Raspberry


The raspberry is the edible fruit of several plant species in the genus Rubus of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with woody stems.
World production of raspberries in 2023 was 940,979 tonnes, led by Russia with 23% of the total. Raspberries are cultivated across northern Europe and North America and are consumed in various ways, including as whole fruit and in preserves, cakes, ice cream, and liqueurs.

Description

A raspberry is an aggregate fruit, developing from the numerous distinct carpels of a single flower. Each carpel then grows into individual drupelets, which, taken together, form the body of a single raspberry fruit. As with blackberries, each drupelet contains a seed. What distinguishes the raspberry from its blackberry relatives is whether or not the torus "picks 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.
An individual raspberry weighs and is made up of around 100 drupelets. A raspberry bush can yield several hundred berries a year.
Raspberries thrive in well-drained soil with a pH between 6 and 7 with ample organic matter to assist in retaining water. Raspberries need ample sun and water for optimal development. 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 faced by the red raspberry. As a cultivated plant in moist, temperate regions, it is easy to grow and tends to spread unless pruned. Escaped raspberries frequently appear as garden weeds, spread by seeds found in bird droppings.
Raspberries are grown for the fresh fruit market and for commercial processing into individually quick frozen fruit, purée, juice, or dried fruit used in a variety of grocery products such as raspberry pie.

Etymology

Raspberry is a compound word from rasp and berry first in print in 1602. Rasp in this sense derives from raspise, "a sweet rose-colored wine", from the Anglo-Latin vinum raspeys. The speculation that it is derived from a Germanic word like the English rasp, so a "rough berry", based upon its appearance is a possible folk etymology according to Etymonline. The word rasp is still used for the fruit in the north of England and in Scotland. It was first in print in 1555.

Species

Examples of raspberry species in Rubus subgenus Idaeobatus include:
  • Rubus crataegifolius
  • Rubus gunnianus
  • Rubus idaeus
  • Rubus leucodermis
  • Rubus occidentalis
  • Rubus parvifolius
  • Rubus phoenicolasius
  • Rubus rosifolius
  • Rubus strigosus
  • Rubus ellipticus
  • Rubus fraxinifolius
Several species of Rubus, also called raspberries, are classified in other subgenera, including:
  • Rubus deliciosus
  • Rubus odoratus
  • Rubus nivalis
  • Rubus arcticus
  • ''Rubus sieboldii''

    Cultivation

Various kinds of raspberries can be cultivated from hardiness zones 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 meter 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. 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, 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. 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. 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. idaeus, and the native North American red raspberries classified as either R. idaeus subsp. strigosus, or R. idaeus var. 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 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 of R. strigosus and R. occidentalis. Blue raspberry can also refer to the whitebark raspberry, R. leucodermis.
Both the red and the black raspberry species have albino-like pale-yellow natural or horticultural variants, resulting from presence of recessive genes that impede production of anthocyanin pigments. Fruits from such plants are called golden raspberries or yellow raspberries; despite their similar appearance, they retain the distinctive flavor of their respective species. 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 hybrids, the first of which was the loganberry. Later notable hybrids include the olallieberry, boysenberry, 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 within a relatively short period in midsummer, and double or "everbearing" plants, which also bear some fruit on first-year canes in the late summer and fall, as well as the summer crop on second-year canes. Those marked have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Red, early summer fruiting
  • Boyne
  • Cascade Dawn
  • Fertödi Venus
  • Glen Clova
  • Glen Moy
  • Killarney
  • Latham
  • Malahat
  • Malling Exploit
  • Malling Jewel
  • Prelude
  • Rubin Bulgarski
  • Titan
  • Willamette
    Red, mid-summer fruiting
  • Cuthbert
  • Glen Ample
  • Lloyd George
  • Meeker
  • Newburgh
  • Ripley
  • Skeena
  • Cowichan
  • Chemainus
  • Saanich
    Red, late summer fruiting
  • Cascade Delight
  • Coho
  • Fertödi Rubina
  • Glen Magna
  • Leo
  • Malling Admiral
  • Octavia
  • Schoenemann
  • Tulameen
    Red primocane, autumn fruiting
  • Amity
  • Augusta
  • Autumn Bliss
  • Joan J.
  • Caroline
  • Fertödi Kétszertermö
  • Heritage
  • Imara
  • Joan J
  • Josephine
  • Kwanza
  • Kweli
  • Mapema
  • Polka
  • Rafiki
  • Ripley
  • Summit
  • Zeva Herbsternte
    Yellow primocane, autumn fruiting
  • Anne
  • Fallgold
  • Fertödi Aranyfürt
  • Goldenwest
  • Golden Queen
  • Honey Queen
  • Jambo
  • Kiwi Gold
    Purple (hybrids between black and red raspberries)
  • Brandywine
  • Glencoe
  • Royalty
    Black
  • Black Hawk
  • Bristol
  • Cumberland
  • Jewel
  • Logan
  • Morrison
  • Munger
  • Ohio Everbearer
  • Scepter
    Dwarf cultivars
  • = 'Nr7'

    Diseases and pests

Insects

Raspberries, due to the high sugar content of their fruit, are the main food resource of the Japanese beetle. The voracious feeding habits of these beetles not only pose a direct threat to raspberry plants but also increase the risk of transmitting various plant diseases. This dual impact can significantly undermine agricultural productivity, making pest control a high priority for growers.
Raspberry beetle in Europe and the raspberry fruitworm in North America lay larvae that feed on raspberries. Other insects that prey on raspberry plants are some butterfly and moth species, as well as European and American large raspberry aphids.