Fruit of blackberry

Fruit of blackberry
Scientific name: Rubus spp.
Family name:    Rosaceae

Blackberries planted and commercially cultivated worldwide. Blackberry fruits are eaten fresh or processed. The common primary products from processing are individually quick frozen, canned, pureed, juice and freeze dried fruit.

Blackberries are red to hard brown-red; are hard when they are immature; and turn black, shiny and soft when they ripen.

The ripe fruit is soft and juicy and has a very dark-purplish color with a smooth, fragile skin.

In the wild, blackberries are found growing everywhere, Some of these wild plants creep along the ground, whereas others grow upright like small trees. Three main types of blackberries have been developed into commercial crops: the trailing, erect and semi-erect blackberries.

Because eating quality does not improve after harvest, blackberries should be harvested at the shiny black stage, when fruit attains a glossy fully black color, appears and feels turgid and is easily detached from the plant.

Fruit from trailing blackberries tend to give an excellent, aromatic flavor, with less noticeable seeds than many eastern North American and European species.
Fruit of blackberry 

Botany of Blueberry

Botany of Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum, which makes up much of the genetic material of the northern highbush blueberry, belongs to the section Cyannococcus (“cyano” means blue and “coccus” means berry.)

Vaccinium angustifolium, V. myrtillodes and six other species (V. boreale, V. darrowii, V. hirsutum, V. myrsinites, V. pallidum and V. tenellum) also belong to this section.

Vaccinium corymbosum was first named by Linnaeus and is probably combination of three or more species that evolved long ago and produced the variable ‘combination” species that have today.

Vaccinium corymbosum grows wild in eastern North American from Nova Scotia and Quebec in Canada as far west as northeastern Illinois, northern Indiana and the more southerly parts of Michigan.

Its range also extends eastwards to the coast and south into North Carolina, the greatest concentration being in New Jersey.

Here, wild plants grow by the roadside un the federally protected are of the Pinelands, east of Philadelphia and inland from Atlantic City.

They thrive in the dappled shade provided by the pigmy pines and Atlantic white cedars.

They have formed colonies in clearings create by logging and for farming.

Vaccinium pensylvanicum, a ,lowbush blueberry, also grows here and there is evidence of natural hybridization between the species.

Vaccinium corymbosum extends south into the Carolinas and as far as Florida where the picture becomes somewhat blurred since V. ashei, the rabbiteye blueberry, take over.
Botany of Blueberry

Blueberry in Botany

Blueberry in Botany
Linnaeus grouped all plants into the plant kingdom Plantae, to separate them from animals. The blueberry is further classed with all plant producing flowers and seeds into the division Spermatophyta. The flower has an ovary, thus placing it in the class Angiospermae, and its seedling has two leaves, putting it in the subclass Dicotyledonae.

It is member of the Ericaceae family of plants comprising mostly woody shrubs that grow naturally on acid soils. This is a large family and is found widely distributed throughout the world. It includes, among others, the rhododendrons, azaleas, heathers, heaths, and mountain laurels.

The blueberry belongs to the subfamily Vacciniaceae; the tribe Vaccinieae; the genus Vaccinium; and the subgenus Cyanococcus (from Greek cyano (‘blue”) and coccus (berry).

There are many species. The terms “genus’ (pl. genera) and “species” are most commonly used when discussing plants horticulturally. The first letter of the genus name is always capitalized; the first letter of the species name is lower case. Both are italicized or underlined. Among growers, species are rarely mentioned, but a more specific term, “cultivar,” is common.

The highbush blueberry ranges from 5 – 23 ft in height. The cultivated highbush blueberry was developed primarily from two species: V. corymbosum L. and V. australe Small, though other species have been utilized in modern breeding programs. The letter, name or abbreviated name following the species refers to the person who first named it (e.g., “L” is the abbreviation for Linnaeus).

Wild plants are distributed in sunny, acidic and swampy areas from Nova Scotia and southern Quebec west to Wisconsin and south to northern Florida and southeastern Alabama. Wild southern populations are comprised primarily of V. australe Small, whereas V. corymbosum L. occurs in more northerly areas. Because of rampant hybridization, these species have intermingled and crossed with a half dozen other economically minor species, thus giving rose to various intermediate forms.
Blueberry in Botany