Garden and orchard · Rubus fruticosus agg.

Explore together · A short start and more to discover

Discovering blackberry

Shiny fruit and prickly stems: paws stay safely back at the blackberry bush. How do blackberries differ from raspberries?

Puschel and Flauschi observe blackberry growing in a garden or orchard. — Puschel and Flauschi look closely.

The short answer

Blackberries contain many small fruit units. Unlike ripe raspberries, they keep their central core when picked. Many blackberry canes have prickles, though some garden varieties do not.

Close-ups show blackberry fruit, leaves and growth habit. — Fruit and insideLeafHow it grows

See the connection

Ripe picked raspberryThe centre is hollow: the pale central part usually remains on the plant.

Picked blackberryThe pale central part comes away with the fruit. Both drawings show a cutaway for comparison.

Simplified drawings, not to scale. Not a guide for identifying species.

An imagined Wusel scene

Puschel and Flauschi investigate

Puschel leans forward with his paws behind his back. Puschel“Black fruit beads, but the plant has prickly guards!”

Flauschi gently raises a paw. Flauschi“We keep our distance. Many blackberry stems have prickles. We can look without touching.”

Puschel studies a green fruit and a dark one. Puschel“They are not all ready at once.” They leave the stems undisturbed.

The fruit

Ripe blackberries are dark to black in many species and consist of numerous little drupelets.

Leaf and plant

Long stems often arch over. Many have prickles, although thornless garden varieties exist.

What makes it special

Unlike raspberries, the central receptacle stays inside a picked blackberry.

Try explaining it

What stays inside a picked blackberry?

Choose a), b) or c), then explain your choice.

a)Its central core.
b)The inner core stays on the plant as in a raspberry.
c)The fruit contains only an empty hollow space.

Show the explanation

Correct: a): Its central core.

Blackberries contain many small fruit units. Unlike ripe raspberries, they keep their central core when picked. Many blackberry canes have prickles, though some garden varieties do not.

Word help

core: Here, the central part of an apple or pear that holds the seeds.

Explore in more detail

Here you will find longer explanations and further details. You can explore them together.

Why is a blackberry an aggregate fruit?

Many small juicy stone fruits are packed together, each with a tiny hard part around a seed. Together they look like one large berry. Botanists call this an aggregate fruit. A currant has a different structure, even though both are called berries in everyday language.

Compare and understand

A picked blackberry keeps its pale central receptacle; a ripe raspberry usually leaves it behind. Prickles on blackberry stems are not fruit holders. Use known prepared fruits for comparison rather than putting hands into prickly stems.

Sources for this explanation

An optional question for further exploration

You can use the longer explanation above. This is extra, not needed for the first quiz.

An extra question

What do we watch out for on blackberry stems?

Show answer

Prickles: keep a distance and let adults help.

May we taste unknown berries based on a picture?