fruit debate

[cnycharles]

can anyone guess which plant this is? someone at work said thimbleberry, but that has white flowers and doesn't spread east of michigan; this plant has purple/pink flowers. there is a bunch of it (grows about three-four feet tall) in clear-cut areas with rich soil and lots of fruit, though nobody knows what to call it.

(note - I know what the last pic is, it was just in the same area as the first plants so picked some to take a picture of. relax, it isn't native and is extremely common in this area so no loss. smells nice, too!)

fruit in question matching plants is on the left; fruit on right picked nearby. guess what it is?

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Don't know the fruit...but that's a nice Epipactis helleborine.....I haven't seen any near me that are fragrant...

 

[PaphMadMan]

Looks like Rubus odoratus (flowering raspberry). I think the other fruit is Ribes hirtellum (North American gooseberry).

 

[NYEric]

I didn't know gooseberries had spikes!

 

[Kavanaru]

I didn't know gooseberries had spikes!

oh yeah.. they have The German name: Stachelbeeren = Thorn-Berries
(of course the cultured ones have been selected to have no spikes anymore...)

 

[nikv]

I was gonna say gooseberry, but I didn't know that the fruits had thorns. The ones in Minnesota where I grew up didn't have thorns on the fruits. Only on the stems.

 

[PaphMadMan]

I didn't know gooseberries had spikes!

Cultivated gooseberries (of European origin) often have a few hairs or bumps that used to be thorns. Of course, the wild North American version is a bit more aggressive in its own defense.

 

[cnycharles]

thanks for the info. my supervisor has gooseberries at home but no thorns on fruit. maybe they should, the rabbits and deer are decimating his veggie garden... that stretch of highway has some very interesting plants growing along it! and to think I never paid any attention, and it has these fruit, a native orchid, bloodroot, both false and true solomon seal, and a bunch of other interesting things (all within one mile)

oh, I forgot. there are two native orchids; the helleborine and spiranthes romanzoffiana.

 

[L I Jane]

Wild gooseberries make the BEST jam.We used to gather them when I was a kid (many,many moons ago) along side the roads but you had to watch those thorns.

 

[biothanasis]

Nice pics and great E. hell!!!!