Thank you to Lassi Kalleinen, aka finnarct@Flickr for sharing today's photograph with us (original image via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). Be sure to check out Lassi's two photo weblogs: CombiPhotoBlog (he shares this one with his wife) and UrbanNature Oulu -- excellent photographs (and a chance to learn some Finnish). Today's BPotD image was used in this weblog posting in combination with a habit image of the plant: Rubus arcticus.
Rubus arcticus has a northern circumpolar distribution. Variously known as Arctic raspberry, nagoonberry, Arctic blackberry, and Arctic bramble in English, the common name in (translated) Russian speaks more to its taste: "berry of kings" (also see Uses in that link). Edibility is also discussed by the Plants for a Future database: Rubus arcticus.
Scans of the original specimens annotated by Linnaeus are available via the Linnean herbarium: Rubus arcticus, with additional photographs from The Swedish Museum of Natural History's Virtual Flora: Rubus arcticus.
luminous!
I was once given some jam made from this fruit - it had a fantastic and complex flavour - absolutely delicious (15 years later I think I can still taste it!). I imagine collecting enough fruit to make jam must be a real labour of love - I felt quite honoured.
Do we [anyone] know how far south it will grow?
Have had the rubus x stellarcticus (a subspecies) for a couple of years, it's never really done much for me in a pot, and seems to prefer a cooler/drier location as they perish in wet seasons in 7b. Have only seen berries on 'Anna' a handful of times - with 'Beta' as pollinator.
It grows wild here in my zone 5 garden in Juneau, AK. It would definitely be a labor of love to grow enough for jelly - but tasty to eat.
thank you daniel
the links are just fine
lassi and his wife have bravo talent
really looks good to eat
Re: "and a chance to learn some Finnish" - you can copy the link location, paste it into a Google search, and it will come up on the hits page with a "translate this page" option. The Google English is still a challenge, but there's a lot more to understand if you don't read Finnish.
"Luminous" is certainly the right word. I'd just been looking at light fixtures, thought this was another one. It really does look lit from the centre.
So is there a flower picture to go with this? I think it may grow wild in my area, enough to make jam!
They will rot soon, it is warning of winter here in vermont.