Some of Roseaceae’s wild berries

The Rose family has a large number of healthy good tasting fruit to enjoy including blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, rose hips and here are a few of the wilder ones.

Here is Aronia melanocarpa which is native to North America and a bit under appreciated here though this appears to be changing in Iowa. In my home area all the blueberry pickers breeze by the Aronia berries leaving them for me and the birds. You may want to check out the history of these berries in Poland during the 1990s and also recent studies on their nutritional value.

Another look at Aronia berries.

Here is our native mountain ash which I’ve only recently noticed (Sorbus Americana) which is quite similar to the European Rowan tree and in the yard I grew up in we had a few large Sorbus trees we called dogberry trees (Sorbus decora) which I would climb and swing off the branches many a summer’s day. The species of Sorbus in the photo I may make a cider from this year.

Another look at Sorbus Americana.

What is this?

What do you get when you cross a Sorbus with a Aronia, well of course a Sorbaronia which is what I suspect this little shrub is, probably being (Sorbaronia  x jackii) though this is my first encounter with this one so this is not a 100% sure thing. I can’t find any info on its edibility though I have found some images with similar leaves and fruit. Many members of the rose family may cross as I find some very unusual Crataegus, Amelanchier, Sorbus, Aronia and a few others with unique fruit and leaves mostly growing in huge rose family beds.      Click on the photo above to see the unusual shape of these leaves.

Here I’m up to my neck in Roseaceae shrubbery with a few Asters ahead, the rose family starts small here with Aronia and trailing blackberry a few inches off the ground, then wild rose 3 or 4 feet high, then large Aronia bushes 4 to 6 ft and next Sorbus up to 20 feet tall.

Now this is not a rose family member though I’m adding it to my (wild fruit) page and may not mention it again in a post possibly so here is Lingonberry, foxberry, rock cranberry, European cranberry, mountain cranberry, partridgeberry, alpine cranberry, (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) for a little berry it sure has a lot of names, it is quite a popular wild fruit and its little leaves and bright red berries are striking to see. ciao.

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Lonicera villosa, where are you?

If you don’t already know this wild berry let me introduce you to Mountain fly honeysuckle or if you prefer Northern fly honeysuckle. These in the photo have a pleasant taste of lemony blueberries though some of this plants cousins developed over in Russia & Japan which have fruit 6 times the size of my wild berries are said to have a flavor between raspberry and blueberry and are known as Haskap and also Honeyberry and some folks are now growing these Asian developed bushes here in North America.

The batteries passed out in my camera so we will have to settle for a blurry shot on these berries.

Here is a photo of an early May bumblebee hanging in there doing her thing to help these blooms become the berries above.

A patch of Mountain fly honeysuckle in mid-May.  It is extremely difficult to notice these berries on the plants when they are ripe due to the berries being covered very well by the leaves, so if you live in the northern part of the USA or Canada start looking under the leaves in late June to early July, but first get acquainted with the berry patch in early May when this plant is one of the first to have green leaves and early blooms before most of the blueberries and Aronias. Once the other plants in the area green-up Lonicera villosa is hard to find as its name is to remember. Look for the plants in peaty or wet rocky areas. Hope you get a chance to try these little treats, you’ll probably be the first in your neighborhood to do so. ciao