Edible Wild Fruits of New York. 



amount of sunshine, rapidity of development and degree of ripeness. 

 With proper attention to these things, I see no reason why the wild 

 "berries should be any better flavored than the cultivated. 



The genus Bibes of the Saxifrage family furnishes us with goose- 

 berries and currants. Of the former, three New York species have 

 edible berries. The prickly gooseberry (Bibes cynobasti) is found in 

 all parts of the State. Its fruit is of a clouded red or purplish 

 hue when ripe, sweet and pleasant to the taste, but objectionable on 

 account of the prickles which cover it. Smooth fruited forms are said 

 sometimes to occur and possibly these might be developed by cultiva- 

 tion into a desirable variety. The two following species have smooth 



The round-leaved gooseberry (Bibes rotundifolium) is plentiful in 

 the Catskill and the Adirondack regions. It appears to prefer hilly or 

 mountainous localities. The smooth gooseberry (Bibes hirtellum) is 

 more common in the southern and western parts of the State. In both 

 species the clouded red or purplish fruit is sweet and pleasant flavored 

 and on account of its smoothness is preferable to that of the prickly 

 gooseberry. I am not aware of any persevering attempts to culti- 

 vate these species, but see no reason why they may not, by cultiva- 

 tion, become as valuable as the European species which now produces, 

 large and fine fruit, but which, with us, is often subject to mildew. 

 The red currant (Bibes rubruni) is indigenous in the northern part 

 of our county and has been reported wild in a few localities in our 

 State, but in some instances it evidently has escaped from cultivation. 

 It is a very hardy plant and in British America its range extends 

 northward to the Arctic regions. Its fruit is commonly red when ripe, 

 but varieties occur with whitish fruit. 



The cactus family yields us a single species of Opuntia, commonly 

 known as prickly pear or Indian fig, whose pulpy fruit is eatable. It 

 occurs sparingly in the Highlands and on Long Island and can scarcely 

 be regarded as important or valuable for its fruit. 



In the Dogwood family the dwarf cornel (Cornus Canadensis), also 

 called bunch berry and sugar berry, produces a beautiful cluster of 

 bright red fruits scarcely as large as a pea. These are sometimes eaten 

 by children, woodmen and hunters, but they are more agreeable to 

 the eye than to the palate, and are barely worthy of being classed 

 among edible fruits. 



The genus Viburnum of the Honeysuckle family, contains five 

 species of shrubs with edible fruits. These are in each instance about 

 the size of a pea, though in some they are oval rather than globular. 



