This “strawberry raspberry” gives you strawberry-like fruit on raspberry-like stems, so you can enjoy picking fruit at waist height! Very close to the raspberry, this species native to China and Japan produces large bright red fruits that are not only very decorative but delicious as well. Fruits harvested between July and August can be eaten raw or used in jams and jellies. Narrow leaves give it an elegant and very ornamental look in the garden. Also great in pots or containers.
Easy to grow, Rubus illecebrosus appreciates fresh soil and prefers sunny or semi-shaded exposure. The substrate must be rich and well drained. This plant can withstand extreme temperatures up to -30 ° C. Photo courtesy of Fun Forests.
From Wikipedia:
Rubus illecebrosus is a red-fruited species of Rubus that originally came from Japan (where is it called バライチゴ, roseberry), but is also very popular in some European countries like Lithuania. Common names include balloon berry and strawberry raspberry. It has become sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in Canada, the United States, and South America. Rubus illecebrosus is a thorny shrub up to 15 feet tall. Leaves are pinnately compound. Flowers are produced either one at a time or in clumps of 2–3, each with 5 petals up to 32 inches long (longer than those of most related species). Fruits are also unusually large for the genus, each oblong, red, up to 4 inches long with 50–100 drupelets.
References
– Fruitipedia, balloon berry, (Rubus illecebrosus) includes photos
– “Rubus illecebrosus”. Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
– “Rubus illecebrosus”. County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
– Hokche, O., P. E. Berry & O. Huber. (eds.) 2008. Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela 1–859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, Caracas
– Alice, Lawrence A.; Goldman, Douglas H.; Macklin, James A.; Moore, Gerry (2014). “Rubus illecebrosus”. In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 9. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
