Mainely Phenology 8/11/18

WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn Blackberries Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com Perhaps the best description I have heard of this obsidian berry’s taste comes from Maine folk singer Jud Caswell in his song “Blackberry Time” where he describes the flavor as “One part sweet, one part fruit, and two parts seed.” And that seedy reputation is for good reason! Upon closer inspection of the lumps and bumps of this berry, it becomes evident that each little lump is its own little orb of juicy completeness with a thin skin, succulent pulp and a hard little seed sitting at the very center. A bonafide botanist would be excited by this observation and declare with an air of authority that a blackberry is in fact an aggregate fruit—which is to say a lump of little fruits. In the case of a blackberry those little fruits have been given the all-too-adorable botanical name “drupelets.”