THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 23 



CHAPTER II 



THE SYSTEMATIC BOTANY OF EDIBLE BRAMBLES 



The bramble fruits, belonging to the genus Rubus, family Rosaceae, 

 inhabit almost the whole globe, with the exception of the dry desert regions, 

 from the arctic to the antarctic regions; in tropical coimtries they prefer 

 the moimtains whilst in the northern temperate regions they are especially 

 mmierous both in the Old and in the New World, and occur from the 

 mountains to the plains, in woods and open fields, and down to the sea 

 coast. In the temperate regions bramble fruits are not only very numerous 

 in individuals but also in forms. After the Glacial period wide stretches of 

 land were open to them for colonization, and it seems that through these 

 increasing opportunities for a large reproduction the modification-power 

 of the germ plasma received a fresh and strong stimulus. Intercrossing 

 between different forms must have gone on simultaneously for ages, in 

 many cases creating an almost endless number of intermediate forms 

 filling the gaps between the more pronounced forms, which we are accus- 

 tomed to call " species," and making it difficult for the systematic botanist 

 to treat the genus in a satisfactory and intelligible way. It is of these 

 extremely numerous transitional forms that no two. studies, not only of 

 different botanists but of any one botanist, are foimd to agree. 



The North American Rubi, which concern us here as the parents of 

 some of our most important small fruits, are fortunately not quite as 

 badly mixed and variable as the Eiiropean species, but nevertheless they 

 offer an almost inexhaustible number of forms in certain groups. Besides 

 the North American species we have to consider some South American 

 ones and a number of species of the Old World, which are cultivated as 

 fruit plants and have been introduced into this country. A large number of 

 Rubi have been introduced from China during the last twenty years, among 

 them many ornamental shrubs and vines, some of them, however, only 

 adapted for regions with mild or almost frostless winters. Only a very 

 few of these, those kinds which furnish or are likely to furnish small fruits, 

 can be mentioned here. 



RUBUS. Linnaeus S^. P/. 492. 1753. 



Perennial plants, herbs or shrubs with erect, procumbent or trailing stems. The 

 herbaceous plants dwarf, unarmed; the shrubby kinds glabrous or hairy, glandular, and 

 mostly armed with fine slender more or less stiff bristles and variously shaped prickles. The 

 stems or canes of most shrubby species of the temperate region are biennial. They reach 



