Rubus chamaemorus
L.
Cloudberry, Low-bush salmonberry
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(c) Rick Ballard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Rick Ballard
What to Eat
Edible parts: Flowers, Fruit, Leaves - tea
The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked — sour yet delicious, it is rich in vitamin C and has a sweet flavour reminiscent of baked apples. It can be eaten out of hand or used in preserves, pies, and stewed preparations. Flowers can be eaten raw. Fresh or dried leaves make a good tea substitute.
Dangerous Lookalikes
This plant can be confused with the following toxic species. Always verify identification carefully before consuming any wild plant.
Red Baneberry: Short herbaceous plant (no thorns), berries on thick red stems, each berry has a single seed, compound sharply-toothed leaves.
Cloudberry: 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 can grow in cold climates including the Arctic circle. It grows on acidic bog and peat tundras. It grows in swamps. In China it is in the northern provinces. It suits plant hardiness zones 2-5.
Alaska, Arctic, Asia, Australia, Belarus, Britain, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Europe, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, North America, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, Siberia, Slovakia, Sweden, USA,
How to Identify
A creeping herb. It keeps growing from year to year. It grows 8-25 cm high. Young shoots arise from the rhizome or thin creeping rootstock. The leaves are 5-8 cm across. Plants are separately male and female. The flowers occur singly. The flowers are white and 4 cm across. There are often only 4 petals. The fruit are reddish-orange to yellow. They are edible.
How to Grow
Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil in sun or semi-shade. Avoids calcareous soils in the wild and is often found in boggy soils. Considered to be a gourmet fruit, it is occasionally sold in speciality stores. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.
Propagation: Seed requires stratification and is best sown in early autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed needs one month of stratification at around 3°C and should be sown as early in the year as possible. 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. Cuttings of half-ripe wood can be taken in July or August in a frame. Division can be done in early spring or just before leaf-fall in autumn.
Medicinal Uses
A decoction of the roots has been used as a women's medicine. A decoction of the root and lower stem has been used by women seeking to become pregnant. The root has been used in treating coughs, fevers, and consumption.
Other Uses
A purple to dull blue dye is obtained from the fruit. This species is used in breeding programmes for the raspberry (Rubus idaeus) to help improve fruit flavour.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Rubus chamaemorus (also known as cloudberry) is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. A herbaceous perennial, it produces amber-colored, edible fruit similar in structure to the blackberry. It is native to cool temperate regions, alpine and Arctic tundra, and boreal forest. It is not cultivated commercially. It has numerous common names varying by region, such as Nordic berry, Arctic berry, baked apple, knotberry, aqpik or lowbush salmonberry.
Other Information
It is harvested by indigenous people in polar regions. (Sami and Inuits) It is a significant food. It is harvested commercially. It is cultivated.
Notes
There are about 250 Rubus species. They are high in Vitamin C. They have health benefits.
Names & Synonyms
Ahtchaigpiat, Akavzik, Akpik, Aqavsik, Aqevyiit, Aqpik, Arktische brombeere, Atsalugpiaq, Atsarpait, Atsat, Bakeberry, Baked-apple Berry, Hillo, Hjortron, Kabalad, Lacenes, Lakka, Malka, Moltebeere, Moroshka, Murukas, Muuroi, Naunraq, Naunrat, Rokhletsy, Salmonberry, Torfbeere, Yellowberry
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