Rubus arcticus

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit, Leaves - tea, Flowers

The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked and is very sweet, juicy, and palatable with a pineapple-like aroma. Delicious eaten out of hand, it is also used in cakes, jams, and similar preparations. In British garden conditions the plant often fruits poorly, likely because it prefers colder winters. The flowers are also edible raw and are sweet and delicious. Fresh or dried leaves can be used as a tea substitute.

Dangerous Lookalikes

This plant can be confused with the following toxic species. Always verify identification carefully before consuming any wild plant.

DEADLY

Red Baneberry

Actaea rubra

SAFE

Arctic bramble

Rubus arcticus

Red Baneberry: Short herbaceous plant (no thorns), berries on thick red stems, each berry has a single seed, compound sharply-toothed leaves.

Arctic bramble: Thorny woody canes (brambles), aggregate berry made of many drupelets, berries pull easily from receptacle.

Where to Find It

It is a cold temperate plant. It grows in Arctic climates. It grows in boggy woods and marshes at higher altitudes in Europe and Asia. In northern China it grows at about 1,200 m above sea level. It suits hardiness ones 1-7.

Alaska, Arctic, Asia, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Europe, Finland, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, North America, Norway, Russia, Scandinavia, Siberia, Sweden, USA,

How to Identify

A small plant. It grows 15-30 cm high and spreads 45-60 cm wide. It keeps growing from year to year and has underground stems or rhizomes. The stems do not have prickles. The leaves are compound and on long stalks. There are 3-5 oval leaflets. They are smooth and have teeth along the edge. The flowers are red or pink and 25 mm across. They are in clusters of 1 to 3 and have purple stamens. The fruit are red and round.

How to Grow

Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil in a sunny position. A very variable species, it is sometimes divided into three species, viz.:- R. arcticus, R. acaulis and R. stellatus. Suitable for growing in containers. Most often in acidic soils rich in organic matter. Rubus arcticus subsp. x stellarcticus G.Larss. is an unresolved name This name is unresolved, but some data suggest that it is synonymous with Rubus × stellarcticus (G.Larss.) H.E.Weber , but some data suggest that it is an infraspecific name of Rubus arcticus L..

Propagation: Seed requires stratification and is best sown in early autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed needs one month stratification at about 3°c and should be sown as early as possible in the year. Prick out seedlings when large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame, then plant out into permanent positions in late spring of the following year. Division can be done in early spring or just before leaf-fall in autumn. Larger divisions can go straight into permanent positions, while smaller divisions are best potted up and grown on in a lightly shaded cold frame before planting out once well established in summer.

Medicinal Uses

None known.

Other Uses

A purple to dull blue dye is obtained from the fruit.

Rubus arcticus, the Arctic bramble or Arctic raspberry, Nagoonberry, or nectarberry is a species of slow-growing bramble belonging to the rose family, found in Arctic and alpine regions in the Northern Hemisphere. It has been used to create hybrid cultivated raspberries, the so-called nectar raspberries.

Other Information

It is cultivated.

Notes

There are about 250 Rubus species.

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