THE COLOMBIAN BERRY OR 
GIANT BLACKBERRY OF COLOMBIA 
WILSON POPENOE 
Agricultural Explorer, Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction 
HAT a fruit of such remarkable 
I character as the Giant Blackberry 
of Colombia should have re- 
mained so long undiscovered to horti- 
culture can only be explained by the 
fact that it grows in a region remote 
from the established routes of travel— 
a region which has, until recently, 
remained horticulturally unexplored. 
So far as known, the species has 
never been called to the attention of 
the horticultural public. It was, how- 
ever, brought to the attention of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture several 
years ago by Dr. Frank M. Chapman 
of the American Museum of Natural 
History, who had observed the plant 
during his travels in Colombia. The 
services of Frederick L. Rockwood were 
enlisted at Dr. Chapman’s suggestion, 
and in 1914 a few plants were intro- 
duced into the United States through 
the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant 
Introduction. These plants were ob- 
tained by Mr. Rockwood at a spot 
called El Pefion, on the road between 
Sibaté and Fusagasuga, in the depart- 
ment of Cundinamarca. 
SEED AND PLANTS OBTAINED 
Soon after my arrival in Bogota I 
put myself in touch with Mr. Rock- 
wood, and by him was directed to the 
region in which the plant is found most 
abundantly. I have been on the watch 
for it in other parts of Cundinamarca 
as well, and have thus been able 
to gain some idea of its distribution. 
I have obtained numerous photographs 
of the plants, flowers and_ fruits; 
botanical specimens of foliage and 
flowers; and I have forwarded to 
Washington a quantity of seed and a 
limited number of strong young plants. 
With this material in hand, it should 
be possible to arouse the interest of 
North American horticulturists in the 
species, and to give it a fairly wide 
distribution in those portions of the 
United States where it seems to merit 
a ‘trial. 
VALUABLE MATERIAL FOR PLANT 
BREEDERS 
While the plant grows in Colombia 
at elevations nearly ten thousand feet 
above the sea, it must be remembered 
that at four degrees from the Equator it 
is not cold, even at such an elevation: 
and there are no grounds for assuming 
that the plant will be sufficiently hardy 
for cultivation generally throughout 
the United States. It does seem 
reasonable to expect, however, that it 
will be successful in the milder portions 
of the South and West. The chief 
interest of the species probably lies, 
however, not in its value as a fruit for 
widespread cultivation in its present 
form, but in its possibilities when 
placed in the hands of plant breeders. 
A species of Rubus which produces, as 
a wild plant, fruits two and a half 
inches long by an inch and a half in 
thickness, and these of fairly good 
quality for eating, can not fail to 
possess great interest to North Ameri- 
can horticulturists! 
DISTRIBUTION AND NOMENCLATURE 
The species was reported by Dr. 
Chapman from a region on the road 
betwee Sibaté and Fusagasugé. While 
it occurs elsewhere in Cundinamarca, 
I have found no other region, as yet, 
in which it is so abundant, nor in which 
the fruits reach such large size. 
Its distribution in the region between 
Sibaté and Fusagasuga is limited to an 
area bounded on the north by the 
descent onto the sabana (plain) of 
Bogota, and on the south by the abrupt 
