Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

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dewberry Rubus caesius, is closely related to and resembles the blackberry, and has a similar distribution; but it bears smaller fruits with fewer and larger druplets, which are covered by a purple bloom. Hulme (1902) declared the dewberry to be more succulent than the blackberry; but Grigson (1955) points out that it varies from season to season in abundance and quality, and that in a poor season it deserves the local Wiltshire name ‘token blackberry’.

Other dewberries include R. canadensis, with juicy fruits, and R. ursinus, the Pacific or California dewberry, whose large berries have many uses and are sometimes dried. There is some cultivation of these berries.