Bean

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Bean

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Bean

Bean is a common name for large Plant Seeds of several genera of the Family Fabaceae (alternately Leguminosae) used for human food or animal feed.

The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, are very tender and may be eaten cooked or raw. Thus the term "green beans" means "green" in the sense of unripe (many are in fact not green in color). In some cases the beans inside the pods of green beans are too small to comprise a significant part of the cooked Fruit.

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Pea

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Pea

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Pea

A Pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the Legume Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several Peas. Peapods are botanically a Fruit, since they contain Seeds developed from the ovary of a (Pea) Flower. However, Peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking. The name is also used to describe other edible seeds from the Fabaceae such as the pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan), the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), and the seeds from several Species of Lathyrus.

P. sativum is an annual Plant, with a life cycle of one year. It is a cool season crop grown in many parts of the world; planting can take place from winter through to early summer depending on location. The average Pea weighs between 0.1 and 0.36 grams. The species is used as a vegetable, fresh, frozen or canned, and is also grown to produce dry Peas like the split Pea. These varieties are typically called field Peas.

The wild Pea is restricted to the Mediterranean basin and the Near East. The earliest archaeological finds of Peas come from Neolithic Syria, Turkey and Jordan. In Egypt, early finds date from ca. 4800–4400 BC in the Nile delta area, and from ca. 3800–3600 BC in Upper Egypt. The Pea was also present in Georgia in the 5th millennium BC. Farther east, the finds are younger. Peas were present in Afghanistan ca. 2000 BC, in Harappa, Pakistan, and in northwest India in 2250–1750 BC. In the second half of the 2nd millennium BC this pulse crop appears in the Gangetic basin and southern India.

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Fruit

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Fruit

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Fruit

In broad terms, a Fruit is a structure of a Plants that contains its seeds.

The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain Plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, juniper berries and bananas. seed-associated structures that do not fit these informal criteria are usually called by other names, such as vegetables, pods, nut, ears and cones.

In biology (botany), a "fruit" is a part of a Flowering plant that derives from specific tissues of the flower, mainly one or more ovaries. Taken strictly, this definition excludes many structures that are "fruits" in the common sense of the term, such as those produced by non-Flowering plants (like juniper berries, which are the seed-containing female cones of conifers), and fleshy fruit-like growths that develop from other plant tissues close to the fruit (accessory fruit, or more rarely false fruit or pseudocarp), such as cashew fruits. Often the botanical fruit is only part of the common fruit, or is merely adjacent to it. On the other hand, the botanical sense includes many structures that are not commonly called "fruits", such as bean pods, corn kernels, wheat grains, tomatoes, and many more. However, there are several variants of the biological definition of fruit that emphasize different aspects of the enormous variety that is found among plant fruits.

fruits (in either sense of the word) are the means by which many plants disseminate seeds. Most edible fruits, in particular, were evolved by plants in order to exploit animals as a means for seed dispersal, and many animals (including humans to some extent) have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. fruits account for a substantial fraction of world's agricultural output, and some (such as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings.

Fungus also have fruit. When a Fungus begins to produce spores, the section of the fungus producing the spores is called the fruiting body of the fungus.

Simple fruit

Simple fruits can be either dry or fleshy, and result from the ripening of a simple or compound ovary in a flower with only one pistil. Dry fruits may be either dehiscent (opening to discharge seeds), or indehiscent (not opening to discharge seeds). Types of dry, simple fruits, with examples of each, are:

* achene - Most commonly seen in aggregate fruits (e.g. strawberry)
* capsule – (Brazil nut)
* caryopsis – (wheat)
* Cypsela - An achene-like fruit derived from the individual florets in a capitulum (e.g. dandelion).
* fibrous drupe – (coconut, walnut)
* follicle – is formed from a single carpel, and opens by one suture (e.g. milkweed). More commonly seen in aggregate fruits (e.g. magnolia)
* legume – (pea, bean, peanut)
* loment - a type of indehiscent legume
* nut – (hazelnut, beech, oak acorn)
* samara – (elm, ash, maple key)
* schizocarp – (carrot seed)
* silique – (radish seed)
* silicle – (shepherd's purse)
* utricle – (beet)

fruits in which part or all of the pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy at maturity are simple fleshy fruits. Types of fleshy, simple fruits (with examples) are:

* berry – (redcurrant, gooseberry, tomato, cranberry)
* stone fruit or drupe (plum, cherry, peach, apricot, olive)
An aggregate fruit, or etaerio, develops from a single flower with numerous simple pistils.

* Magnolia and Peony, collection of follicles developing from one flower.
* Sweet gum, collection of capsules.
* Sycamore, collection of achenes.
* Teasel, collection of cypsellas
* Tuliptree, collection of samaras.

The pome fruits of the Family Rosaceae, (including apples, pears, rosehips, and saskatoon berry) are a syncarpous fleshy fruit, a simple fruit, developing from a half-inferior ovary.

Schizocarp fruits form from a syncarpous ovary and do not really dehisce, but split into segments with one or more seeds; they include a number of different forms from a wide range of families. Carrot seed is an example.

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Flowering plant

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Flowering plant

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Flowering plant

The Flowering plant (angiosperms), also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing Plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies (derived characteristics). These characteristics include flowers, endosperm within the seeds, and the production of Fruits that contain the seeds.

The ancestors of Flowering Plants diverged from gymnosperms around 245–202 million years ago, and the first Flowering Plants known to exist are from 140 million years ago. They diversified enormously during the Lower Cretaceous and became widespread around 100 million years ago, but replaced conifers as the dominant trees only around 60-100 million years ago.

Flowering plant diversity

The number of species of Flowering Plants is estimated to be in the range of 250,000 to 400,000. The number of Families in APG (1998) was 462. In APG II (2003) it is not settled; at maximum it is 457, but within this number there are 55 optional segregates, so that the minimum number of families in this system is 402. In APG III (2009) there are 415 families.

The diversity of Flowering Plants is not evenly distributed. Nearly all species belong to the eudicot (75%), monocot (23%) and magnoliid (2%) clades. The remaining 5 clades contain a little over 250 species in total, i.e., less than 0.1% of Flowering Plant diversity, divided among 9 families.

The most diverse families of Flowering Plants, in their APG circumscriptions, in order of number of Species.

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Sexual Reproduction

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Sexual Reproduction

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Sexual Reproduction

Sexual Reproduction is characterized by processes that pass a combination of genetic material to offspring, resulting in increased genetic diversity. The two main processes are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the restoration of the original number of chromosomes. During meiosis, the chromosomes of each pair usually cross over to achieve homologous recombination.

The evolution of Sexual Reproduction is a major puzzle. The first fossilized evidence of sexually reproducing Organisms is from eukaryotes of the Stenian period, about 1 to 1.2 billion years ago. Sexual Reproduction is the primary method of reproduction for the vast majority of macroscopic organisms, including almost all animals and Plants. Bacterial conjugation, the transfer of DNA between two bacteria, is often mistakenly confused with Sexual Reproduction, because the mechanics are similar.

A major question is why Sexual Reproduction persists when parthenogenesis appears in some ways to be a superior form of reproduction. Contemporary evolutionary thought proposes some explanations. It may be due to selection pressure on the clade itself—the ability for a population to radiate more rapidly in response to a changing environment through sexual recombination than parthenogenesis allows. Alternatively, Sexual Reproduction may allow for the "ratcheting" of evolutionary speed as one clade competes with another for a limited resource.

Plant Reproduction

Animals typically produce male gametes called sperm, and female gametes called eggs and ova, following immediately after meiosis. With the gametes produced directly by meiosis. Plants on the other hand have mitosis occurring in spores, which are produced by meiosis. The spores germinate into the gametophyte phase. The gametophytes of different groups of Plantsvary in size; angiosperms have as few as three cells in pollen, and mosses and other so called primitive Plants may have several million cells. Plants have an alternation of generations where the sporophyte phase is succeeded by the gametophyte phase. The sporophyte phase produces spores within the sporangium by meiosis.

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Plant

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Plant

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Plant

Plant are Living Organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The scientific study of plants, known as botany, has identified about 350,000 extant species of Plants, defined as seed Plants, bryophytes, ferns and fern allies. As of 2004, some 287,655 species had been identified, of which 258,650 are flowering and 18,000 bryophytes (see table below). Green plants, sometimes called Viridiplantae, obtain most of their energy from sunlight via a process called photosynthesis.

Definition

Aristotle divided all living things between Plants (which generally do not move), and animals (which often are mobile to catch their food). In Linnaeus' system, these became the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Metaphyta or Plantae) and Animalia (also called Metazoa). Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new Kingdoms. However, these are still often considered Plants in many contexts, both technical and popular.

Diversity

About 350,000 species of Plants, defined as seed Plants, bryophytes, ferns and fern allies, are estimated to exist currently. As of 2004, some 287,655 species had been identified, of which 258,650 are Flowering plant, 16,000 bryophytes, 11,000 ferns and 8,000 green algae.

Phylogeny

A proposed phylogenetic tree of Plantae, after Kenrick and Crane, is as follows, with modification to the Pteridophyta from Smith et al. The Prasinophyceae may be a paraphyletic basal group to all Green plants.

Structure, growth, and development

Most of the solid material in a plant is taken from the atmosphere. Through a process known as photosynthesis, most Plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, plus water, into simple sugars. Parasitic Plants, on the other hand, use the resources of its host to grow. These sugars are then used as building blocks and form the main structural component of the plant. Chlorophyll, a green-colored, magnesium-containing pigment is essential to this process; it is generally present in plant leaves, and often in other plant parts as well.

Plants usually rely on soil primarily for support and water (in quantitative terms), but also obtain compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other crucial elemental nutrients. Epiphytic and lithophytic Plants often depend on rainwater or other sources for nutrients and carnivorous Plants supplement their nutrient requirements with insect prey that they capture. For the majority of Plants to grow successfully they also require oxygen in the atmosphere and around their roots for respiration. However, some Plants grow as submerged aquatics, using oxygen dissolved in the surrounding water, and a few specialized vascular Plants, such as mangroves, can grow with their roots in anoxic conditions.

Factors affecting growth

The genotype of a plant affects its growth. For example, selected varieties of wheat grow rapidly, maturing within 110 days, whereas others, in the same environmental conditions, grow more slowly and mature within 155 days.

Growth is also determined by environmental factors, such as temperature, available water, available light, and available nutrients in the soil. Any change in the availability of these external conditions will be reflected in the Plants growth.

Biotic factors are also capable of affecting plant growth. Plants compete with other Plants for space, water, light and nutrients. Plants can be so crowded that no single individual produces normal growth, causing etiolation and chlorosis. Optimal plant growth can be hampered by grazing animals, suboptimal soil composition, lack of mycorrhizal fungi, and attacks by insects or plant diseases, including those caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and nematodes.

Simple Plants like algae may have short life spans as individuals, but their populations are commonly seasonal. Other Plants may be organized according to their seasonal growth pattern: annual Plants live and reproduce within one growing season, biennial Plants live for two growing seasons and usually reproduce in second year, and perennial Plants live for many growing seasons and continue to reproduce once they are mature. These designations often depend on climate and other environmental factors; Plants that are annual in alpine or temperate regions can be biennial or perennial in warmer climates. Among the vascular Plants, perennials include both evergreens that keep their leaves the entire year, and deciduous Plants which lose their leaves for some part of it. In temperate and boreal climates, they generally lose their leaves during the winter; many tropical Plants lose their leaves during the dry season.

The growth rate of Plants is extremely variable. Some mosses grow less than 0.001 millimeters per hour (mm/h), while most trees grow 0.025-0.250 mm/h. Some climbing species, such as kudzu, which do not need to produce thick supportive tissue, may grow up to 12.5 mm/h.

Immune system

By means of cells that behave like nerves, Plants receive and distribute within their systems information about incident light intensity and quality. Incident light which stimulates a chemical reaction in one leaf, will cause a chain reaction of signals to the entire plant via a type of cell termed a "bundle sheath cell". Researchers from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland, found that Plants have a specific memory for varying light conditions which prepares their immune systems against seasonal pathogens.

Internal distribution

Vascular Plants differ from other Plants in that they transport nutrients between different parts through specialized structures, called xylem and phloem. They also have roots for taking up water and minerals. The xylem moves water and minerals from the root to the rest of the plant, and the phloem provides the roots with sugars and other nutrient produced by the leaves.

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Raspberry

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Raspberry

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Raspberry

The Raspberry is the edible Fruit of a multitude of plant Species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus. the name also applies to these Plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial. The name originally referred to the European species Rubus idaeus (with red fruit), and is still used as its standard English name.

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Species

Examples of raspberry Species in subgenus Idaeobatus include:

* Rubus crataegifolius (Korean raspberry)
* Rubus idaeus (European red raspberry)
* Rubus Leucodermis (Whitebark or Western raspberry, Blue raspberry, Black raspberry)
* Rubus Occidentalis (Black raspberry)
* Rubus Parvifolius (Australian native raspberry)
* Rubus Phoenicolasius (Wine raspberry or Wineberry)
* Rubus Rosifolius (West Indian raspberry)
* Rubus Strigosus (American red raspberry) (syn. R. idaeus var. strigosus)

Several species of Rubus are also called raspberries that are classified in other subgenera, including:

* Rubus Arcticus (Arctic raspberry, subgenus Cyclactis)
* Rubus Deliciosus (Boulder raspberry, subgenus Anoplobatus)
* Rubus Nivalis (Snow raspberry, subgenus Chamaebatus)
* Rubus Odoratus (Flowering raspberry, subgenus Anoplobatus)
* Rubus Sieboldii (Molucca raspberry, subgenus Malachobatus)

Cultivation

Raspberries are grown for the fresh fruit market and for commercial processing into individually quick frozen (IQF) fruit, purée, juice, or as dried fruit used in a variety of grocery products. Traditionally, raspberries were a mid-summer crop, but with new technology, cultivars, and transportation, they can now be obtained year-round. Raspberries need ample sun and water for optimal development. While moisture is essential, wet and heavy soils or excess irrigation can bring on Phytophthora root rot which is one of the most serious pest problems facing red raspberry. As a cultivated plant in moist temperate regions, it is easy to grow and has a tendency to spread unless pruned. Escaped raspberries frequently appear as garden weeds, spread by seeds found in bird droppings.

Two types of most commercially grown kinds of raspberry are available, the summer-bearing type that produces an abundance of fruit on second-year canes (floricanes) within a relatively short period in mid-summer, and double- or "ever"-bearing plants, which also bear some fruit on first-year canes (primocanes) in the late summer and fall, as well as the summer crop on second-year canes. Raspberries can be cultivated from hardiness zones 3 to 9.

Raspberries are traditionally planted in the winter as dormant canes, although planting of tender, plug plants produced by tissue culture has become much more common. A specialized production system called "long cane production" involves growing canes for 1 year in a northern climate such as Scotland (UK) or Washington State (US) where the chilling requirement for proper budbreak is met early. These canes are then dug, roots and all, to be replanted in warmer climates such as Spain where they quickly flower and produce a very early season crop. Plants should be spaced 1 m apart in fertile, well drained soil; raspberries are usually planted in raised beds/ridges if there is any question about root rot problems.

The flowers can be a major nectar source for honeybees and other pollinators.

Raspberries are very vigorous and can be locally invasive. They propagate using basal shoots (also known as suckers); extended underground shoots that develop roots and individual plants. They can sucker new canes some distance from the main plant. For this reason, raspberries spread well, and can take over gardens if left unchecked.

The fruit is harvested when it comes off the torus/receptacle easily and has turned a deep color (red, black, purple, or golden yellow, depending on the species and cultivar). This is when the fruits are ripest and sweetest. Excess fruit can be made into raspberry jam or frozen.

The leaves can be used fresh or dried in herbal and medicinal teas. They have an astringent flavour, and in herbal medicine are reputed to be effective in regulating menses.

An individual raspberry weighs about 4 g, on average and is made up of around 100 drupelets, each of which consists of a juicy pulp and a single central seed. Raspberry bushes can yield several hundred berries a year. Unlike blackberries and dewberries, a raspberry has a hollow core once it is removed from the receptacle.

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Cultivars

A "golden" raspberry cultivar

Numerous raspberry cultivars have been selected. Recent breeding has resulted in cultivars that are thornless and more strongly upright, not needing staking.

Red raspberries (Rubus idaeus and/or Rubus strigosus) have been crossed with the black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) to produce purple raspberries, and with various species in other subgenera of the genus Rubus, resulting in a number of hybrids, such as boysenberry and loganberry. Hybridization between the familiar cultivated raspberries and a few Asiatic species of Rubus is also being explored.

Selected important cultivars

Source: New RHS Dictionary of Gardening.

Red, early summer fruiting

* Boyne
* Fert?di Venus
* Rubin Bulgarski
* Cascade Dawn
* Glen Clova
* Glen Moy
* Killarney
* Malahat
* Malling Exploit
* Titan
* Willamette

Red, mid summer

* Cuthbert
* Lloyd George
* Meeker
* Newburgh
* Ripley
* Skeena
* Cowichan
* Chemainus
* Saanich

Red, late summer

* Cascade Delight
* Coho
* Fert?di Rubina
* Glen Prosen
* Malling Leo
* Octavia
* Schoenemann
* Tulameen

Red, primocane, fall, autumn fruiting

* Amity
* Augusta
* Autumn Bliss
* Caroline
* Fert?di Kétszerterm?
* Heritage
* Josephine
* Ripley
* Summit
* Zeva Herbsternte

Gold/Yellow, primocane, fall, autumn fruiting

* Anne
* Fallgold
* Fert?di Aranyfürt
* Goldenwest
* Golden Queen
* Honey Queen

Purple

* Brandywine
* Royalty

Black

* Black Hawk
* Bristol
* Cumberland
* Glencoe
* Jewel
* Munger
* Ohio Everbearer
* Scepter

In Scotland, raspberries have been crossed with other berries to produce fruit with unique flavors. The raspberry and the blackberry were crossed at the Scottish Crops Research Institute to produce the Tayberry.

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Diseases and pests

Raspberries are sometimes eaten by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (butterflies and moths). See list of Lepidoptera that feed on Rubus. Botrytis cinerea, or Gray Mold is a common fungal infection of raspberries and other soft fruit. It is seen as a grey mold growing on the raspberries, and particularly affects fruit which is bruised, as it provides an easy entrance point for the spores of B. Cinerea.
Raspberry plants should not be planted where potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants or bulbs have previously been grown, without prior fumigation of the soil. These crops are hosts for the disease Verticillium Wilt, a fungus that can stay in the soil for many years and can infest the raspberry crop.

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Commerce

Raspberries are an important commercial fruit crop, widely grown in all temperate regions of the world. Many of the most important modern commercial red raspberry cultivars derive from hybrids between R. idaeus and R. strigosus. Some botanists consider the Eurasian and American red raspberries to all belong to a single, circumboreal species, Rubus idaeus, with the European plants then classified as either R. idaeus subsp. idaeus or R. idaeus var. idaeus, and the native North American red raspberries classified as either R. idaeus subsp. strigosus, or R. idaeus var. strigosus.

The black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis, is also occasionally cultivated in the United States, providing both fresh and frozen fruit as well as jams, preserves, and other products, all with that species' distinctive, richer flavor.

Purple-fruited raspberries have been produced by horticultural hybridization of red and black raspberries, and have also been found in the wild in a few places (for example, in Vermont) where the American red and the black raspberries both grow naturally. The unofficial name Rubus × neglectus has been applied to these native American plants for which commercial production is rare.

Red and black raspberry species have albino-like pale-yellow variants resulting from expression of recessive genes for anthocyanin pigments. Variously called golden raspberries, yellow or (rarely) orange raspberries retain the distinctive flavor of their respective species. In the eastern United States, most commercially sold pale-fruited raspberries are derivatives of red raspberries. Yellow-fruited variants of the black raspberry occur occasionally in the wild or are grown in home gardens.

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Nutrients and health benefits

Raspberries contain significant amounts of polyphenol antioxidants such as anthocyanin pigments linked to potential health protection against several human diseases. The aggregate fruit structure contributes to its nutritional value, as it increases the proportion of dietary fiber, placing it among plant foods with the highest fiber contents known, up to 20% fiber per total weight. Raspberries are a rich source of vitamin C, with 30 mg per serving of 1 cup (about 50% daily value), manganese (about 60% daily value) and dietary fiber (30% daily value). Contents of B vitamins 1-3, folic acid, magnesium, copper and iron are considerable in raspberries.

Raspberries rank near the top of all fruits for antioxidant strength, particularly due to their dense contents of ellagic acid (from ellagotannins), quercetin, gallic acid, anthocyanins, cyanidins, pelargonidins, catechins, kaempferol and salicylic acid. Yellow raspberries and others with pale-colored fruits are lower in anthocyanins.

Due to their rich contents of antioxidant vitamin C and the polyphenols mentioned above, raspberries have an ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of about 4900 per 100 grams, including them among the top-ranked ORAC fruits. Cranberries and wild blueberries have around 9000 ORAC units and apples average 2800.

The following anti-disease properties have been isolated in experimental models. Although there are no clinical studies to date proving these effects in humans, preliminary medical research shows likely benefit of regularly consuming raspberries against:

* inflammation
* pain
* cancer
* cardiovascular disease
* diabetes
* allergies
* age-related cognitive decline
* degeneration of eyesight with aging

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Rubus Allegheniensis

Rubus Berry Plants

Rubus Allegheniensis

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Rubus Allegheniensis

Description

Rubus Allegheniensis ~ This native woody shrub forms canes that are initially erect, but often bend downward to re-root in the ground. These canes actively grow and form leaves during the first year, and develop fruits in the form of drupes during the second year, afterwhich they die down. The canes are about 3-6' tall; they are green where there is new growth at the tips, otherwise they are brown or reddish brown with stout prickles that are straight or somewhat curved. The alternate leaves are usually trifoliate or palmately compound; they have long petioles. The leaflets are up to 4" long and 3" across; they are up to twice as long as wide. A typical leaflet is usually ovate with coarse, doubly serrate margins; it may have a few scattered white hairs on the upper surface, while the lower surface is light green and pubescent. The canes develop racemes with about 12 white flowers; these racemes are much longer than they are wide. There are conspicuous glandular-tipped hairs on the peduncles and pedicels of the inflorescence. A flower has 5 white petals and 5 green sepals with pointed tips; this flower is about 1" across. The petals are longer than the sepals, rather rounded, and often wrinkly. In the center of each flower, are numerous stamens with yellow anthers surrounding a green reproductive structure with a prickly appearance. The flowers bloom during late spring or early summer for a month; there is little or no floral fragrance. The drupes develop later in the summer; they are about 3/4" long and 1/3" across, although their size varies with moisture levels. The drupes are initially white or green, but eventually turn red, finally becoming almost black. They are seedy and have a sweet flavor when fully ripened. The root system consists of a taproot. This plant often forms loose colonies vegetatively.

Family - Rosaceae

Stems - Erect or arching, to +2.5m long (tall). Primocanes deep green with a reddish-brownish tinge, with straight prickles to 1cm long, appressed pubescent or glabrous. Floricanes reddish-green with similar prickles to primocanes or with prickles more hooked, appressed pubescent or glabrous. All stems with vertical grooves creating an almost angled appearance.

Leaves - Alternate, typically trifoliolate on floricanes, with 5 leaflets on primocanes. Leaflets serrate, ovate to oval, tapering at both ends or cordate at base, upper surface pubescent, lower surface pubescent mostly on midrib and viens but also on leaf tissue. Middle leaflet larger than lateral leaflets. Petiole with hooked prickles. Stipules at base of petioles linear, +/- 1cm long.

Inflorescence - Racemose, to 15cm long (tall), cylindrical in outline, typically with 9-14 flowers. Racemes exerted beyond the leaves not hidden amongst them.

Flowers - White, to +2.5cm broad with 5 distinct petals and many stamens. Pedicels hairy with some gland-tipped pubescence, with a small bract at the base.

Fruit - An aggregate fruit, shiny dark purple to black color, to +2cm long.

Flowering - April - June.

Habitat - Shaded woods, rich soils, thickets.

Origin - Native to U.S.

Other info. - Species of this genus are sometimes very difficult to identify. The very similar R. orarius Blanch. has leaflets which are glabrous below and more ovate to roundish. The racemes of R. orarius are also more ovate in shape instead of cylindrical. Both species provide a delicious "blackberry" we love to eat.

Cultivation

The preference is light shade to full sun, and mesic conditions; some drought is tolerated, although this can reduce the size of the drupes. Growth is best in rich fertile soil; a clay-loam or rocky soil is also acceptable. This plant is easy to grow from transplants or cuttings of young growth. It can become aggressive and be difficult to eliminate; the use of herbicides may be required on some occasions.

Range & Habitat

Common Blackberry occurs in most counties of Illinois; it is common in most areas of central and northern Illinois, and somewhat less common in southern Illinois (see Distribution Map). Habitats include moist to slightly dry prairie edges along woodlands, thickets, open woodlands, savannas, woodland meadows, limestone glades, fence rows, areas along roadsides and railroads, and abandoned pastures. This plant favors disturbed, burned-over areas in and around woodlands; it is one of the shrubby invaders of prairies.

Faunal Associations

The nectar and pollen of the flowers attract many kinds of insects, especially long-tongued and short-tongued bees. This includes honeybees, bumblebees, Little Carpenter bees, Nomadine Cuckoo bees, Mason bees, Green Metallic bees and other Halictid bees, and Andrenid bees. Other visitors of the flowers include wasps, flies, small to medium-sized butterflies, skippers, and beetles. Many of the flies and beetles feed on pollen and are not very effective at pollination. The caterpillars of the butterfly Satyrium liparops strigosum (Striped Hairstreak) and several species of moths feed on the Common Blackberry (see Moth Table). Also, various upland gamebirds, songbirds, and mammals feed on the fruit, stems, or foliage of this plant (see Wildlife Table). Among the upland gamebirds, the Greater Prairie Chicken, Wild Turkey, Bobwhite, and Ring-Necked Pheasant have been observed eating the drupes of blackberries. These various animals help to distribute the seeds far and wide. The Common Blackberry provides some shelter and shrubby protection to various ground-nesting birds and small mammals, such as the Cottontail Rabbit. In general, the ecological value of blackberries is very high.

Photographic Location

The above photographs were taken at Meadowbrook Park, Urbana, Illinois.

Comments

Occasionally, blackberries are found along the edges of prairies. It can be difficult to tell the different species apart. The Common Blackberry has numerous glandular-tipped hairs on the peduncles and pedicels of the inflorescence. Furthermore, the leaflets are no more than twice as long as they are wide. According to modern authorities, these two characteristics distinguish the Common Blackberry from all other Rubus spp. in Illinois. Some older authorities, such as Britton & Brown (1913), however, state that Rubus argutus (Tall Blackberry) occasionally has glandular-tipped hairs in the inflorescence, and that this latter species differs from the former by the presence of small prickles on the pedicels.

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