“Purple Flowering Raspberry”
“Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas” – “Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses”
― Ovid
This was a mystery plant to me, for a long time. On initial inspection, it looks like a wild rose, but the leaf is not right. It looks like a raspberry, but the flower is too big. So, what is it? Turns out, it’s a bit of both. It’s a flowering raspberry, and a member of the rose family. It’s also one of the larger trailside blossoms, so is easily located. The blossom colour varies considerably from pale purple to magenta, pink to almost white.
It’s also know, in some locations as Thimbleberry and is harvested to make preserves. I’ve tasted the berries, tentatively, thinking they might be raspberries, but found them to be very bitter and not to my liking. Maybe it makes a good jam thought? It would take a lot of berries and they are not overly plentiful.
When I looked back through all my images, I was surprised that I did not have many of this common blossom. So, it was time to make a fresh one and talk a bit about it.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm
1/160 sec, f/9.0 ISO 800
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Ed Lehming Photography 
As always, a lovely informative post with an excellent photo framed by a thoughtful quote, Ed. Walking across th ealltoment recently I was introduced to a sort a raspberrydoodle, bigger and less fragile than the normal ones. hmmm … 🙂
Do you have a photo?
No, I’m in Norway right now, but I’ll make sure to make you one when I’m back home in Cley.
I looked it up, Ed. It’s called Tayberry, you can google it for a photo:
a cross between a raspberry and blackberry. Ideal for the Pacific Northwest.
Full Description:
Exceptionally sweet and aromatic, this Scottish hybrid, named after the river Tay in Scotland, is a toothsome raspberry-blackberry cross. In July and August, the thorny bushes abound with clusters of large, sweet fruit that are dark maroon when fully ripe. Excellent eaten fresh or cooked into jams, jellies and desserts.
Beautiful photo Ed, thanks for the information as well. What region do they grow do you know?
Northeast United States, Quebec and Ontario.