Rubus idaeus L.Wild Raspberry

A deciduous shrub, with erect biennial stems, 3 to 6 ft high, more or less downy; sometimes without prickles, but usually armed with weak ones. Leaves pinnate and composed of five leaflets on the lower part of the sterile (first year) stems, mostly of three leaflets at the upper part of the same, and on the flowering branches. Leaflets ovate, 11⁄2 to 4 in. long, coarsely toothed, green and soon quite glabrous above, covered with a white felt beneath; the terminal one is the largest and broadest, and sometimes heart-shaped at the base. Flowers produced in a panicle at the end of short twigs springing from the year-old stems, small, pinkish. Fruits red and juicy.

This shrub, the source of the common raspberry of the fruit garden (where varieties with yellow and whitish fruits are grown), is found wild in British woods, and all through Europe and N. Asia to Japan. It is only of interest on this account, being of little value as an ornament.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The Tayberry is of similar parentage to the loganberry, being the result of a cross between ‘Aurora’, a western North American blackberry cultivar, and a selected tetraploid raspberry. Its fruits are bright purple, more aromatic than loganberries, ripening in late July or early August, the plant pricklier and more spreading. It was raised by Dr Derek Jennings at the Scottish Horticultural Research Institute, Invergowrie, near Dundee. Tested virus-free stock was released in 1981/2 as ‘Medana Tayberry’ (‘Medana’ is a prefix indicating a virus-free clone of any new hybrid soft fruit).