Blackberry
<div class="dablink"><i><font size="3">This article is about the fruit. For the wireless e-mail device, see </font><a title="BlackBerry" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry"><font size="3">BlackBerry</font></a><font size="3">. For other uses, see </font><a title="Blackberry (disambiguation)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry_(disambiguation)"><font size="3">Blackberry (disambiguation)</font></a><font size="3">.</font></i></div><table cellpadding="0" border="1" style="CLEAR: right; BACKGROUND: white; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0.5em 1em; WIDTH: 200px; POSITION: relative; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse;"><tbody><tr style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;"><th style="BACKGROUND: lightgreen;"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 70%; FLOAT: right; POSITION: relative;"><map id="ImageMap_1" name="ImageMap_1"><area title="Wikipedia:How to read a taxobox" alt="Wikipedia:How to read a taxobox" href="http://218.1.231.240/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_read_a_taxobox" coords="0,0,50,50"></area><font size="3"></font></map></span><div style="POSITION: relative;"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 70%; FLOAT: right; POSITION: relative;"><font size="3"><img height="16" alt="How to read a taxobox" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Information-silk.png" width="16" usemap="#ImageMap_1" longdesc="/wiki/Image:Information-silk.png"/></font></span></div><b>Blackberry</b></th></tr><tr style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;"><td><a class="image" title="Blackberries on a bush" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Blackberry_fruits10.jpg"></a><br/><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;"><small><font size="3">Blackberries on a bush</font></small></div></td></tr><tr style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;"><th style="BACKGROUND: lightgreen;"><b><a title="Scientific classification" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_classification">Scientific classification</a></b></th></tr><tr style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;"><td><table cellpadding="2" style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0px auto; TEXT-ALIGN: left;"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td>Kingdom:</td><td><a title="Plant" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant">Plantae</a><br/></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Division:</td><td><a title="Flowering plant" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowering_plant">Magnoliophyta</a><br/></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Class:</td><td><a title="Magnoliopsida" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnoliopsida">Magnoliopsida</a><br/></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Order:</td><td><a title="Rosales" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosales">Rosales</a><br/></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Family:</td><td><a title="Rosaceae" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosaceae">Rosaceae</a><br/></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Subfamily:</td><td><a title="Rosoideae" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosoideae">Rosoideae</a><br/></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Genus:</td><td><i><a title="Rubus" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus">Rubus</a></i><br/></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Subgenus:</td><td><i>Eubatus</i><br/></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#90ee90"><th><center>Species</center></th></tr><tr><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0.5em; PADDING-LEFT: 0.5em; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px;"><p><i>Rubus fruticosus</i> - Common Blackberry<br/>and hundreds more microspecies<br/>(the subgenus also includes the <a title="Dewberry" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewberry">dewberries</a>)</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><font size="3">The <b>blackberry</b> is a widespread and well known </font><a title="Shrub" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrub"><font size="3">shrub</font></a><font size="3">; commonly called a </font><a title="Bramble" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bramble"><font size="3">bramble</font></a><font size="3"> in the eastern U.S. and Europe. (Genus <i><a title="Rubus" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus">Rubus</a></i>, Family </font><a title="Rosaceae" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosaceae"><font size="3">Rosaceae</font></a><font size="3">) growing to 3 m (10 ft) and producing a soft-bodied </font><a title="Fruit" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit"><font size="3">fruit</font></a><font size="3"> popular for use in desserts, jams, seedless jellies and sometimes </font><a title="Wine" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine"><font size="3">wine</font></a><font size="3">. Several <i><a title="Rubus" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus">Rubus</a></i> species are called blackberry and since the species easily hybridize, there are many </font><a title="Cultivars" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivars"><font size="3">cultivars</font></a><font size="3"> with more than one species in their ancestry.</font></p><p><font size="3">The blackberry has a scrambling habit of dense arching stems carrying short curved very sharp spines (although many thornless/spineless cultivars have been developed), the branches rooting from the node tip when they reach the ground. It is very pervasive, growing at fast daily rates in woods, scrub, hillsides and hedgerows, colonizing large areas in a relatively short time. It will tolerate poor </font><a title="Soil" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil"><font size="3">soil</font></a><font size="3">, and is an early coloniser of wasteland and building sites. It has </font><a title="Leaf shape" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_shape"><font size="3">palmate</font></a><font size="3"> leaves of three to five leaflets with </font><a title="Flowers" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers"><font size="3">flowers</font></a><font size="3"> of white or pink appearing from May to August, ripening to a black or dark purple fruit, the "blackberry."</font></p><p><font size="3">The blackberry is also the fruit of the blackberry plant. In proper </font><a title="Botany" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botany"><font size="3">botanical</font></a><font size="3"> language, it is not a </font><a title="Berry" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry"><font size="3">berry</font></a><font size="3"> at all, but instead an </font><a title="Fruit" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit#Aggregate_fruit"><font size="3">aggregate fruit</font></a><font size="3"> of numerous </font><a title="Drupe" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drupe"><font size="3">drupelets</font></a><font size="3">.</font></p><p><font size="3">In the photo at the upper right, the early flowers have formed more drupelets than the later ones. This can be a symptom of exhausted reserves in the plant's roots, marginal </font><a title="Pollinator" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator"><font size="3">pollinator</font></a><font size="3"> populations, or where 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/pollen grains delivered to the flower, thus reducing the quality of the fruit. The drupelets only develop around ovules which are fertilized by the male gamete from a pollen grain.</font></p><p><font size="3">Blackberry blossoms are good </font><a title="Northern Nectar Sources for Honeybees" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Nectar_Sources_for_Honeybees"><font size="3">nectar producers</font></a><font size="3">, and large areas of wild blackberries will yield a medium to dark, fruity </font><a title="Honey" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey"><font size="3">honey</font></a><font size="3">.</font></p><p><font size="3"></font> </p><div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="WIDTH: 182px;"><a class="internal" title="Blackberry flower." href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rubus_fruticosus_Luc_Viatour.JPG"><font size="3"><img class="thumbimage" height="136" alt="Blackberry flower." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Rubus_fruticosus_Luc_Viatour.JPG/180px-Rubus_fruticosus_Luc_Viatour.JPG" width="180" longdesc="/wiki/Image:Rubus_fruticosus_Luc_Viatour.JPG"/></font></a><font size="3">
</font><div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify" style="FLOAT: right;"><a class="internal" title="Enlarge" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rubus_fruticosus_Luc_Viatour.JPG"><font size="3"><img height="11" alt="" src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" width="15"/></font></a></div><font size="3">Blackberry flower.</font></div></div></div><p><font size="3">Superstition in the </font><a title="United Kingdom" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom"><font size="3">UK</font></a><font size="3"> holds that blackberries should not be picked after </font><a title="15th September" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_September"><font size="3">15th September</font></a><font size="3"> as the </font><a title="Devil" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil"><font size="3">devil</font></a><font size="3"> has claimed them, having left a mark on the leaves (in the same way a dog might). There is some value behind this legend, as after this date, wetter and cooler weather often allows the fruit to become infected by various </font><a title="Mold" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold"><font size="3">molds</font></a><font size="3"> such as <i><a title="Botryotinia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botryotinia">Botrytis</a></i>, which give the fruit an unpleasant flavor and may be toxic. The blackberry is known to contain </font><a title="Polyphenol antioxidant" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphenol_antioxidant"><font size="3">polyphenol antioxidants</font></a><font size="3">, naturally occurring </font><a title="Chemical" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical"><font size="3">chemicals</font></a><font size="3"> that can upregulate certain beneficial </font><a title="Metabolic" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic"><font size="3">metabolic</font></a><font size="3"> processes in </font><a title="Mammal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammal"><font size="3">mammals</font></a><font size="3">. It is not advisable to use or eat blackberries growing close to busy </font><a title="Road" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road"><font size="3">roads</font></a><font size="3"> due to the accumulated </font><a title="Toxin" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxin"><font size="3">toxins</font></a><font size="3"> from the </font><a title="Traffic" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic"><font size="3">traffic</font></a><font size="3">. <sup class="reference" id="_ref-0"><a title="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry#_note-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p><p><font size="3">The related but smaller European </font><a title="Dewberry" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewberry"><font size="3">dewberry</font></a><font size="3"> (<i>R. caesius</i>) can be distinguished by the white, waxy coating on the fruits, which also usually have fewer drupelets.</font></p><p><font size="3">In some parts of the world, such as in </font><a title="Chile" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile"><font size="3">Chile</font></a><font size="3">, </font><a title="New Zealand" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand"><font size="3">New Zealand</font></a><font size="3"> and the </font><a title="Pacific Northwest" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest"><font size="3">Pacific Northwest</font></a><font size="3"> region of North America, some blackberry species, particularly <i>Rubus armeniacus</i> (syn. <i>R. procerus</i>, 'Himalaya') and <i><a title="Rubus laciniatus" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_laciniatus">Rubus laciniatus</a></i> ('Evergreen') are naturalized and considered an </font><a title="Invasive species" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species"><font size="3">invasive species</font></a><font size="3"> and a serious </font><a title="Weed" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weed"><font size="3">weed</font></a><font size="3">.</font></p><p><font size="3">The blackberry can be reasonably deduced to have been consumed by humans for thousands of years, but there is, in fact, forensic evidence from the find of </font><a title="Iron Age" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age"><font size="3">Iron Age</font></a><font size="3">
</font><a title="Haraldskær Woman" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haraldskær_Woman"><font size="3">Haraldskær Woman</font></a><font size="3"> that blackberries were consumed 2500 years ago.</font></p>[attach]6814[/attach]<br/>
