The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus '' Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

'' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with woody stems. World production of raspberries in 2020 was 895,771 tonnes, led by Russia with 20% of the total.

Description

A raspberry is an aggregate fruit, developing from the numerous distinct carpels of a single flower. What distinguishes the raspberry from its blackberry relatives is whether or not the torus (

receptacle Receptacle may refer to: Biology * Receptacle (botany), a plant anatomical part * Seminal receptacle, a sperm storage site in some insects Electrical engineering * Automobile auxiliary power outlet, formerly known as ''cigarette lighter recep ...

or stem) "picks with" (i.e., stays with) the fruit. When picking a blackberry fruit, the torus stays with the fruit. With a raspberry, the torus remains on the plant, leaving a hollow core in the raspberry fruit. Raspberries are grown for the fresh fruit market and for commercial processing into individually quick frozen (IQF) fruit, purée, juice, or as dried fruit used in a variety of grocery products such as

raspberry pie Raspberry pie is a type of pie with a raspberry filling. The primary ingredients include raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and butter. A common variant of raspberry pie is raspberry cream pies, which are raspberry pies with cream added. Ras ...

. Raspberries need ample sun and water for optimal development. Raspberries thrive in well-drained soil with a pH between 6 and 7 with ample organic matter to assist in retaining water. While moisture is essential, wet and heavy soils or excess irrigation can bring on '' Phytophthora'' root rot, which is one of the most serious pest problems facing the red raspberry. As a cultivated plant in moist, temperate regions, it is easy to grow and has a tendency to spread unless pruned. Escaped raspberries frequently appear as garden weeds, spread by seeds found in bird droppings. An individual raspberry weighs , and is made up of around 100 drupelets, each of which consists of a juicy pulp and a single central seed. A raspberry bush can yield several hundred berries a year. Unlike blackberries and dewberries, a raspberry has a hollow core once it is removed from the

. File:Raspberries from Srem, Serbia (sremske maline, Dobrinci).jpg, Raspberries from Serbia File:Raspberries at Ljubljana Central Market.JPG, Raspberries for sale in plastic punnets at Ljubljana Central Market File:Raspberry - halved (Rubus idaeus).jpg, Halved raspberry with absent torus File:Halved blackberry (Rubus fruticosus).jpg, Halved blackberry with present torus

Etymology

Raspberry derives its name from ''raspise'', "a sweet rose-colored wine" (mid-15th century), from the Anglo-Latin ''vinum raspeys'', or from ''raspoie'', meaning "thicket", of Germanic origin. The name may have been influenced by its appearance as having a rough surface, related to Old English ''rasp'' or "rough berry".

Species

Examples of raspberry species in ''Rubus'' subgenus '' Idaeobatus'' include: * '' Rubus crataegifolius'' (Asian raspberry) * '' Rubus gunnianus'' (Tasmanian alpine raspberry) * '' Rubus idaeus'' (red raspberry or European red raspberry) * '' Rubus leucodermis'' (whitebark raspberry or western raspberry, blue raspberry, black raspberry) * '' Rubus occidentalis'' (black raspberry) * '' Rubus parvifolius'' (Australian native raspberry) * ''

Rubus phoenicolasius ''Rubus phoenicolasius'' (Japanese wineberry, wine raspberry, wineberry or dewberry) is an Asian species of raspberry (''Rubus'' subgenus '' Idaeobatus'') in the rose family, native to China, Japan, and Korea. The species was introduced to E ...

'' (wine raspberry or wineberry) * ''

Rubus rosifolius ''Rubus rosifolius'', (sometimes spelled ''Rubus rosaefolius''), also known as roseleaf bramble, Mauritius raspberry, thimbleberry, Vanuatu raspberry and bramble of the Cape is a prickly subshrub native to rainforest and tall open forest of the ...

'' (Mauritius raspberry) * '' Rubus strigosus'' (American red raspberry) (syn. ''R. idaeus'' var. ''strigosus'') * '' Rubus ellipticus'' (yellow Himalayan raspberry) Several species of ''Rubus'', also called raspberries, are classified in other subgenera, including: * '' Rubus deliciosus'' (boulder raspberry, subgenus ''Anoplobatus'') * ''

Rubus odoratus ''Rubus odoratus'', the purple-flowered raspberry,Clive Stace, R. van der Meijden, I. de Kort, no date. ''Flora of NW Europe''entry for ''Rubus odoratus''/ref> flowering raspberry, or Virginia raspberry, is a species of ''Rubus'', native to easte ...

'' (flowering raspberry, subgenus ''Anoplobatus'') * ''

Rubus nivalis ''Rubus nivalis'', commonly known as snow raspberry, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family. It is native to northwestern North America: British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and far northern California California is a ...

'' (snow raspberry, subgenus ''Chamaebatus'') * ''

Rubus arcticus ''Rubus arcticus'', the Arctic bramble or Arctic raspberry, is a species of slow-growing bramble belonging to the rose family, found in arctic and alpine regions in the Northern Hemisphere. Description ''Rubus arcticus'' grows most often in a ...

'' (Arctic raspberry, subgenus ''Cyclactis'') * ''

Rubus sieboldii ''Rubus sieboldii'', the Molucca raspberry, is a flowering plant in the genus ''Rubus''. The species is native to Australia, and mid-western Asia, in the Himalaya Mountains and foothills. The shrubs prefer low wetland areas, with very good sun ...

'' (Molucca raspberry, subgenus ''Malachobatus'')

Cultivation

Various kinds of raspberries can be cultivated from

hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

s 3 to 9. Raspberries are traditionally planted in the winter as dormant canes, although planting of tender, plug plants produced by tissue culture has become much more common. A specialized production system called "long cane production" involves growing canes for a year in a northern climate such as Scotland or Oregon or Washington, where the chilling requirement for proper bud break is attained, or attained earlier than the ultimate place of planting. These canes are then dug, roots and all, to be replanted in warmer climates such as Spain, where they quickly flower and produce a very early season crop. Plants are typically planted 2–6 per m in fertile, well drained soil; raspberries are usually planted in raised beds/ridges, if there is any question about root rot problems. All cultivars of raspberries have perennial roots, but many do not have perennial shoots. In fact, most raspberries have shoots that are biennial (meaning shoots grow in the first growing season and fruits grow on those shoots during the second growing season). The flowers can be a major nectar source for honeybees and other pollinators. Raspberries are vigorous and can be locally invasive. They propagate using basal shoots (also known as suckers), extended underground shoots that develop roots and individual plants. They can sucker new canes some distance from the main plant. For this reason, raspberries spread well, and can take over gardens if left unchecked. Raspberries are often propagated using cuttings, and will root readily in moist soil conditions. The fruit is harvested when it comes off the receptacle easily and has turned a deep color (red, black, purple, or golden yellow, depending on the species and cultivar). This is when the fruits are ripest and sweetest. High tunnel bramble production offers the opportunity to bridge gaps in availability during late fall and late spring. Furthermore, high tunnels allow less hardy floricane-fruiting raspberries to overwinter in climates where they would not otherwise survive. In the tunnel plants are established at close spacing usually prior to tunnel construction.

Cultivars

Major cultivars

Raspberries are an important commercial fruit crop, widely grown in all temperate regions of the world. Many of the most important modern commercial red raspberry cultivars derive from hybrids between '' R. idaeus'' and '' R. strigosus''.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan . Some botanists consider the Eurasian and American red raspberries to belong to a single, circumboreal species, ''Rubus idaeus'', with the European plants then classified as either ''R. idaeus'' subsp. ''idaeus'' or ''R. idaeus''

var. In botanical nomenclature, variety (abbreviated var.; in la, varietas) is a taxonomic rank below that of species and subspecies, but above that of form. As such, it gets a three-part infraspecific name. It is sometimes recommended that the ...

''idaeus'', and the native North American red raspberries classified as either ''R. idaeus'' subsp. ''strigosus'', or ''R. idaeus''

''strigosus''. Recent breeding has resulted in cultivars that are thornless and more strongly upright, not needing staking. The black raspberry, '' Rubus occidentalis'', is also cultivated, providing both fresh and frozen fruit, as well as jams, preserves, and other products, all with that species' distinctive flavor. Purple raspberries have been produced by horticultural hybridization of red and black raspberries, and have also been found in the wild in a few places (for example, in Vermont) where the American red and the black raspberries both grow naturally. Commercial production of purple-fruited raspberries is rare. ''Blue raspberry'' is a local name used in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada for the cultivar 'Columbian', a hybrid (purple raspberry) of ''R. strigosus'' and ''R. occidentalis''. ''Blue raspberry'' can also refer to the whitebark raspberry, '' R. leucodermis''. Fruits from such plants are called golden raspberries or yellow raspberries; despite their similar appearance, they retain the distinctive flavor of their respective species (red or black). Most pale-fruited raspberries commercially sold in the eastern United States are derivatives of red raspberries. Yellow-fruited variants of the black raspberry are sometimes grown in home gardens. Red raspberries have also been crossed with various species in other subgenera of the genus ''Rubus'', resulting in a number of

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

s, the first of which was the loganberry. Later notable hybrids include the

olallieberry The olallieberry ( ), sometimes spelled ollalieberry, olallaberry, olalliberry, ollalaberry or ollaliberry, is the marketing name for the 'Olallie' blackberry released by the USDA-ARS (in collaboration with Oregon State University). The berry was ...

boysenberry The boysenberry is a cross between the European raspberry (''Rubus idaeus''), European blackberry (''Rubus fruticosus''), American dewberry (''Rubus aboriginum''), and loganberry (''Rubus'' × ''loganobaccus''). It is a large aggregate fruit, ...

, marionberry, and tayberry; all are multi-generational hybrids. Hybridization between the familiar cultivated red raspberries and a few Asiatic species of ''Rubus'' has also been achieved.

Selected cultivars

Numerous raspberry cultivars have been selected. Two types of raspberry are available for commercial and domestic cultivation; the summer-bearing type produces an abundance of fruit on second-year canes (floricanes) within a relatively short period in midsummer, and double or "everbearing" plants, which also bear some fruit on first-year canes (primocanes) in the late summer and fall, as well as the summer crop on second-year canes. Those marked (AGM) have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

= Red, Early Summer fruiting

= * Boyne * Fertödi Venus * Rubin Bulgarski * Cascade Dawn * Glen Clova * Glen Moy (AGM) * Killarney * Malahat * Malling Exploit * Malling Jewel (AGM) * Titan * Willamette * Prelude

= Red, Mid-summer Fruiting

= * Cuthbert * Glen Ample (AGM) * Lloyd George * Meeker * Newburgh * Ripley * Skeena * Cowichan * Chemainus * Saanich

= Red, Late Summer Fruiting

= * Cascade Delight * Coho * Fertödi Rubina * Glen Magna (AGM) * Leo (AGM) * Malling Admiral (AGM) * Octavia * Schoenemann * Tulameen (AGM)

= Red primocane, Autumn fruiting

= * Amity * Augusta * Autumn Bliss (AGM) * Joan J. (Thornless) * Caroline * Fertödi Kétszertermö * Heritage * Imara * Joan J * Josephine * Kwanza * Kweli * Mapema * Polka (AGM) * Rafiki * Ripley * Summit * Zeva Herbsternte

= Yellow primocane, Autumn fruiting

= * Anne * Fallgold * Fertödi Aranyfürt * Goldenwest * Golden Queen * Honey Queen * Jambo * Kiwi Gold

= Purple

= * Brandywine * Glencoe * Royalty

= Black

= * Black Hawk * Bristol * Cumberland * Jewel * Munger * Ohio Everbearer * Scepter

= Dwarf cultivars

= * = 'Nr7'

Diseases and pests

Raspberries are sometimes eaten by the larvae of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

species (butterflies and moths). More serious are the

raspberry beetle The raspberry beetle (''Byturus tomentosus'') is a species of beetle in the fruitworm family Byturidae. It is a major pest that is widespread in north-central Europe, affecting raspberry, blackberry and loganberry plants. This species is rela ...

(in Europe) and the

raspberry fruitworm ''Byturus unicolor'', known generally as raspberry fruitworm, is a species of fruitworm beetle in the family Byturidae Byturidae, also known as Fruitworms, is a very small family of beetles, in the suborder Polyphaga, comprising fewer than 20 ...

(in North America), whose larvae can damage raspberries. '' Botrytis cinerea'', or gray mold, is a common fungal infection of raspberries and other soft fruit under wet conditions. It is seen as a gray mold growing on the raspberries, and particularly affects fruit which are bruised, as it provides an easy entrance point for the spores. Raspberry plants should not be planted where potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, or bulbs have previously been grown, without prior fumigation of the soil. These crops are hosts for the disease ''Verticillium'' wilt, a fungus that can stay in the soil for many years and can infest the raspberry crop.

Production

In 2020, world production of raspberries was 895,771 tonnes, led by Russia with 20% of the world total (table). Other major producers were Mexico, Poland, Serbia, and the United States.

Nutrition

Raw raspberries are 86% water, 12% carbohydrates, and have about 1% each of protein and fat (table). In a 100 gram amount, raspberries supply 53

kilocalorie The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...

s and 6.5 grams of

dietary fiber Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by the ...

. Raspberries are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin C (32% DV), manganese (32% DV) and dietary fiber (26% DV), but otherwise have low content of

micronutrient Micronutrients are nutrient, essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for exam ...

s (table). Raspberries are a low- glycemic index food, with total sugar content of only 4% and no

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

. The aggregate fruit structure contributes to raspberry's nutritional value, as it increases the proportion of

, which is among the highest known in whole foods, up to 6% fiber per total weight.

Phytochemicals

Raspberries contain

phytochemical Phytochemicals are chemical compounds produced by plants, generally to help them resist fungi, bacteria and plant virus infections, and also consumption by insects and other animals. The name comes . Some phytochemicals have been used as poisons ...

s, such as

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...

pigments, ellagic acid, ellagitannins, quercetin, gallic acid, cyanidins,

pelargonidin Pelargonidin is an anthocyanidin, a type of plant pigment producing a characteristic orange color used in food and industrial dyes. Natural occurrences Presence in flowers Pelargonidin can be found in red geraniums (Geraniaceae). It is the p ...

s, catechins, kaempferol and

salicylic acid Salicylic acid is an organic compound with the formula HOC6H4CO2H. A colorless, bitter-tasting solid, it is a precursor to and a metabolite of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). It is a plant hormone, and has been listed by the EPA Toxic Substance ...

. Yellow raspberries and others with pale-colored fruits are lower in anthocyanin content. Both yellow and red raspberries contain carotenoids, mostly lutein esters, but these are masked by anthocyanins in red raspberries. Raspberry compounds are under preliminary research for their potential to affect human health.

Leaves

Raspberry leaves can be used fresh or dried in herbal teas, providing an astringent flavor. In herbal and traditional medicine, raspberry leaves are used for some remedies, although there is no scientifically valid evidence to support their medicinal use.

Comparison

References

External links

* *
Raspberries & More
(University of Illinois Extension) {{Authority control Berries Plant common names Rubus de:Rubus sv:Hallon