 - 992.</ref>

Cultivation and uses

Primary cultivation takes place in the state of Oregon located in the United States|United States of America. Oregon is the leading blackberry producer in the world, producing 42.6 million pounds on </ref> While Oregon may lead the world in volume of fruit produced, Serbia has tremendous acreage.

The soft fruit is popular for use in desserts, jams, seedless jellies and sometimes wine. It is often mixed with apples for pies and crumbles.

Good Northern Nectar Sources for Honeybees|nectar producers, blackberry shrubs bearing flowers yield a medium to dark, fruity honey.

Image:Rubus fruticosus Luc Viatour.JPG|thumb|Blackberry flower.
The blackberry is known to contain polyphenol antioxidants, naturally occurring chemicals that can upregulate certain beneficial metabolic processes in mammals. The astringent blackberry root is sometimes used in herbal medicine as a treatment for diarrhea and dysentery.<ref>Grieve, M. (1971). ''A Modern Herbal'' ISBN 0486227987</ref>
The related but smaller dewberry can be distinguished by the white, waxy coating on the fruits, which also usually have fewer drupelets. (''Rubus caesius'') is in its own section (''Caesii'') within the subgenus ''Rubus''.

In some parts of the world, such as in Australia, Chile, New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest region of North America, some blackberry species, particularly ''Rubus armeniacus'' (syn. ''R. procerus'', 'Himalaya') and ''Rubus laciniatus'' ('Evergreen') are naturalisation (biology)|naturalised and considered an invasive species and a serious weed.<ref name=rhs/>

As there is forensic evidence from the Iron Age Haraldskær Woman that she consumed blackberries some 2500 years ago, it is reasonable to conclude that blackberries have been eaten by humans over thousands of years.

Diseases and pests

The spotted-wing drosophila, ''Drosophila suzukii'' is a serious pest of blackberries. Unlike its vinegar fly relatives which are primarily attracted to rotting or fermented fruit, ''D. suzukii'' attacks fresh, ripe fruit by laying eggs under the soft skin. The larvae hatch and grow in the fruit, destroying the fruit's commercial value.

Commercial cultivars

Image:Black Butte blackberry.jpg|thumb|upright|Black Butte blackberry
Numerous cultivars have been selected for commercial and amateur cultivation in Europe<ref name=rhs/> and the United States.<ref>[http://oregon-berries.com/blackberry.cfm Evergreen blackberry, Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission]</ref> Since the many species form Hybrid (biology)|hybrids easily, there are numerous cultivars with more than one species in their ancestry.

'Marion' (marketed as "marionberry") is an important cultivar that was selected from seedlings from a cross between 'Chehalem' and 'Olallie' (commonly called "olallieberry") berries.<ref>[http://oregon-berries.com/marionberry.cfm Marionberry, Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission]</ref> 'Olallie' in turn is a cross between loganberry and youngberry. 'Marion', 'Chehalem' and 'Olallie' are just three of many trailing blackberry cultivars developed by the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) blackberry breeding program at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.

The most recent cultivars released from this program are the prickle-free cultivars 'Black Diamond', 'Black Pearl' and 'Nightfall' as well as the very early ripening 'Obsidian' and 'Metolius'. 'Black Diamond' is now the leading cultivar being planted in the Pacific Northwest. Some of the other cultivars from this program are 'Waldo', 'Siskiyou', 'Black Butte', 'Kotata Berry|Kotata', 'Pacific' and 'Cascade'.<ref>[http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=15552 Thornless processing blackberry cultivars, Horticultural Crop Research, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture]</ref>

Trailing blackberries are vigorous, crown forming, require a trellis (agriculture)|trellis for support, and are less cold hardy than the erect or semi-erect blackberries. In addition to the U.S. Pacific Northwest, these types do well in similar climates such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Chile, and the Mediterranean countries.

Semi-erect, prickle-free blackberries were first developed at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, and subsequently by the USDA-ARS in Beltsville, Maryland. These are crown forming, very vigorous, and need a trellis for support. Cultivars include 'Black Satin' 'Chester Thornless', 'Dirksen Thornless', 'Hull Thornless', 'Loch Ness', 'Loch Tay', 'Merton Thornless', 'Smoothstem' and 'Triple Crown'. Recently, the cultivar 'Cacanska Bestrna' (also called 'Cacak Thornless') has been developed in Serbia and has been planted on many thousands of hectares there.

The University of Arkansas has developed cultivars of erect blackberries. These types are less vigorous than the semi-erect types and produce new canes from root initials (therefore they spread underground like Raspberry|raspberries). There are prickly and prickle-free cultivars from this program, including 'Navaho', 'Ouachita', 'Cherokee', 'Apache', 'Arapaho' and 'Kiowa'. They are also responsible for developing the primocane fruiting blackberries such as 'Prime-Jan' and 'Prime-Jim'.

In raspberries, these types are called primocane fruiting, fall fruiting, or everbearing. 'Prime-Jim' and 'Prime-Jan' were released in 2004 and are the first cultivars of primocane fruiting blackberry.

'Illini Hardy' a semi-erect prickly cultivar introduced by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|University of Illinois is cane hardy in zone 5, where traditionally blackberry production has been problematic, since canes often failed to survive the winter.

The blackberry tends to be red during its unripe ("green") phase, leading to an old expression that "blackberries are red when they're green".

In various parts of the United States, wild blackberries are sometimes called "Black-caps", a term more commonly used for black raspberries, ''Rubus occidentalis''.

Blackberry production in Mexico has expanded enormously in the past decade. While once based on the cultivar 'Brazos', an old erect blackberry cultivar developed in Texas in 1959, the Mexican industry is now dominated by the Brazilian 'Tupi' released in the 1990s. 'Tupi' has the erect blackberry 'Comanche' and a "wild Uruguayan blackberry" as parents.<ref name=antunes>Antunes, L.E.C. & Rassieira, M.C.B. (2004). ''Aspectos Técnicos da Cultura da Amora-Preta''. ISSN 1516-8840.</ref> Since there are no native blackberries in Uruguay, the suspicion is that the widely grown 'Boysenberry' is the male parent. In order to produce these blackberries in regions of Mexico where there is no winter chilling to stimulate flower bud development, chemical defoliation and application of growth regulators are used to bring the plants into bloom.

Nutrients and antioxidant qualities

{{Nutritional value
| name = Raw Blackberries
| kJ = 180
| carbs = 9.61
| fat = 0.49
| protein = 1.39
| water = 88.15
| sugars = 4.88
| fibre = 5.3
| sodium_mg = 1
| vitA_iu = 214
| betacarotene_ug = 128
| vitC_mg = 21
| vitE_mg = 1.17
| iron_mg = 0.62
| calcium_mg = 29
| magnesium_mg = 20
| manganese_mg = 0.6
| copper_mg = 0.2
| potassium_mg = 162
| vitK_ug = 20
| folicacid_ug = 36
| carotene_ug = 128
| lutein_ug = 118
| zinc_mg = 0.53

| source_usda = 09042
| float = right
}}

Blackberries are notable for their high nutritional contents of dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid (a B vitamin), and the essential mineral manganese.

Blackberries rank highly among fruits for antioxidant strength, particularly due to their dense contents of polyphenol antioxidant|polyphenolic compounds, such as ellagic acid, tannins, ellagitannins, quercetin, gallic acid, anthocyanins and cyanidins.<ref></ref>

Blackberries have an ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of 5347 per 100 grams, including them among the top-ranked ORAC fruits. Another report using a different assay for assessing antioxidant strength placed blackberry at the top of more than 1000 antioxidant foods consumed in the United States.<ref></ref>

Nutrient content of seeds

Blackberries contain numerous large seeds that are not always preferred by consumers. The seeds contain some oil which is rich in omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid) and -6 fats (linoleic acid), as well as some protein, dietary fiber, carotenoids, ellagitannins and ellagic acid.<ref></ref>

Folklore

Folklore in the United Kingdom|UK holds that blackberries should not be picked after Old Michaelmas Day (11 October) as the devil has claimed them, having left a mark on the leaves by urinating on them. There is some value behind this legend as wetter and cooler weather often allows the fruit to become infected by various molds such as ''Botryotinia'' which give the fruit an unpleasant look and may be toxic.<ref>[http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Michaelmas.htm Historic-UK.com Michaelmas Facts]</ref><ref>[http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/News/Michaelmas-Traditions.htm Black Country Bugle - Michaelmas History and Traditions]</ref>

References

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