Wild berries

In my neck of the woods in the Mid-Atlantic we have three common species of wild berries that can be good eating.  These are wild blackberry (several similar species, mine is Allegheny blackberry, (Rubus allegheniensis), black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), and Northern dewberry (R. flagellaris).

Wild blackberries bloom for a couple of weeks here in early May. 
They are very fragrant and quite attractive to bees.

Wild blackberries are the most noticeable of these three species of brambles.  The two most widespread species in the upland areas around here are Allegheny and Pennsylvania (R. pensilvanicus) blackberries.  The upright growing canes are typically 5-10 feet long.  Each individual cane only lives for 2 years.  These are continually replaced by new ones growing up from a rhizome 6-12" deep underground.

The thorns along the petioles are hooked and will grab onto any
clothing as you are pulling away.

The glandular hairs on the peduncle are indicative of Allegheny blackberry. 
Pennsylvania blackberry lacks glands in this area.

Blackberries ripen over several weeks around early July. 
Fully black colored berries that detach easily have the best flavor.

The square canes of Allegheny blackberry are armed straight spines.  The leaf veins and petioles have curved prickles.  These allow one to reach into the thicket relatively easily but much harder to withdraw your arm without getting snagged.  The 2-3 inch fragrant white flowers bloom in early May.  This is about the same time as multiflora rose.  Left on its own these canes will produce large quantities of small, seedy and very tart berries.  By cutting the cans back to about 6' tall and each of the side branches by half (down to as few as 4-6 buds) fruit size and sweetness is greatly improved.  These berries are still seedy, by the increase in fruit size makes it less noticeable.  I have also noticed that these cut canes provide habitat for small insects, although I don't know if these are beneficial or not.  The clusters of berries ripen over an extended period  from late June through July.  The best test for ripeness is if the berry comes off without pulling.  If you need to tug on the fruit, it's not ready. Berries that I don't eat right away are rinsed briefly, to remove ants, dried, then put into the freezer.  The berries do have a tendency to ferment if not picked.  These fermented berries do not taste as good as perfectly ripe fruit.

This overwintered cane shows evidence
of an insect resident.

Wild blackberry has smooth red stems in winter
armed with stiff red spines. Older branches
are square with indentions on each face.   

An additional benefit of these upright brambles is that they can act as a fence between tree saplings and browsing deer.  As an example, I have a white oak planted in the middle of a blackberry patch that has, so far, not been damaged by deer browse or rubbing.

Black raspberries, Rubus occidentalis, showed up here on their own about five years ago.  They became more obvious as I was reducing the amount of invasive wineberry (R. phoenicolasius) plants.  These are easily distinguished from wild black berries in that they have round canes, instead of square, with a white blush on them and the spines are straight rather than curved.  these have white flowers in mid-May with fruits ripening by mid-June.  The fruits are initially bright red, but turn nearly black when ripe.  They have have a unique sweet-tart taste, different from red raspberries.  The blue Jolly Rancher candies capture their flavor quite well.   Another way to tell blackberries and raspberries apart is how the fruit comes off the plant.  Raspberries leave a conical core, or rasp, on the plants while blackberries come off completely.  That's why picked raspberries seem to have a hollow core.  Where I live, black raspberry season is pretty short, maybe 10-14 days. Black raspberries are more shade tolerant than blackberries, but they are also more attractive to deer, particularly the foliage in early spring.  Where branch tips contact the soil new roots will form resulting in a thicket of arching canes.

These flowers, in mid-May are just opening and will
expand to about an inch across.  They are not as showy
as on the blackberry.

Black raspberries are borne in neat little clusters.  Normally the
center berry ripens first, followed by the surrounding fruits. To the right
in this image is a primocane, a first year stem with larger leaves.

In winter black raspberry has red canes with somewhat smaller thorns
 than a blackberry. It is distinguished by the white bloom on the older branches 

The earliest blooming of my wild berries is Northern dewberry, with flowers appearing by the end of April.  Unlike the other two berries dewberry stems are very lax and they tend to run along the ground, or over and through other plants.  The canes are typically 2-4 mm wide, often red in color and the spines are very narrow.  They don't twine, so they won't scale a tree.  Like the black raspberry, new plants can form where branch tips contact the soil.  Unlike the other two species, the number of berries in a cluster is smaller (2-5) and often single.  While wild blackberries can have 7 or more berries in a single cluster and black raspberry typically has 5 berries (3-7).  Like the other wild berries these are essentially black when ripe.  Based on the few that I have eaten, they are not as tart as blackberries, but are generally pleasant.  Since plants are  trailing on the ground or hidden in shrubs, I haven't harvested near as many of these as I have blackberries or black raspberries.  These berries end up being eaten mostly by the wildlife.

These flowering branches of Northern dewberry grow
up from the horizontally growing floricane.

These unripe berries grow in smaller bunches than the other brambles. 
Note the difference in leaf shape and texture between the dewberry
 (middle foreground) and poison ivy (upper right).  As of June 18th
these berries are about as far along as the blackberries, i.e. still green.

All these berries share a similar life cycle.  In the first year a cane sprouts from the ground and grows to some length, depending on species.  This cane, called the primocane only has leaves and does not flower or bear fruit.  The following season this cane matures and sends out more lateral branches that flower and bear fruit.  These are referred to as floricanes.  After fruiting, the cane dies, but additional canes are sent up from the perennial rhizome. As an aside, while flame weeding one spring, I found that the primocanes are sensitive to fire, but this did not have a long term effect on the life of the plant.

For reference here's an image of the invasive wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius.  It's intermediate in size between our blackberries and black raspberries and it has a tendency to form dense thickets especially where the branch tips root on contact with soil.  

Wineberries turn bright red when ripe.  They can be distinguished from
 our native berries by the color of the fruit, the broadly ovate leaves
and the densely bristled stems.