Rubus allegheniensis is a North American species of highbush blackberry in Section Alleghenienses of the genus Rubus, a member of the rose family.[6] It is the most common and widespread highbush blackberry in eastern and central North America. It is commonly known as Allegheny blackberry.[7]
| Rubus allegheniensis | |
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| Allegheny blackberry 1913 illustration[1] | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rosaceae |
| Genus: | Rubus |
| Subgenus: | Rubus subg. Rubus |
| Species: | R. allegheniensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Rubus allegheniensis | |
| Synonyms[3][4][5] | |
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Synonymy
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Description
editThe characteristics of Rubus allegheniensis can be highly variable.[8] It is an erect bramble, typically 1.5 metres (5 feet) but occasionally rarely over 2.4 m (8 ft) high, with single shrubs approaching 2.4 m or more in breadth, although it usually forms dense thickets of many plants. The leaves are alternate, compound, ovoid, and have toothed edges.[8][9] The canes have many prickles, with white, 5-petal, 19-millimetre (3⁄4-inch) flowers in late spring and glossy, deep-violet to black, aggregate fruit in late summer.[8] It is shade intolerant.[10]
Distribution and habitat
editR. allegheniensis is very common throughout forests in eastern and central North America. It is also naturalized in a few locations in California and British Columbia.[7][11]
Uses
editThe berries are edible and nutritious. They can be eaten raw or cooked into various treats, including pies, cobblers, muffins, jellies, and jams.[8]
Ecology
editMany mammals eat the fruit, including elk, foxes, American black bears, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, mice, and chipmunks, and deer will browse the young canes. Blackberries are also an important food source for many species of birds. The mammals and birds that eat the fruit then disperse the seed in their droppings, enabling the plant to spread to new locations. A wide variety of native bees, butterflies, beetles, flies, ants, wasps, and other insects are attracted to the nectar and pollen of the flowers, and caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles eat the leaves. Birds and small mammals use the thickets formed by the canes for shelter.[8]
The presence of the species influences the dynamics of the understory vegetation of many forests in the eastern United States. An abundance of R. allegheniensis encourages new tree seedlings. Where the effects of herbivorous animals (such as whitetail deer) reduce the abundance of Allegheny blackberry, a competitor, Sitobolium punctilobulum (hay-scented fern), takes over; where S. punctilobulum becomes common, the growth of tree seedlings is restricted.[12]
Concentrations of R. allegheniensis increase greatly after events that destroy taller shrubs and trees and thus permit more light into the understory, such as fires or widespread blowdown.[10][13] These populations often decline in later years as the tree seedlings sheltered by the blackberry canes grow and reduce the amount of light reaching the lower levels.[10]
References
edit- ^ NRCS. "Rubus allegheniensis". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 26 September 2012.
Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
- ^ NatureServe. "Rubus allegheniensis". NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia.
- ^ "Rubus allegheniensis". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
- ^ Tropicos, Rubus allegheniensis Porter
- ^ The Plant List, Rubus allegheniensis Porter
- ^ Bailey, L.H. (1944b). "Species batorum. The genus Rubus in North America. VIII. Alleghenienses". Gentes Herbarum. 3: 504–588.
- ^ a b NRCS. "Rubus allegheniensis". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 26 September 2012.
- ^ a b c d e "Common Blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis)". Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide. Missouri Department of Conservation. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
- ^ Flora of North America, Rubus allegheniensis Porter, 1896. Allegheny or common blackberry, sow-teat berry, ronce des Alléghanys
- ^ a b c Peterson, Chris J., and Steward T.A. Pickett. "Forest reorganization: a case study in an old-growth forest catastrophic blowdown." Ecology. 76 (1995): 763+. Retrieved 14 Oct. 2012.
- ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
- ^ "Wildlife Management." The Princeton Guide to Ecology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ "Vegetation of Hooper Branch Nature Preserve, Iroquois County, Illinois." Northeastern Naturalist. 17 (2): pp 261-272. 2010
External links
edit- photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Missouri in 1992
- "Rubus allegheniensis". Calflora. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database.
- "Rubus allegheniensis". Plants for a Future.
- "Rubus villosus". Plants for a Future.
- "Rubus avipes". Plants for a Future.