Edible Wild Fruits of New York. 



Of the genus Rubus we have nine species, all of which bear edible 

 fruit, though all are not equally good. Five of these are raspberries, 

 in which the ripe fruit separates freely from the receptacle, and four 

 are blackberries, in which the ripe fruit adheres to the receptacle. 

 The flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus) differs much from the 

 other species. Its leaves are simple, its stems destitute of prickles, 

 and its flowers are large and showy, having broad, dark red or purplish 

 petals. It continues long in blossom aud it is not unusual to find ripe 

 fruit and flowers on the plant at the same time. Its fruit is broadly 

 convex, often an inch in diameter, but very thin, red in color, and of 

 a peculiarly rich and pleasant flavor. The plant is from three to five 

 feet high and is especially fond of moist or springy places in rocky or 

 mountainous regions. It has sometimes been cultivated but it has 

 failed to become popular. 



The red raspberry (Rubus strigosus) is too well known to need 

 any description. It grows freely in all parts of the State, except per- 

 haps in the extreme southern part. It is especially luxuriant in the 

 clearings and neglected lands of the Adirondack region, where it is 

 made to supply the tables of the numerous boarding-houses with a 

 most delicious wild fruit and with excellent pies. From this species 

 and from the very similar European or garden raspberry (Rubus 

 Idmus) the numerous cultivated varieties, now offered for sale by 

 nurserymen, have been derived. Some of these have creamy-yellow 

 or orange-yellow fruit, but in most varities it is of a red color. The 

 stems, or canes are biennial and bear but a single crop of fruit. Oc- 

 casionally, early, vigorous shoots blossom and ripen a crop of fruit the 

 first year, especially if warm weather continues late in autumn. This 

 suggests the possibility, by careful selection, of developing an au- 

 tumnal fruiting variety. 



The cream berry (Rubus neglcctus) has the same mode of growth 

 as the black cap, or black raspberry, but its fruit is more like that of 

 the red raspberry in color and flavor. The stems are very long, re- 

 curved, and beset with coarse prickles. They often reach the ground 

 again with their tips and, taking root, form new plants in this way. 

 The fruit has a peculiar, clouded red color with a slight bloom and a 

 pleasant flavor. The species was not described till 1869, but it surely 

 does not deserve the neglect it had received up to that time. It has 

 already been placed under cultivation, for the large and productive 

 variety known among nurserymen and horticulturists as Shaffer's 

 Colossal is clearly the same thing. 



