Dewberry
Encyclopedia
The dewberries are a group of species in the genus Rubus
Rubus
Rubus is a large genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these plants have woody stems with prickles like roses; spines, bristles, and gland-tipped hairs are...
, section Rubus, closely related to the blackberries
Blackberry
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 aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. The plants typically have biennial canes and perennial roots. Blackberries and...
. They are small trailing (rather than upright or high-arching) bramble
Rubus
Rubus is a large genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these plants have woody stems with prickles like roses; spines, bristles, and gland-tipped hairs are...
s with berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
reminiscent of the raspberry
Raspberry
The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
, but are usually purple to black instead of red.
Dewberries are common throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, sometimes thought of as a nuisance weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
, but the leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
can be used for a tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
, and the berries are sweet and edible. They can be eaten raw, or used to make cobbler
Cobbler (food)
thumb|Apple Cobbler.Cobbler refers to a variety of dishes, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom, consisting of a fruit or savoury filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a batter, biscuit, or pie crust before being baked...
, jam, or pie
Pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
.
Around March and April, the plants start to grow white flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s that develop into small green berries. The tiny green berries grow red and then a deep purple-blue as they ripen. When the berries are ripe, they are tender and difficult to pick in any quantity without squashing them. The plants do not have upright canes like some other Rubus species, but have stems that trail along the ground, putting forth new roots along the length of the stem. The stems are covered with fine spines or stickers. The berries are sweet and, for many, are worth the scratches and stains that come from picking them.
In the winter the leaves often remain on the stems, but may turn dark red. The leaves are sometimes eaten by the larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
species including peach blossom
Peach Blossom
The Peach Blossom is a moth of the family Drepanidae. It is found throughout Europe and is a fairly common species in the British Isles....
moths.
The European dewberry, Rubus caesius, grows more upright like other brambles, but is frequently restricted to coastal communities, especially sand dune systems. Its fruits are a deep, almost black, purple and are coated with a thin layer or 'dew' of waxy droplets. Thus, they appear sky-blue (caesius is Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for pale blue). It is less sought after, because its fruits are small and retain a markedly tart taste even when fully ripe.
Species
- Rubus Section Caesii, European dewberry
- European dewberry, Rubus caesius L.
- Rubus Section Flagellares, American dewberries
- Rubus aboriginum Rydb., synonyms:
- Rubus almus (L.H. Bailey) L.H.Bailey
- Rubus austrinus L.H.Bailey
- Rubus bollianus L.H.Bailey
- Rubus clair-brownii L.H.Bailey
- Rubus decor L.H. Bailey
- Rubus flagellaris Willd. var. almus L.H.Bailey
- Rubus foliaceus L.H. Bailey
- Rubus ignarus L.H. Bailey
- Rubus ricei L.H. Bailey
- Aberdeen dewberry, Rubus depavitus L.H.Bailey
- Northern dewberry, Rubus flagellaris Willd.
- Swamp dewberrySwamp dewberryThe Swamp Dewberry, Bristly Dewberry, Bristly Groundberry, Groundberry, Hispid Swamp Blackberry, Running Swamp Blackberry is a bramble.It reaches a height of from 0.2 m to 1 m tall and is in leaf all year...
, Rubus hispidus L. - Upland dewberry, Rubus invisus (L.H.Bailey) Britton
- Pacific blackberryRubus ursinusRubus ursinus is a species of blackberry or dewberry known by the common names California blackberry/dewberry, Douglas berry, and Pacific blackberry/dewberry. It is native to western North America. This is a wide, spreading shrub or vine-bearing bush with prickly branches that can tip layer to...
, Rubus ursinus Cham. & Schltdl.
- Rubus aboriginum Rydb., synonyms:
and many more
See also
- YoungberryYoungberryYoungberry is a complex hybrid between three different species from the genus Rubus, the raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries of the rose family. The berries of the plant are eaten fresh or used to make juice, jam, etc.Byrnes M...
- List of early spring flowers
- Black raspberryBlack raspberryBlack raspberry is a common name for three species of the genus Rubus:*Rubus leucodermis, native to western North America*Rubus occidentalis, native to eastern North America, the species that is commercially harvested, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, from developed cultivars.*Rubus coreanus,...
- BoysenberryBoysenberryA boysenberry is a cross between a European Raspberry , a Common Blackberry , and a Loganberry ....
, a cross between a dewberry and a LoganberryLoganberryThe loganberry is an hexaploid hybrid produced from crossing an octaploid blackberry and a diploid red raspberry. The plant and the fruit resemble the blackberry more than the raspberry, but the fruit colour is a dark red, rather than black...