Oregon's Raspberries & Blackberries
Some Berry History
The genus Rubus in the family Rosaceae includes red and black raspberries,
Loganberry, Boysenberry, Marionberry and other blackberry types, as
well as others. Rubus species were important in the United States and
Canada for hundreds of years. They were gathered by the Native Americans
all over North America, and important to colonists as well. The first
commercial nursery plants were sold by William Price in 1771.
Blackberries
Trailing types of blackberries grow on the western slopes of the Sierras
and Cascade mountains, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. Rubus ursinus
(synonym R. macropetalus) is the only blackberry native to the West
Coast. It has slender trailing stems armed with flattened prickles,
and is found abundantly on prairies, burns, clearings and dense woodlands
from the coast to the mid-mountains and from British Columbia to Northern
California and to Eastern Idaho. This native blackberry has been extensively
used as a parent in breeding. Analysis of freezing quality blackberries
shows at least one quarter parentage of this type.
The Evergreen blackberry, R. lacianatus is native of England, where
it is known as the cut-leaf or parsley-leaved blackberry. It appeared
in Oregon around 1850, brought over to the west coast with explorers
from England. Since that time, it has been spread along the Pacific
coast by birds.
The Himalaya blackberry, was introduced by Luther Burbank at the turn
of the century. He thought it was from the Himalaya mountains in Asia.
Later he learned it was actually R. procerus of Germany. This is the
common blackberry in the Pacific Northwest and is found wherever humans
disturbed the land. The Himalaya has become a well known weed, as well
as a source of berries for pies and jams, however, it is not commercially
grown.
The wild blackberries have been important in the heritage of cultivated
blackberries in the Northwest. Although blackberries were picked wild
and processed for canning, few grower were interested in growing them
commercially because of the thorns. In 1926, Mr. Philip Steffes of Sublimity,
Oregon found a thornless plant growing east of Stayton, which was identical
to the thorny Evergreen blackberry. When it was tested and found to
be as productive as the thorny form, it quickly gained popularity and
soon became the main blackberry sold in the United States, and grown
extensively in Oregon.
The Loganberry
The origin and history of the Loganberry in the 1880's was the beginning
of the use of breeding to obtain better commercial varieties. Judge
J.H. Logan was an interested backyard plant breeder, who began experimenting
with breeding small fruits in his home garden at Logan Heights near
Santa Cruz, California. Unsatisfied with the many varieties of blackberries,
Judge Logan tried to cross two varieties of blackberries and unwittingly
planted next to an old variety of red raspberry which had been cultivated
for years in the area. The canes of all three fruited and flowered together
and Judge Logan gathered and planted the seed. The 50 seedlings grew
and produced a plant which was similar to the blackberry parent Aughinbaugh
variety, but much larger and stronger. This, of course, was the Loganberry;
a cross between the blackberry and raspberry. The remaining 49 plants
were the Mammoth Blackberry, the longest fruit of any variety ever grown.
Since this time, viable crosses have been made between the cultivars
of raspberry and blackberry producing offspring like the Logan to confirm
it's parentage.
While the Logan proved to be productive and well adapted to western
climatic conditions, the flavor was not popular with customers and marketing
difficulties made it desirable to search further. The heritage of the
Logan, being a blackberry by raspberry cross, stimulated interest in
using it for breeding purposes and thus overshadowed the use of wild
varieties for many years. Therefore, the Logan became a famous parent
in the breeding of many cultivated varieties that are now commercially
grown the in the Northwest. The Logan itself is grown mainly for juice,
pies and wine.
The Boysenberry
Another link in berry history was the discovery of the Boysenberry.
In the late 1920's, George Darrow of the USDA began tracking down reports
of a large, reddish-purple berry that had been grown by a man named
Rudolf Boysen. He enlisted the help of Walter Knott, a Southern California
farmer known as something of a berry expert. Knott hadn't heard of the
new berry, but agreed to help Darrow in his search.
The pair soon learned that Rudolf Boysen had abandoned his growing
experiments several years earlier and sold his farm. Undaunted by this
news, Darrow and Knott headed out to Boysen's old farm, where they found
several frail vines surviving in a field choked with weeds. They transplanted
the vines to Knott's farm where he nurtured them back to fruit-bearing
health. Walter Knott's began selling the berries at his farm stand in
1935 and soon noticed that people kept returning to buy the large tasty
berries. When asked what they were called, Knott said, "Boysenberries."
As their popularity grew, Mrs. Knott began making preserves which ultimately
made Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California world famous.
The Youngberry
The Youngberry was another major breeding line used in many of our
cultivated varieties. It was developed in Morgan City, Louisiana by
B.M. Young in 1905. The Youngberry is a hybrid between the Phenomenal
(a cultivar very similar to the Logan) and the Mayes Dewberry or trailing
blackberry. It was not introduced until 1926, but it quickly became
important in replacing the Logan to a great extent in California and
to some extent in Oregon and Washington.
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.
In looking at selections of berries that have been outstanding in tests
for canning and freezing, we find that all of them have Pacific Coast
native blackberry entering into their origin to some extent. The varieties
Logan, Young and Boysen are also in the parentage of all but Chehalem.
A wild variety found near Salem, Oregon by B. Zielinski and named Zielinski
was successfully crossed with Logan and found to have characteristic
similar to the wild blackberry. Two of these were named Pacific and
Cascade, and are grown in home gardens for their native blackberry flavor
and often used for home canning, jams, jellies and pies. Both are vigorous,
ripe early and produce up to four tons per acre. Both are considered
too soft for processing.
The Santiam, a natural hybrid between R. ursinus and a Logan, has a
rich native blackberry flavor. The berries are small and black with
very small seeds. Santiam ripens early and has medium vigor, but produces
an average of only two tons per acre. The Santiam is grown commercially
in Oregon to some extent. In 1936 a cross was made between the Santiam
and Himalaya by George Waldo, USDA, Corvallis Oregon. The Chehalem was
selected out of seedlings from this cross. The fruit of the Chehalem
is smaller than a Logan with bright skin, shiny black color and small
seeds. The flavor is excellent and especially good for frozen products.
The seeds are small. It is well adapted to the Pacific Coast, and is
vigorous and productive in moist, rich soil. The Chehalem has been grown
to some extent commercially in Oregon.
The Black Logan, whose origin in not clear, was crossed with the Youngberry
by George Waldo, and introduced as Olallie in 1950. The fruit is large,
and slightly longer and more slender than the Boysenberry. Olallie is
excellent for processing. Plants are very productive, with vigorous,
thorny canes. Ollallie is better adapted to the climatic conditions
in California as it often winter kills in Oregon.
The Marion Blackberry
Seedlings from the Chehalem by Olallie cross have been outstanding
in productiveness, having large size and high flavor. The most outstanding
of these selections is the Marion Blackberry or Marionberry. The Marion
was introduced by Waldo in 1956. Adapted to western Oregon, the Marionberry
is named after Marion County, in which it was tested extensively. The
fruit is medium to large, round in diameter and somewhat longer than
wide. The Marionberry is a trailing vigorous grower, generally producing
only a few long canes which grow up to 20 feet. The spines are large
and numerous, and fruiting laterals are long and strong, with many fruit.
The Marionberry produces up to 5-6 tons per acre. The quality of the
Marionberry is high, with flavor superior to the Boysen or Evergreen.
Marionberries are well suited for use in local fresh markets and for
commercial or home canning, freezing, pies, ice cream flavoring, jams
and jellies.
Thornless Evergreen Blackberry
The most productive of all the commercially grown blackberries is the
Thornless Evergreen, or Black Diamond. This variety is very popular
with growers because of it's ease in growing and larger yields. The
Thornless Evergreen is very vigorous, disease resistant and productive,
yielding 6-10 tons per acre. The fruit is black, one and half inches
long, firm and sweet. The seeds are quite large, being one of it's least
desirable qualities. One of the problems with Thornless Evergreens is
that the season is very late, which makes it more difficult to harvest
due to weather and labor problems.
Red Raspberries
Oregon's red raspberries are known for their radiant red color and
profound flavor. The Willamette and Meeker varieties are predominant
among the commercial varieties grown in Oregon where a majority of the
crop is processed as individually quick frozen raspberries, frozen raspberry
puree, or frozen raspberry juice concentrate. Other processing methods
include canning, drying, processed bakery fruit fillings and essence,
as well as aseptic packaging. Raspberries are distinguished from the
blackberry and other dewberries in the same genus in that the fruit
separates from the receptacle producing a hollow core. The fruit is
medium to bright red depending on the variety, of medium size (3.0 g)
and moderately tart with small seeds. Red raspberries are well suited
for commercial or home freezing, as well as jams and jellies, with a
small percentage of the crop destined for fresh markets locally and
worldwide.
Black Raspberries
Black Raspberries, affectionately known as "Blackcaps" by
growers, are native to North America. These uniquely flavored berries
are popular in specialty foods, especially jams and ice cream, and are
used as a coloring agent as well. The fruit is blue-black, round and
small (2.0 g), and exhibits a whitish bloom on the exterior of the berry.
Black raspberries have a distinct and moderately tart flavor, small
seed and like the red raspberry, contain a hollow core.
Information provided by the Oregon Berry Commission http://www.oregon-berries.com/
