The Oriental Raspberries 135 



berries," which ripen in advance of strawberries. It ap- 

 pears to have developed little value as yet. The writer 

 was unable to make this plant live in Nebraska some years 

 ago. 



The strawberry-raspberry. This peculiar fruit belongs 

 to a species found wild in Japan, China and the East 

 Indies, and known to botanists as Rubus roscefolius, or 

 to a closely related species, Rubus illecebrosus. It has 

 been commonly referred to in horticultural literature under 

 the name R. sorbifolius, but this appears to be only a 

 synonym of the latter name. The double form of this 

 same species has been long known as a greenhouse plant, 

 cultivated for its flowers, though apparently but little 

 grown. As recently introduced from Japan under the 

 name strawberry-raspberry, it is of interest chiefly as a 

 curiosity, and may be worth growing for that purpose or 

 as an ornamental plant. It is herbaceous in our climate, 

 dying down to the ground each winter and springing up 

 from the roots in spring. It throws up innumerable 

 suckers, making a perfect mat of bright colored foliage. 

 The leaves have a central stalk with five to seven oppo- 

 site narrow leaflets, and are really very pretty. The mat 

 of plants is so dense that it will keep down nearly all 

 weeds, and the plants continue to bloom and fruit through- 

 out the greater portion of the season. The blossoms are 

 white, pretty and sweet-scented, and the berries bright 

 and showy, a clump of the plants making an attractive 

 bed. It is unproductive, and the fruit in its fresh state is 

 rather unpalatable, varying from sour and insipid to 

 somewhat bitter. When cooked, however, it is said to 

 develop a pleasant flavor midway between the strawberry 



