Common Blackberry, Rubus allegheniensis, is the plant that started my interest in nature and it was my first experience in wild edibles. It’s rich in potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, beta-carotene and vitamin C. The fruit can be eaten raw, cooked, made into a jam or jelly and made into a cold drink. It has been used medicinally for diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, stomach hemorrhages and for many other things.
Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry.
Common Blackberry Sources:
Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.
Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1680-1682
Fernald, Merritt Lyndon & Alfred Charles Kinsey. Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1996. Print. pg. 236-238
Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 264-265
Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 26
Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 167-168
Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 487
Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 232-233
Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 184-185
United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.
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