Interesting Tidbits About Berries
berries

OTHER BLACKBERRIES

In 1927, a cooperative project between the USDA and the Oregon Experimental Station began a Rubus breeding program designed to cross the domestic varieties with ten native blackberry selections. The domestic varieties used were mainly Boysenberry, Loganberry and Youngberry.

The search for superior native parents revealed that natural hybrids were occurring. Native blackberries are dioecious (characterized by having male flower and on one plant and female flowers on another) whereas the fertile natural hybrids had perfect monecious flowers. At first, these were thought to be new wild crosses with perfect flowered plants. Later, however, they were discovered to be like the cross between the native and domestic blackberries. Santiam, Johnson, Starr and Lincoln are selections from the wild that presumably arose as natural hybrids between naturalized or native species and Logan. Other perfect flowered selections used in breeding, such as Black Logan, Kayberry , Kosmos and Ware, do not closely resemble Santiam and other selections from the wild and therefore may have some other domestic parent than Logan, such as Himalaya or Evergreen.