Description:
BlackBerry is an aggregate fruit from a bramble bush, genus Rubus in the rose family Rosaceae. Blackberries are perennial plants which typically bear biennial stems ("canes") from the perennial root system. In its first year, a new stem grows vigorously to its full length of 3-6 m, arching or trailing along the ground and bearing large palmately compound leaves with five or seven leaflets; it does not produce any flowers. The flowers are produced in late spring and early summer on short racemes on the tips of the flowering laterals.
Blackberries are notable for their high nutritional contents of dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid - a B vitamin, and the essential mineral, manganese. Blackberries rank highly among fruits for antioxidant strength, particularly due to their dense contents of polyphenolic compounds, such as ellagic acid, tannins, ellagitannins, quercetin, gallic acid, anthocyannins and cyanidins. Blackberries have an ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of 5347 per 100 grams, including them among the top-ranked ORAC fruits. They contain rich amounts of omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid) and -6fats (linoleic acid), protein, dietary fiber, carotenoids, ellagitannins and ellagic acid.
Uses:
Blackberry leaves are also a food for certain caterpillars. The soft fruit is popular for use in desserts, jams, seedless jellies and sometimes wine. Since the many species form hybrids easily, there are numerous cultivars with more than one species in their acnestry. Good nectar producers, blackberry shrubs bearing flowers yield a medium to dark, fruity honey.
The blackberry is known to contain polyphenol antioxidants, naturally occurring chemicals that can upregulate certain beneficial metabolic processes in mammals. The astringent blackberry root is sometimes used in herbal medicine as a treatment for diarrhea and dysentery. The related but smaller dewberry can be distinguished by the white, waxy coating on the fruits, which also usually have fewer drupelets.
