Kittatinny blackberry (Rubus bellobatus)
At a glance
- Lifecycle
- Perennial (hardy)
- Exposure
- Full sun
- Frost limit
- −23.3 °C
Cultivation
Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil in sun or semi-shade. This species is a blackberry with biennial stems, it produces a number of new stems each year from the perennial rootstock, these stems fruit in their second year and then die. A parent of many cultivated forms of blackberry in N. America, the cultivar 'Kittatinny' has been available in Britain. The plant produces apomictic flowers, these produce fruit and viable seed without fertilization, each seedling is a genetic copy of the parent Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus.
Propagation
Seed - requires stratification and is best sown in early autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed requires one month stratification at about 3°c and is best sown as early as possible in the year. Prick out the seedlings when they are large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Tip layering in July. Plant out in autumn. Division in early spring or just before leaf-fall in the autumn.
Edible uses
Fruit - raw or cooked.
Material uses
A purple to dull blue dye is obtained from the fruit.
Habitat
Thickets and woodland edges.
Native range
North-eastern N. America.