White and Greenish 



reach the nectar without dusting their heads with pollen from the 

 anthers inserted in a ring around the entrance or leaving some on the 

 stigmas of other blossoms. Later, the five carpels make as many 

 hairy, awl-tipped little pods within the reddish cup. The leaves 

 may be compounded of three oblong or ovate, saw-edged leaf- 

 lets, or merely three-lobed, and with small stipules at their base. 



Wild Red Raspberry 



(Rubus strigosus) Rose family 



Flowers White, about YZ in. across, on slender, bristly pedicels, 

 in a loose cluster. Calyx deeply 5-parted, persistent in fruit ; 



5 erect, short-lived petals, about the length of the sepals ; 

 stamens numerous ; carpels numerous, inserted on a convex 

 spongy receptacle, and ripening into drupelets. Stem: 3 to 



6 ft. high, shrubby, densely covered with bristles ; older, 

 woody stems with rigid, hooked prickles. Leaves : Com- 

 pounded of 3 to 5 ovate, pointed, and irregularly saw-edged 

 leaflets, downy beneath, on bristly petioles. Fruit: A light 

 red, watery, tender, high-flavored, edible berry ; ripe July 

 September. 



Preferred Habitat Dry soil, rocky hillsides, fence-rows, hedges. 

 flowering Season M ay J u ly . 



Distribution Labrador to North Carolina, also in Rocky Mountain 

 region. 



Who but the bees and such small visitors care about the 

 raspberry blossoms ? Notwithstanding the nectar secreted in a 

 fleshy ring for their benefit, comparatively few insects enter the 

 flowers, whose small, erect petals imply no hospitable welcome. 

 Occasionally a visitor laden with pollen from another plant alights 

 in the centre of a blossom, and leaves some on the stigmas in bend- 

 ing his head down between them and the stamens to reach the 

 refreshment; but inasmuch as the erect petals allow no room for 

 the stamens to spread out and away from the stigmas, it follows 

 that self-fertilization very commonly occurs. 



Of course, men and children, bears and birds, are vastly more 

 interested in the delicious berries ; men for the reason that several 

 excellent market varieties, some white or pale red, the Cuthbert 

 and Hansall berries among others, owe their origin to this hardy 

 native. Many superior sorts derived from its European counter- 

 part (R. Idaeus) cannot well endure our rigorous northern climate. 

 As in the case of most berry-bearing species, the raspberry depends 

 upon the birds to drop its undigested seeds over the country, that 

 new colonies may arise under freer conditions. Indeed, one of 



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