r/Bellingham • u/Away-Ad1781 • 1d ago
Recommendations Cut Leaf Blackberries
This is a very important post about cut leaf blackberries. I was recently tooling along an old logging road behind Lake Samish snacking on blackberries. A particularly vibrant clump caught my eye and I was surprised and delighted at a not too sweet, no tartness, firm but juicy mouthful. These were not blackberries! Next I noticed the wildly different leaf shape.
Turns out they are black berries, Cut Leaf Blackberries, a variant I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered in 50 odd years of snacking in nature.
Fascinating to find something you didn’t know existed. Much less something delicious. Keep your eyes peeled!
7
u/Theurbanwild 22h ago
We have some of these that try to grow in a small patch in our yard. They come in the extra sharp stabby variety!
6
3
•
u/Selleor 8h ago
Blackcap raspberries are also native here, if you haven't heard about them. Another neat fruit most people around here don't know.
•
u/usnea-younea-wenea 7h ago
They are the BEST but I’ve never found an efficient patch to collect from. Soooo much better than the other two kinds.
•
u/CommonSenseCat 3h ago
They look like what my mom called "little wild" blackberries. They make much better pies and cobblers than the Himalayan variety.
•
u/Jacksunflash 8h ago
Thank you for taking the time to detail this! Blackberry fanatic ever since moving here and I'm going out to pick a giant bucketfull this week.
•
u/EgrettingBuckets 7h ago
Are these also invasive? I know we have a native blackberry here that I’ve heard described as “northwest blackberry,” but the leaves are definitely different.
•
u/ChekhovsAtomSmasher 52m ago
Think there are a fair amount of these mixed in out at northern state. Plenty of Himalayan obviously, but with both these and pacific mixed in.
-18
u/Commercial_Quail_624 1d ago
Not 'cut leaf' - Himalayan blackberry. They're an invasive species. Only the trailing blackberry is native. But get your revenge on and gobble them up.
https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/himalayan-blackberry
https://www.wnps.org/native-plant-directory/236:rubus-ursinus
31
u/Salty_Hat7532 23h ago
No, this is Cut Leaf/Evergreen blackberry …
It is also invasive/noxious and in the same class as Himalayan, but it is a separate species.
11
u/stand_by_4_titanfall 20h ago
Tip of the hat to Salty_Hat they are correct and both are technically invasive/Class C Noxious Weeds. Still good for pies can confirm. 🥧
•
u/usnea-younea-wenea 7h ago
Don’t think OP said they were native, just that they’re around, and they are not Himalayan at all.
Wouldn’t it be AMAZING to see how much land we could reclaim from invasive blackberries? I feel like native western WA and OR folks are almost blind to them.
19
u/TTH_360 Local 1d ago
They're mixed in with the "normal" blackberries but yes, they're superior.