Wild California Blackberry

Description:

Blackberries are just one of many overlooked wild foods that permeate America’s urban, suburban, and rural landscapes. These renewable resources range from the so-called “weeds” that people either remove from lawns or buy at premium prices at greenmarkets or health food stores to the abundant, delicious, healthful wild fruits and berries that thrive in thickets everywhere from Central Park to California. Wild blackberries are among the best of these fruits on many grounds. They’re very common, widespread, abundant, prolific, easy to recognize, tasty, and nutritious. Examining these species in all their aspects will help us bring them into our lives, foster a greater love for the ecosystems that produce them, and appreciate their history in nature and in human affairs. Blackberries have small, radially symmetrical, five-petaled, short-stemmed flowers, loosely but evenly clustered along stalks called racemes. Blooming in the spring and early summer, they give way to the familiar black fruit in the summer. The elliptical berry, one-half to one-and-a-half inches long, is an aggregate fruit. All of the facets, each with its own seed, comes from a single flower. The fruit of the blackberry bush, which ripens from mid-summer to early fall, goes from green to red to black.

Habitat:

The Thimbleberry has an extensive range, from USDA zones 3 - 9. It is found from the southernmost stretches of Alaska, south to California and the mountain ranges in New Mexico, east all the way to the Great Lakes and north to the 55˚ N latitude. Thimbleberries are generally found at lower elevations in damp sites at the forest edge on the coast. East of the Cascade Mountains, however, they grow in drier areas although they far prefer moist soils. Blackberries can tolerate partial to almost full shade, although the shrubs will grow more lush with more light.

Notes:

Because blackberries are thorny and ripen in the hottest part of the summer during mosquito season, it’s best to wear long pants and sleeves, plus a sun hat while foraging. Check out the long-range weather forecast and plan to gather as early in the morning as possible on the coolest days. Bring along plenty of drinking water.