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Rubus spectabilis is a weedy, scrubby species that would be intolerable without its magenta flowers in winter. I have moved it around the garden a few times
and it has always managed to leave a sucker in place to regrow. Under some scrubby trees it spreads quite readily though as the shade gets deeper it seems
to be declining. That is probably a good thing because I'm sure it would be invsive in good conditions. The magenta flowers in mid-winter are always a surprise. It never produces many of them (the bulk of the flowers open in spring) but there are always one or two for the darkest winter days. The pale pinkish-yellow berries are said to make a reasonable jam. I rarely see fruits and have never tested it. Trees and Shrubs online says: "Native of western N. America; introduced by Douglas in 1827. It flowers freely towards the end of April, and is very pretty then. In this country the fruits do not ripen freely and indeed are not of much value even in the salmonberry’s native country. ‘… children like them, and grown-up people are not above trying a few. The Indians gather baskets full of the young shoots before they have become hard, and, when peeled, eat them with dried salmon roe.’ (George Fraser, Gard. Chron., Vol. 95 (1934), p. 93.) " The USDA Forest Service says: "Salmonberry is native to the Pacific coast states and Idaho. It grows mostly west of the Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon southward to northwestern California and along the Pacific Coast northward through coastal British Columbia to southern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands... Salmonberry flowers are a showy, unusual magenta color, and they occur singly or in groups of two to four on short, leafy, slender lateral stalks. Fruits are raspberry-like, round to ovoid, 0.6 to 0.8 inch (1.5-2 cm) in length, and made up of many small, glabrous drupelets that each contain a single, hard-pitted seed... Fruits vary in color, from yellowish to orange to deep red — a quality that has been studied for its effects on seed dispersal. Dominance and variation in fruit color may differ among sites and geographic areas. The orange form is generally more common in the southern part of its range (i.e., Oregon), and the red form in the northern part (i.e., southeastern Alaska), although plants with both fruit colors occur in both areas, and the red form passes through an orange stage as it matures... Salmonberry flowers occur on perennial stems; they are self-incompatible and require cross-pollination... Salmonberry has relatively high shade tolerance compared to other Rubus species, but it does not grow well in deep shade. Seedlings may establish best under moderate shade. Unless soils are moist, seedlings may desiccate and die in areas of high insolation... Salmonberry is an important elk browse in many areas, including the Olympic Peninsula. Elk use the leaves and twigs to some extent year-round, but use tends to be particularly heavy during the spring and summer." |
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| 20th March 2007 | ||
