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Allegheny blackberry facts for kids

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Allegheny blackberry
Rubus allegheniensis (Allegheny blackberry).png
Allegheny blackberry
1913 illustration
Conservation status

Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
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R. allegheniensis
Binomial name
Rubus allegheniensis
(Porter) Porter 1896
Synonyms

Rubus allegheniensis is a species of bramble, known as Allegheny blackberry and simply as common blackberry. Like other blackberries, it is a species of flowering plant in the rose family. It is very common in eastern and central North America.

Description

The characteristics of Rubus allegheniensis can be highly variable. It is an erect bramble, typically 1.5 metres (5 feet) but occasionally rarely over 2.4 m (8 ft) high, with single shrubs approaching 2.4 m or more in breadth, although it usually forms dense thickets of many plants. The leaves are alternate, compound, ovoid, and have toothed edges.

Canes have many prickles, with white, 5-petal, 19-millimetre (34-inch) flowers in late spring and glossy, deep-violet to black, aggregate fruit in late summer. It is shade intolerant.

Distribution and habitat

R. allegheniensis is very common in eastern and central North America. It is also naturalized in a few locations in California and British Columbia.

The presence of the species influences the dynamics of the understory vegetation of many forests in the eastern United States. An abundance of R. allegheniensis encourages new tree seedlings. Where the effects of herbivorous animals (such as deer) reduce the abundance of Allegheny blackberry, a competitor, Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern), takes over. Where D. punctilobula becomes common, the growth of tree seedlings is restricted.

Concentrations of R. allegheniensis increase greatly after events that destroy taller shrubs and trees and thus permit more light into the understory, such as fires or widespread blowdown. These populations often decline in later years as the tree seedlings sheltered by the blackberry canes grow and reduce the amount of light reaching the lower levels.

Uses

The berries are edible and nutritious. People eat them raw and cook them into various treats, including pies, cobblers, muffins, jellies, and jams.

Ecology

Many mammals eat the fruit, including elk, foxes, bears, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, mice, and chipmunks, and deer will browse the young canes. Blackberries are also an important food source for many species of birds. The mammals and birds that eat the fruit then disperse the seed in their droppings, enabling the plant to spread to new locations. A wide variety of native bees, butterflies, beetles, flies, ants, wasps, and other insects are attracted to the nectar and pollen of the flowers, and caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles eat the leaves. Birds and small mammals use the thickets formed by the canes for shelter.

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