berry ID question

[Hillbilly910]

I have found a berry im unfamiliar with, and would really like to know what it is. Its found near blackberries and raspberries. Its an upright vine, more similar to raspberry than blackberry, absolutely full of thorns(way worse than a blackberry vine). My raspberrys have dried up, and the blackberries are still green, but this berry is ripe. Berry wise its a good bit larger than a black berry, but same dark purple/black color when ripe. Its not as uniform as either, a bit knobby looking. Somebody said a dewberry, but i was told they didnt have thorns. These are all wild berries by the way, growing along a weedy road ditch.
Ive burnt my eyes out looking on the internet, and cant find a picture, or a good guide that i dont hafta buy.
No i havent tasted it yet, im sure its harmless, but will still like to know what it is first.

HB
P.S the mullberry pie tonight was out of this world

[fishinRod]

what you have described is a dewberry, and yes they do have thorns


Willis Orchard Company: Austin Dewberry Plant

[PawPaw "gene"]

Myself, I thought they would be wild blackberries because I thought dew berry grew on vine like runners close to the ground.

I found this from the university of Florida, I hope this helps.

Identification

It may be difficult to distinguish dewberry and blackberry when looking at a single leaf. However, the overall plant appearance and growth habits of these two species are quite different. Dewberry has a low, vine-like growth habit and will rarely reach greater than 2 feet in height (Figure 1). Blackberry has a very upright growth pattern and will commonly reach 3 to 6 feet in height (Figure 2). Dewberry commonly has slender thorns with red hairs on the stem (Figure 3) while blackberry has hard, tough thorns and no hairs. Additionally, the seeds in dewberry fruit are much larger and tougher than those in blackberry.

When picking berries my Dad and I use to scour ditch banks for the trailing vines cascading or in uncut Johnson grass where the vines ran along the ground in the shade provided by the grass. These were the easiest to pick as the berries were lined up on single vines and not in brambles as with blackberries.

"gene'

[kycreekboy]

I've never heard of them.

[fishinRod]

I remember as a young boy, we used to go pick dewberries across the road from my papaw's farm, my mom and aunts would pick em for cobblers and jelly, us younguns would always wear a new white t-shirt and throw them at each other to see who could get the most purple stains............thanks for bringing back the memory Hillybily910

[PawPaw "gene"]

Yep, fond memories. My Dad is gone now but we spent many a Saturday morning picking berries in the spring. We'd juice them and put most of the juice in the freezer for later use. My favorite was blackberry dumplings, where Mom made dumplings and dropped them into the boiling berry juice to cook. Eating them hot with a cold glass of milk, yum, was the best dessert going.

"gene"

[Hillbilly910]

thanks fellers, i do believe thats it. But it does not run along the ground, its an upright vine, least the ones ive found do. And they are way ahead of my wild blackberries, i wont pick them for about another month.

So is a dewberry a pure strain fruit, or is it a hybrid crossed with a black berry?

HB<---likes pie

[Bluegilll]

Huckleberry maybe

[poppop]

hillbilly910 described them perfectly.....I have always called them dewberries...and they are usually ripe just before and after the raspberries ripen and are gone, and before the blackberries are good and ripe.

[fishinRod]

So is a dewberry a pure strain fruit, or is it a hybrid crossed with a black berry?

HB<---likes pie

it is a pure strain, not a hybrid