Blackberries

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Blackberries
Blackberry 0815-23.jpg

Blackberries ( Rubus sect. Rubus )

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Rose-like (rosales)
Family : Rose family (Rosaceae)
Subfamily : Rosoideae
Genre : Rubus
Section : Blackberries
Scientific name
Rubus sect. Rubus
Fresh shoots in March

The blackberries ( Rubus sect. Rubus ) are a section from the extensive and worldwide spread plant genus Rubus in the family of the rose family (Rosaceae). The section comprises several thousand species, more than 2000 species have been described in Europe alone. The fruits are used as fruit . The word blackberry developed from the Old High German word brāmberi , thorn bush berry or berry of the thorn bush. From a biological point of view, however, the blackberry does not have thorns , but thorns .

In dialect, the fruits are also called dewberry or croatzberry, which botanists only understand as one type of blackberry (cf. dewberry ).

description

Habit, leaves and fruits
Radially symmetrical flower with five petals and many stamens
Fruits in different stages of ripening
ripe fruits
Blossom with honey bee

Appearance and leaves

Blackberry species are winter bald or evergreen (and then-paying in spring foliage) shrubs taken or exactly something woody, herbaceous plants with two-year branches: the overwintering twigs bring out their buds only inflorescences produced and then die after blooming. Blackberries are often climbing plants ( spreading climbers ) and are between 0.5 and 3 meters high; the shoot axes are more or less prickly , depending on the species or variety, and lignify over time. The thin and sturdy spines serve as a climbing aid and protection against eating.

The alternate leaves are arranged in a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade is unpaired three, five and seven pinnate. The leaflets are serrated.

Inflorescences and flowers

The flowering period extends from May to August. Only in the second year are special side shoots formed, at the end of which there are inflorescences. It forms racemose or panicle inflorescences .

The hermaphroditic flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The flower base is bulging. There are five sepals . The five free petals are mostly white, rarely pink. There are over 20 stamens and many carpels .

fruit

From a botanical point of view, the mostly blue-black fruits when ripe are not berries , but aggregate drupes that are formed from the individual carpels: Each of their small individual berries has the same structure as a drupe ( e.g. cherry ) and like this has a thin outer skin. In fact, when you chew the fruit, you bite on small stones in which the seeds of the blackberry can also be found. Unlike the raspberry , the fruit is firmly attached to the flower base. The fruit ripens from August to September, sometimes until October. After the fruit ripens, the shoots die.

ecology

The vegetative reproduction takes place through runners , which can be up to 6 meters long in the case of small species, also through root shoots and above all through arching, sagging branches that take root when they come into contact with the ground ( subsidence ). The spines serve as climbing hooks and probably also as protection against eating. Blackberries are typical spreader climbers , whereby the growing twigs get caught in the ground with their backward-pointing spines and finally sink back due to their weight. In suitable locations, blackberries can climb up to 5 meters high in trees and from there let their branches hang down to the ground again. The branches are mostly evergreen and photosynthesize . Their chlorophyll , however, is often covered by a red light protection color.

The roots of the blackberries normally do not form a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing filamentous bacteria of the genus Frankia ( Actinorhiza ). The exception is the Asiatic Rubus ellipticus , which presumably developed root nodules with Frankia as secondary .

The great abundance of shapes of the blackberries is based on their special reproductive conditions. Occasional crosses can result in stable hybrids that develop seeds without fertilization ( apomixis ). In this type of reproduction, the characteristics of the hybrid plants are passed on identically ( clones ).

The pre-female flowers are odorless. From an ecological point of view, these are "nectar-bearing disc flowers" that produce a large supply of pollen . Blossom visitors are (also short-nosed) bees , which not only enable cross- pollination but also self-pollination . In addition, Apomixis can also produce seeds without pollination . However, pollination is still necessary, but not the egg cell is fertilized, but another cell, which then forms the nutrient tissue necessary for the embryo in the semen . The blackberry species occurring in Germany are, apart from two species, stable clones that arose a long time ago.

The stone fruits taste sweet due to grape sugar and sour due to fruit acids . They serve the digestive spread , especially by birds. The blue-black color of the outer skin of the fruit and the red color of the berry juice is caused by anthocyanins . The juice contains cyanidin -3-O-glucoside as the main component.

Blackberry leaf with autumn colors

Occurrence

The blackberry species are widespread in the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere of Europe , North Africa , the Middle East and North America . They prefer sunny to partially shaded locations, for example light forests or their edges, with soils rich in lime and nitrogen .

Cultivation

When growing blackberry species and varieties, thornless cultivated forms are usually preferred. You need a trellis to keep them manageable in their vigorous growth. At least 2 to 3 meters are important as a planting distance. Furthermore, regular thinning and removal of stinging shoots is necessary to prevent the formation of undergrowth. After the harvest, the removed branches are cut off on the ground and new shoots are reduced to around three to five branches per plant specimen. In Europe, the Armenian blackberry is often grown in the garden , which as a neophyte is one of the most common wild blackberry species there.

use

Foamed Brie with blackberries and red mustard

The fruits are juicy and tasty. Blackberry fruits are suitable for fresh consumption, as a topping for cakes and to prepare jam , jelly , sorbet , juice , wine and liqueur . The fresh fruits can also be preserved by freezing .

Blackberry leaves, which are best picked in the first half of May, are found in many teas because of their pleasant taste. Blackberry tea can also be drunk safely as a house tea over a long period of time. The fermented leaves of the blackberry species serve as a substitute for black tea and are traded as caffeine-free breakfast tea .

pharmacology

Dried leaves of the real blackberry as a medicinal product (Rubi fruticosi folium)

The dried leaves (the name of the drug is Rubi fruticosi folium) of slightly hairy species are used as a medicine today . They contain tannins ( Gallotannins and dimeric ellagitannins ), flavonoids and fruit acids such as citric acid and isocitric and some vitamin C . Due to the tannin content, the drug is used as an astringent and remedy for diarrhea, for gargling for inflammation in the mouth and throat, but also externally for washing with chronic skin diseases.

According to Pliny , fruits and flowers are diuretic; an infusion in wine helps against gallstones . In his herbal, John Gerard recommended a decoction made from blackberry leaves with alum , honey and a little white wine as a rinse for sores in the mouth and on the genitals of men and women. It also helps against tooth loss. The alleged effect of blackberry leaves on diarrheal diseases was described by the Greek doctor Pedanios Dioscurides in his work De materia medica .

Taxonomy

The European blackberries are in the genus Rubus subg. Rubus taken. Usually these are divided into three groups:

  • Rubus sect. Rubus L. (collective species " Rubus fruticosus agg."), The "real" blackberries
  • Rubus sect. Corylifolii Lindley (collective species " Rubus corylifolius agg."), The "hazel leaf blackberries"
  • Rubus sect. Caesii Lejeune & Courtois , with the dewberry ( Rubus caesius ) as the only species

Rubus fruticosus L. was established as the type species of the genus in 2006. This is a problematic name. The name Rubus fruticosus has been used over the decades for a large number of completely different blackberry species and has therefore been considered unusable for the characterization of a certain species ("nomen ambiguum") for a long time. In the Linnaeus herbarium , specimens are collected under the name that, according to today's view, belong to a number of different species; even then he had not yet distinguished them. Two species that do not belong together can even be found on the Linnaeus herbarium, which was established as a type specimen. The botanist Heinrich E. Weber selected the document containing an inflorescence as the lectotype. The plant thus determined bears the name Rubus plicatus Weihe & Nees today . Rubus fruticosus , sensu typo, is synonymous with it. Since the typing of Rubus fruticosus only took place afterwards, the "species" is now formally the type species of the genus, but the name is no longer actually used for this or any other species; in this case this is permissible according to the botanical nomenclature rules (ICBN, Article 52). The name is used as Rubus fruticosus agg. used only for the collective species by those botanists who do not want (or cannot) differentiate between the individual species of Rubus , Subgenus Rubus Sectio Rubus .

Within the blackberry there are few species with normal sexual reproduction. These are primarily the Mediterranean (common in the Mediterranean region), diploid species Rubus ulmifolius Schott , Rubus sanctus Schreb. and Rubus canescens DC . All other species form a complex of species that is difficult to understand and which has emerged from these "primary" species through hybridization ; they are usually tetraploid. Although they are visited by bees and other pollinators, they usually reproduce asexually, so each species corresponds to a clone (rare somatic mutations not taken into account), one speaks of agamo species . Since sexual reproduction is usually suppressed, but not completely impossible, fertilization occurs every now and then. The resulting fruit can then grow into an individual with deviating characteristics that, if successful, will establish a new species. Since the parent species are not always known and, in the case of multiple hybrids, difficult to determine, agamosperm blackberry species are identified as species name with a normal binomial rather than a hybrid formula . For purely pragmatic reasons, so as not to have to describe every deviant individual as a species, the blackberry taxonomists (or " batologists ") have agreed to only describe and recognize forms as species that have a certain minimum area (this corresponds to the more successful clones). These are those whose range is at least 50 to 250 kilometers in diameter. It also refrains from describing infraspecific taxa, i.e. those below the species level, such as subspecies . The species aggregate also includes several 100 species. Because of these relationships, it is not possible in southern Germany and the Alpine countries to determine the species in many blackberry individuals. Regionally, this can affect the majority of individuals.

literature

  • Simon Ašič: Father Simon's medicine cabinet. Medicinal plants and recipes from nature and the monastery garden. Kosmos, Stuttgart, 2004, ISBN 3-440-09965-2 , p. 36 (translated from Slovenian by Anton Kovačič).
  • Karl Hiller, Matthias F. Melzig: Lexicon of medicinal plants and drugs . 2nd Edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8274-2053-4 , 659 pp.
  • C. Kalkman: Rosaceae. In: Klaus Kubitzki (Ed.): The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants . Volume 6: Flowering Plants, Dicotyledons: Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2004, ISBN 3-540-06512-1 , pp. 370 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Anfred Pedersen, Heinrich E. Weber , Hans Oluf Martensen (collaborators), Eckhart Walsemann (collaborators): Atlas of the blackberries of Lower Saxony and Bremen (genus Rubus L. subgenus Rubus) . In: Nature conservation and landscape management in Lower Saxony. Volume 28, Lower Saxony State Office for Ecology, Nature Conservation, Hanover 1993, ISBN 3-922321-64-X , 202 pp.
  • Ingrid Schönfelder, Peter Schönfelder : The new manual of medicinal plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-440-09387-5 .
  • Henry E. Weber : Rubus L . In: Werner Rothmaler (greeting), Eckehart J. Jäger, Klaus Werner (ed.): Exkursionsflora von Deutschland, Volume 4, Vascular Plants: Critical Volume. 9th edition. Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg / Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8274-0917-9 . Pp. 361-402.
  • Heinrich E. Weber: Bushes, hedges, herb edges (ecosystems of Central Europe from a geobotanical point of view). Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart-Hohenheim 2003, ISBN 3-8001-4163-9 , 256 pp.
  • Heinrich E. Weber: Blackberries. In: Ökoportrait. Volume 39, No. 3, 2005, pp. 1-4.

Individual evidence

  1. Henry E. Weber: Rubus L . In: Werner Rothmaler (greeting), Eckehart J. Jäger, Klaus Werner (ed.): Exkursionsflora von Deutschland, Volume 4, Vascular Plants: Critical Volume. 9. Completely rework. Edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg / Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8274-0917-9 , pp. 361-402.
  2. ^ C. Kalkman: Rosaceae. In: Klaus Kubitzki (Ed.): The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants . Volume 6: Flowering Plants, Dicotyledons: Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2004, ISBN 3-540-06512-1 , pp. 370 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  3. Overview by Gisela Schmidt , "Feinschmecker-Fahrt: Guten Appetit", on vegetarismus.ch
  4. a b c d e f Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait. 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .
  5. Christa R. Schwinzter and John D. Tjepkema, The Biology of Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants, San Diego 1990.
  6. ^ JH Becking: Identification of the endophyte of Dryas and Rubus (Rosaceae) in AD Akkermans, D. Baker, K. Huss-Danell, JD Tjepkema: Frankia Symbioses. Springer Verlag, Berlin etc., 2012. ISBN 978-94-009-6158-6 .
  7. BdB Handbook Part VI, Fruit trees. 6th edition. Support company "Green is Life" Baumschulen, Pinneberg 1985.
  8. Ernst Schneider: Use the healing power of our food. 7th edition. Saatkorn, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-8150-1636-3 .
  9. ^ A b John Gerard: The Herball or General Historie of Plantes . London, John Norton 1597, 1092
  10. Heinrich E. Weber (2000): Classification of summer green blackberries in Europe (Rubus L. subgenus Rubus subsectio Rubus). Osnabrücker Naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen 26: 109–120.
  11. Fred R. Barrie (2006): Report of the General Committee: 9. Taxon 55 (3): 795-800.
  12. Rubus fruticosus Linnaeus, typ. Cons. The Linnaean Plant Name Typification Project, Natural History Museum, London
  13. Rubus plicatus from GRIN US National Plant Germplasm System , accessed July 26, 2016.
  14. Article 52 in full
  15. ^ Heinrich E. Weber (1996): Former and Modern Taxonomic Treatment of the Apomictic Rubus Complex. Folia Geobotanica & Phytotaxonomica 31 (3): 373-380.
  16. Michael Hohla: "The blackberry" - a passion of a different kind (s). In: ÖKO.L magazine for ecology, nature and environmental protection. Volume 36, Issue 1, Linz 2014, pp. 20-35 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).

Web links

Commons : Rubus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Blackberry  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations