Occasionally a visitor laden with pollen from another plant alights in the center of a blossom, and leaves some on the stigmas in bending his head down between them and the stamens to reach the refreshment; but inasmuch as the erect petals allow no room for the stamens to spread out and away from the stigmas, it follows that self-fertilization very commonly occurs.
Of course, men and children, bears and birds, are vastly more interested in the delicious berries; men for the reason that several excellent market varieties, some white or pale red, the Cuthbert and Hansall berries among others, owe their origin to this hardy native.Many superior sorts derived from its European counterpart (R.Idaeus) cannot well endure our rigorous northern climate.As in the case of most berry-bearing species, the raspberry depends upon the birds to drop its undigested seeds over the country, that new colonies may arise under freer conditions.Indeed, one of the best places for the budding ornithologist to take opera-glasses and notebook is to a raspberry patch early in the morning.
The BLACK RASPBERRY, BLACK CAP or SCOTCH CAP or THIMBLE-BERRY (R.
occidentalis), common in such situations as the red raspberry chooses, but especially in burned-over districts from Virginia northward and westward, has very long, smooth, cane-like stems, often bending low until they root again at the tips.These are only sparingly armed with small, hooked prickles, no bristles.
The flowers, which are similar to the preceding, but clustered more compactly, are sparingly visited by insects; nevertheless when self-fertilized, as they usually are, abundant purplish-black berries, hollow like a thimble where they drop from the spongy receptacle, ripen in July.Numerous garden hybrids have been derived from this prolific species also.Indeed its offspring are the easiest raspberries to grow, since they form new plants at the tips of the branches, yet do not weaken themselves with suckers, and so, even without care, yield immense crops.One need not stir many feet around a good raspberry patch to enjoy a Transcendental feast.
HIGH BUSH BLACKBERRY; BRAMBLE
(Rubus villosus) Rose family Flowers - White, 1 in.or less across, in terminal raceme-like clusters.Calyx deeply 5-parted, persistent; 5 large petals;stamens and carpels numerous, the latter inserted on a pulpy receptacle.Stem: 3 to 10 ft.high, woody, furrowed, curved, armed with stout, recurved prickles.Leaves: Compounded of 3 to 5ovate, saw-edged leaflets, the end one stalked, all hairy beneath.Fruit: Firmly attached to the receptacle; nearly black, oblong juicy berries 1 in.long or less, hanging in clusters.
Ripe, July-August.
Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, thickets, fence-rows, old fields, waysides.Low altitudes.
Flowering Season - May-June.
Distribution - New England to Florida, and far westward.
"There was a man of our town, And he was wondrous wise, He jumped into a bramble bush" -If we must have poetical associations for every flower, Mother Goose furnishes several.
But for the practical mind this plant's chief interest lies in the fact that from its wild varieties the famous Lawton and Kittatinny blackberries have been derived.The late Peter Henderson used to tell how the former came to be introduced.Acertain Mr.Secor found an unusually fine blackberry growing wild in a hedge at New Rochelle, New York, and removed it to his garden, where it increased apace.But not even for a gift could he induce a neighbor to relieve him of the superfluous bushes, so little esteemed were blackberries in his day.However, a shrewd lawyer named Lawton at length took hold of it, exhibited the fruit, advertised it cleverly, and succeeded in pocketing a snug little fortune from the sale of the prolific plants.Another fine variety of the common wild blackberry, which was discovered by a clergyman at the edge of the woods on the Kittatinny Mountains in New Jersey, has produced fruit under skilled cultivation that still remains the best of its class.When clusters of blossoms and fruit in various stages of green, red, and black hang on the same bush, few ornaments in Nature's garden are more decorative.
Because bramble flowers show greater executive ability than the raspberries do, they flaunt much larger petals, and spread them out flat to attract insect workers as well as to make room for the stamens to spread away from the stigmas - an arrangement which gives freer access to the nectar secreted in a fleshy ring at the base.Heavy bumblebees, which require a firm support, naturally alight in the center, just as they do in the wild roses, and deposit on the early maturing stigmas some imported pollen.They may therefore be regarded as the truest benefactors, and it will be noticed that for their special benefit the nectar is rather deeply concealed, where short-tongued insects cannot rob them of it.Small bees, which come only to gather pollen from first the outer and then the inner rows of stamens, and a long list of other light-weight visitors, too often alight on the petals to effect cross-fertilization regularly, but they usually self-fertilize the blossoms.Competition between these flowers and the next is fierce, for their seasons overlap.
The DEWBERRY or LOW RUNNING BLACKBERRY (R.Canadensis), that trails its woody stem by the dusty roadside, in dry fields, and on sterile, rocky hillsides, calls forth maledictions from the bare-footed farmer's boy, except during June and July, when its prickles are freely forgiven it in consideration of the delicious, black, seedy berries it bears.He is the last one in the world to confuse this vine with the SWAMP BLACKBERRY (R.