WILD BLACKBERRY 



Rubus allegheniensis Porter 



May - June T\M-hn))s tho most vinlpntly prickly plant in Illi- 



Roadsidcs, uplands iiois. not tounlin.ii" tiie ^ici'ii l»ri(»r, may be the 



foininon hlackhorry with its viciously recurved 

 prickle-thorns. iJke those on some cultivated roses, these thorns are sharp 

 as n(x^dles and viTy slronj::; they rip llcsli or clothiii<; with e(|ual ease. 

 >o that the picker of wilcl l)lackl)errics nnist ^o armed with tlie ])roper 

 ])rotection or suH'er the cnnseciucnces. July and Aujrust are wild i)lack- 

 berry time in Illinois, n plci-jint time of juicy ripe black globules under 

 a hot Slimmer sim. 



In late ^lay and e;iily .lime the wihl l)laekl)erries I'ome into hhiom 

 along the roadsides ami at the edges i)f thickets, along pasture fences 

 and on dry hills. The tangles of hushes are decorated now with big clus- 

 ters of iive-])etaled white Mowers, like large white ai)i)le blossoms with 

 a star-shai)ed center empliasized by the cluster of loose dark stamens. 

 A blackberry llowei- is one of the most delicate and jjure white blossoms 

 in the wild. 



The blackbeny. together with the strawbi-rry. raspberry, plum, 

 cherry, apj)le. peach, and pear all l)elong in the imjxirtant family of 

 Koses, one of the most wonderful and widely spread plant families in 

 the world, ilemheis of this family are found over all i)arts of the northern 

 hemisphere where the climate is temperate and there are sunnners and 

 autumns, winters and springs mui-h as we know them in Illinois. A 

 sunny lane, a catbird singing, a vireo nesting in the thorny canes, and 

 wild Idackberry blossoms glistening white in the sunshine. 



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