Talk:Blackberry

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Additional data by TerrapinDundee from his site http://www.brickfieldspark.org/data/bramble.htm with permission.

Some old talk can be found at Talk:Blackberry (disambiguation)

Contents

[edit] What Toxins?

Where is the evidence that blackberries accumulate "toxins from the traffic" ?!

dust from cars going by, people walking by, spitting on them, dogs peeing on them, exhaust from cars, garbage thrown from cars. I always avoid bushes on streets, along with most people I know. 75.100.155.44 (talk) 00:29, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Too Many pics

The extra pics need to be moved to commons and a link added tot here. Those pics add little to the article the way they are right now. This link is Broken 18:36, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm yeah. There are rather a lot of blackberries there! - Nojer2 23:43, 3 November 2005 (UTC)  ::

[edit] Native range

What is the original native range of blackberries? Are they Old World or New World, or both; temperate or tropical, or both; etc.? --Angr/tɔk tə mi 17:16, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

As far as I know they are found in most temperate places --Theredstarswl 06:09, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Marion Barry

Is the marionberry named after Marion Barry? or, less likely, perhaps after Marion Berry?

The Marion berry is a cultivar of Rubus ursinus (blackberry) first developed in the early 1950s in Marion County, Willamette Valley, Oregon. This region is famous for commercial Rubus berry cultivation, and is the only location in the world for growing native marionberries. Here's the website, http://marionberries.com/ --Paul144 21:37, 7 June 2007 (UTC)
Yeah, I was just thinking about that. It is interesting that it is a homophone of the longtime mayor of Washington DC... Valley2city 16:44, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] I love blackberry

Sincere apologies, I did not mean to put a note here :)

[edit] Superstition

"Superstition in the UK holds that blackberries should not be picked after 15th September as the devil has claimed them...." I've read of this in British literature, but the versions I saw always said Michaelmas, not the 15th. The association with the devil makes rather more sense on that day than on the 15th, as well (though the 14th is Holy Cross Day). -GSwift 04:15, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Definately Michealmas - the devil lands in a blackberry bush after being eject from heaven by Michael. BTW I like the euphemism - leaves his mark the way a dog might - what is wrong with urinate? MStreets

I think that I would like to settle this - the day is October 11, or October 10 according to some sources, which is Old Michaelmas Day, traditionally the day in which Satan fell from Heaven. I have put more information on this on the article on Michaelmas, including a useful external link. ACEOREVIVED 19:04, 9 October 2007 (UTC) Well, I have now seen that the book Cooper, Q. & Sullivan, P. (1994). "Maypoles, Martyrs and Mayhem". London: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 0 7475 18070 does actually give Michaelmas (September 29) as the date beyond which blackberries should not be picked, but I first learnt of this legend through Morrell, who gives the date as Old Michaelmas Day, not Michaelmas, in "Festivals and Customs" (Morrell, 1977).

Reference: Morrell, P. (1997). Festivals and Customs. Piccolo: Pan. ISBN: 0330252151ACEOREVIVED 19:41, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Eurocentric vs. NewWorldcentric

I think the cranky note over the cultivars section is unnecessary. If information on other parts of the world is necessary, why not simply add the information rather than complain about it? After all, the fact that devil posseses blackberries after Sept. 15 in the British Isles is also a rather localized fact. We don't have the devil in the brambles here. As it is, three-quarters of the horticultural and botanical articles in Wiki are rather obviously Eurocentric, and quite stubbornly so. (By the way, there's nothing European about dewberries.) It's a bit like the Russians--they invented the potato, you know.  :-) NaySay 17:03, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plant Edibility

Are all parts of the plant edible? i.e. leaves, stems,... etc.24.83.178.11 10:30, 16 May 2007 (UTC)BeeCier

[edit] Vaccinium

Is this a member of Vacciniums? Does it contain resveratrol?

Blackberry belongs to the Rubus genus of vines from plant family Rosaceae -- the same as roses and strawberries. Blueberry, bilberry, cranberry and huckleberry are common bush berries from the genus Vaccinium. Click the internal links or search Wikipedia for any of these terms for background. I checked PubMed for medical literature and found no citations for resveratrol being present in Rubus species whereas it is common in Vaccinium and Vitis (grape) species. --Paul144 22:23, 21 October 2007 (UTC)