BLACKBERRY
			Rubus argutus - Several other species of Rubus are found here including Raspberries.
	HOME Botanical Terms Lists: Master Plant List Flowering Times List Flowers by Color/Type Endangered Species List Habitat List Use the 'back' button on your browser to return, if necessary.		I thought maybe i had a picture of local blackberries in bloom, but I'm still looking. Picture, for now, a prickly and bristly shrub with a few arching stems with several pretty white flowers. FAMILY: Rose Family (Rosaceae) DESCRIPTION: Thorny. Repeat, thorny arching stems shooting out of brambles and thickets. White flowers with 5 petals and a hairy center. FLOWERS: April to May (Fruits July - August) HABITAT: Seems to prefer sunny spots and border areas, thickets along roadsides and hillsides, meadows, pastures and old fields.   OTHER INFORMATION: One of the reasons the Blackberry (and others of the Rubus genus) seems to form impenetrable thickets is that blackberry not only propagates by fruits, but by rhizomes or runners. The birds seem to get the blackberries that are in the interior while the humans are forced to collect (one for the bucket, one for me) only on the edges of the bramble. I do seem to have a pictures of the delicious berries, however. Blackberries are part of a late-season group of fruits that are high in sugars. The probable strategy here is for the plant to attract more mammals to disperse the fruits in rich dung. Also, birds - which aren't as specifically interested in sweet tasting fruits, may deposit seeds deep in the woods where it's not bright enough for these sun-loving plants. The birds that are more interested in fruits with a high sugar content are migratory, and thus blackberries can be found thruought the US. Blackberry "bushes" send out long (6 - 8') and thin woody canes that curve down almost to the ground, and are capable of taking root at their tips. This forms a series of 'croquet wickets' that make getting to the middle of these prickly bushes quite difficult. It also affords birds a steady supply of blackberries despite people with buckets. Interestingly, Blackberries, raspberries, and the fruits of other brambles are not considered by botanists to be "berries", since this denotes a fleshy fruit containing seeds. Instead, bramble fruits are considered drupes, or fleshy fruits with stony pits. This explains the little aggravations that remain lodged in your teeth long after a blackberry-picking outing. The leaves are said to be used for it's astringent and tonic properties. Also supposedly a valuable and effective treatment for diarrhea and dysentary. The Chinese are said to use the fruit to increase the "yin principle". Leaves are high in tannin, A, and C. Also contains iron, calcium, riboflavin, niacin and thiamine.   OTHER OBSERVATIONS: My observations about this plant can be found at: OFFSITE INFORMATION: Herbal information can be found at The Modern Herbal. More pictures and a little information is available at the Virginia Gypsy Moth Server on the blackberry.