- Foliage
- Branch and flower
- Salmonberry fruit in Unalaska, Alaska
- Mature fruit in Washington
- Colander of salmonberries
Salmonberry | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Rosales |
Family: | Rosaceae |
Genus: | Rubus |
Species: | R. spectabilis |
Binomial name | |
Rubus spectabilis | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Rubus spectabilis, the salmonberry, is a species of bramble in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the west coast of North America from west-central Alaska to California, inland as far as Idaho. [2] [3] [4] Like many other species in the genus Rubus , the salmonberry plant bears edible fruit, typically yellow-orange or red in color, resembling raspberries in appearance.
Rubus spectabilis is a deciduous, rhizomatous shrub growing to 1–4 metres (3–13 feet) tall and 9 metres (30 feet) wide, with a moderate growth rate of 0.3–0.6 metres (12-24 inches) per year. [5] 30-40% of the plant's biomass is underground. [6] It has perennial (not biennial) woody stems that are covered with fine prickles, especially on new growth. [7] The plant has golden or yellowish brown erect or arching stems (also known as "canes") that often form thickets, like many other brambles in the genus Rubus . The leaves are alternate, trifoliate (with three leaflets), 7–22 centimetres (3–8+1⁄2 inches) long and typically ovate in shape, with the terminal leaflet being larger than the two side leaflets, which are sometimes shallowly lobed. The margins of the leaflets are doubly serrate. [8] [9] The leaves are also stipulate and are smooth to slightly hairy on the top surface, compared to the underside, which are typically more pale and hairy. [9] In late fall and winter months, salmonberry leaves will fall, and the plant remains dormant or maintains minimal shoot elongation during the winter. [10]
The flowers are 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) in diameter, with a calyx of five hairy sepals and five pinkish-purple petals that surround a cluster of stamens; they are produced between April and July, either singly or in clusters of 2 or 3. The flowers are perfect (bisexual), containing 75–100 stamens and many individual pistils with superior ovaries. [8] [9] While fruit production is largely dependent on the environment, there is an estimated growth of 30 fruits per 3m^2 (32 ft^2) and 17-65 seeds per fruit. [11] Salmonberry sprout mainly from the buds found on rhizomes, stumps, and root crowns of the plant. The flowers cannot self-pollinate and are instead pollinated by insects, hummingbirds, and beetles. [10]
Salmonberries ripen approximately 30–36 days after pollination, from early May to late July in most of the Pacific Northwest and July to August in cooler Northern climates. They are 1.5–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) long and resemble large shiny yellow to orange-red raspberries. The fruit pulls away from its receptacle, differentiating it from blackberries.[ citation needed ] Botanically speaking, the salmonberry is not a true berry, but instead an aggregate fruit made of many smaller drupelets. [9] [12] The fruits of the salmonberry plant exhibit polymorphism, as berries are often either red in color or a yellow-orange color. Studies have found that although both red and yellow-orange morphs have similar physical qualities, the red berries are more commonly consumed by birds, although this is likely not a strong enough selective pressure to determine color morph distribution alone; factors such as soil type (which affects germination), along with other unstudied factors are more likely responsible for the color polymorphism. [13] [14] [15]
A similar species from Japan, the red-flowered raspberry (ベニバナイチゴ) was once considered a subspecies as R. spectabilis subsp. vernus. It is now reclassified as R. vernus. [16]
Salmonberries are typically found in coastal areas with nitrogen-rich soils, in moist to wet forests and streambanks, increasing in abundance in areas of high rainfall and decreasing in abundance at higher elevations and continentality. Ecologically speaking, salmonberry tends to spread quickly and needs plenty of room to grow, and is often dominant and fast-growing in early-seral communities. Its size and population growth decline in abundance as the canopy begins to form, and may also be influenced by other factors such as basal area, plant disturbance, and population density. [9] [17] In open areas they often form large thickets, and are found to associate with stands of red alder ( Alnus rubra ), lady fern ( Athyrium filixfemina ), western skunk cabbage ( Lysichitum americanum ), devil's club ( Oplopanax horridus ), thimbleberry ( Rubus parviflorus ), and threeleaf foamflower ( Tiarella trifoliata ). [9]
In the wild, the fruit are typically eaten by birds, bears, and small mammals, among others, while the leaves, twigs, and stems are grazed on by herbivores such as deer, moose, mountain goats, elk, and rabbits. [8] [7] Populations of dense thicket growth can provide escape habitats for small animals, as well as nesting sites for birds. [7]
In the spring, salmonberry flowering coincides with the migration of certain species of hummingbirds, which is crucial for its pollination. [18] Birds and mammals also help with dispersion of seeds through their feces, while rodents and other burrowing animals may further help with dispersion. Some notable mammals crucial for the dispersion of seeds are the grizzly and American black bears, which can deposit 50,000 to 100,000 seeds in one pile of feces. [14]
Salmonberry have several traits that make it highly resistant to fire. Rhizomes and root crowns below the soil surface usually survive, even if top stems are burned. Depending on burial depth, seeds also often remain unharmed. Additionally, the plant tend to quickly sprout after fires, allowing for rapid growth and regeneration. [19]
Salmonberries are susceptible to many diseases, including mildew, fruit rot, rust, root rot, and viral and bacterial diseases. Their fruits, foliage, canes, roots, and crowns may also be damaged by pests such as beetles, aphids, mites, moths, among others. [20]
Salmonberries are edible. [21] [13] The fruit has been referred to as "insipid", [22] but depending on ripeness and site, they are good eaten raw – whether red or golden [13] – and when processed into jam, candy, jelly and wine. Native American people ate the young shoots or used it as a medicinal plant. The shoots were harvested during April to early June before they turned woody or tough, and were peeled, then steamed, boiled, or pit-cooked, and eaten (or less commonly, eaten raw). [7] [23] Traditionally, the berries and sprouts were also eaten with salmon or mixed with oolichan grease or salmon roe. They were not dried because of their high moisture content. [7] [22] It is still used as a food source and medicinal plant in regions of Alaska today.
Other uses by Native Americans include: [7]
It is also widely grown as an ornamental plant for its flowers, [13] [24] [25] with a double-flowered clone identified in Washington and British Columbia. [26] R. spectabilis has escaped cultivation and become naturalized in parts of northwestern Europe, including Great Britain, Ireland and the Faroe Islands. [27] [28]
The salmonberry is important to multiple indigenous people of America in its native range. The Makah people call the plant ka'k'we'abupt and the berry ka'k'we; the Cowlitz people call the plant e'twanac and the berry e'twan; speakers of Lower Chinook call it yunts. [29] The Squamish people call the plant yetwánáy and the berries yetwán, the shoots are called stsá7tskaý (pronounced saskay). [30] The birdsong of the Swainson's thrush, sometimes known as the salmonberry bird, is a phenological indicator known to multiple indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast to be associated with the ripening of salmonberries. The birdsong itself is even said to make the berries ripen, [30] as is the case of the Saanich people who give the birdsong the onomatopoeic translation of "xwexwelexwelexwelexwesh!" meaning "ripen, ripen, ripen, ripen!" This belief is also widespread and is known to the Tlingit, Haida, Haisla, Oweekeno, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Ditidaht, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and the Straits Salish people. The presence of Elasmostethus cruciatus , called the salmonberry bug, is also seen as an indicator to Northwest Coast indigenous peoples that salmonberry shoots are ready to harvest. [31]
Rubus is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, with over 1,350 species, commonly known as brambles.
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus Rubus in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus Rubus, and hybrids between the subgenera Rubus and Idaeobatus. The taxonomy of blackberries has historically been confused because of hybridization and apomixis, so that species have often been grouped together and called species aggregates. For example, the entire subgenus Rubus has been called the Rubus fruticosus aggregate, although the species R. fruticosus is considered a synonym of R. plicatus.
The dewberries are a group of species in the genus Rubus, section Rubus, closely related to the blackberries. They are small trailing brambles with aggregate fruits, reminiscent of the raspberry, but are usually purple to black instead of red. Alternatively, they are sometimes referred to as ground berries.
Rubus chamaemorus is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to cool temperate regions, alpine and arctic tundra and boreal forest. This herbaceous perennial produces amber-colored edible fruit similar to the blackberry. English common names include cloudberry, nordic berry, bakeapple, knotberry and knoutberry, aqpik or low-bush salmonberry, and averin or evron.
The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with woody stems.
Rubus idaeus is a red-fruited species of Rubus native to Europe and northern Asia and commonly cultivated in other temperate regions.
The loganberry is a hybrid of the North American blackberry and the European raspberry.
Rubus phoenicolasius is an Asian species of raspberry in the rose family, native to China, Japan, and Korea.
Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry, is a species of Rubus native to northern temperate regions of North America. The plant has large hairy leaves and no thorns. It bears edible red fruit similar in appearance to a raspberry, but shorter, almost hemispherical. It has not been commercially developed for the retail berry market, but is cultivated for landscapes.
Rubus leucodermis, also called whitebark raspberry or blackcap raspberry, is a species of Rubus native to western North America.
Rubus pensilvanicus, known commonly as Pennsylvania blackberry, is a prickly bramble native to eastern and central North America from Newfoundland south to Georgia, west as far as Ontario, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Arkansas. The species is also established as a naturalized plant in California.
Viburnum trilobum is a species of Viburnum native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to British Columbia, south to Washington state and east to northern Virginia. It is very closely related to the European and Asian Viburnum opulus, and is often treated as a variety of it, as Viburnum opulus L. var. americanum Ait., or as a subspecies, Viburnum opulus subsp. trilobum (Marshall) Clausen.
Rubus laciniatus, the cutleaf evergreen blackberry or evergreen blackberry, is a species of Rubus, native to Eurasia. It is an introduced species in Australia and North America. It has become a weed and invasive species in forested habitats in the United States and Canada, particularly in the Northeast and along the Pacific Coast.
Rubus armeniacus, the Himalayan blackberry or Armenian blackberry, is a species of Rubus in the blackberry group Rubus subgenus Rubus series Discolores Focke. It is native to Armenia and Northern Iran, and widely naturalised elsewhere. Both its scientific name and origin have been the subject of much confusion, with much of the literature referring to it as either Rubus procerus or Rubus discolor, and often mistakenly citing its origin as western European. Flora of North America, published in 2014, considers the taxonomy unsettled, and tentatively uses the older name Rubus bifrons.
Rubus ursinus is a North American species of blackberry or dewberry, known by the common names California blackberry, California dewberry, Douglas berry, Pacific blackberry, Pacific dewberry and trailing blackberry.
Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder.
Ribes roezlii is a North American species of gooseberry known by the common name Sierra gooseberry.
Rubus pubescens is a herbaceous perennial widespread across much of Canada and the northern United States, from Alaska to Newfoundland, south as far as Oregon, Colorado, and West Virginia.
Rubus flagellaris, the northern dewberry, also known as the common dewberry, is a North American species perennial subshrub species of dewberry, in the rose family. This dewberry is distributed across much of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It grows in diverse habitats ranging from drier savannas to temperate deciduous forests.
There are numerous wild edible and medicinal plants in British Columbia that are used traditionally by First Nations peoples. These include seaweeds, rhizomes and shoots of flowering plants, berries, and fungi.