In message , Stephen
writes
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:40:16 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:


It's a week or so since I visited Focus so I can't remember exactly. I
think the label may have been "rubus nigra" or "rubus nigrum". I had a
look at wikipedia before posting but couldn't find anything by that
name.

Would you consider the possibility that it was blackcurrant (Ribes
nigrum)?

Google finds references to Rubus niger, Rubus nigra and Rubus nigrum;
the occurrences of the last are at least mostly errors for Ribes nigrum.

Hello again,

Sorry for the delay; I was waiting until I had visited the shop again.
They are selling red raspberries and black blackberries separately, so
this is definitely "something else". I have double checked and the
label says "rubus nigrum".

Hope that helps?

That means that if it was a blackcurrant, the error is on the label,
rather in your recollection. Did it also say black raspberry? If so, it
looks like a technically incorrect botanical name is being used.

Perhaps I should have mentioned it earlier, but Ribes has palmately
lobed leaves, and Rubus palmate (compound) leaves, so you could tell
which genus is was from examination of the foliage.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:48:19 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:


That means that if it was a blackcurrant, the error is on the label,
rather in your recollection. Did it also say black raspberry? If so, it
looks like a technically incorrect botanical name is being used.

Perhaps I should have mentioned it earlier, but Ribes has palmately
lobed leaves, and Rubus palmate (compound) leaves, so you could tell
which genus is was from examination of the foliage.

The photo on the label is of a black raspberry or blackberry, not a
blackcurrant. I shall look at the leaves next time I shop.

In message , Stephen
writes
On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:48:19 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:


That means that if it was a blackcurrant, the error is on the label,
rather in your recollection. Did it also say black raspberry? If so, it
looks like a technically incorrect botanical name is being used.

Perhaps I should have mentioned it earlier, but Ribes has palmately
lobed leaves, and Rubus palmate (compound) leaves, so you could tell
which genus is was from examination of the foliage.

The photo on the label is of a black raspberry or blackberry, not a
blackcurrant. I shall look at the leaves next time I shop.

I think that if the photograph on the label is of the fruit of a Rubus
we can assume that it is a Rubus. So we're back where we were several
posts back; they are several black raspberries, but we can't tell which
is meant.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Stephen wrote:

Focus DIY stores are selling what they call a "black raspberry". Has
anyone heard of these? What are they? What is the difference between a
black raspberry and a blackberry?

One thing that has not been mentioned in this thread, is the difference
in the fruit of black v. rasp-berry. When picking the blackberry the core
of the fruit comes away with the berry parts. In raspberries the core is
usually left on the plant when picked or is easily removed afterwards.

about 10 years ago I grew black raspberries from seed provided by a czech
fruit grower, Jan Kola.

He said it was descended from American black raspberry stock. They had
bluish stems, and had a classic raspberry habit (as opposed to
blackberry). I found the berries uninspiring in taste, and of a firm
texture. They were "blackberry" black in colour. Unfortunately my plants
proved susceptible to disease (I was warned they would be) and I wasn't
inspired enough to preserve seed and try again.

Jan also provided me with purple raspberry seed, of Chinese origin.
They were just like small versions of the "traditional" rasp, but of a
darker hue.

cheers
Jim

I planted an evergreen, thornless cut-leaved blackberry.

A new shoot certainly isn't thornless - let's hope the evergreen-ness
isn't transitory TAAAW.

(I also have an extremely thorny, slightly evergreen bramble with stems
like tree-trunks. Hoooooge juicy and nicely-flavoured blackberries,
mercifully, with surprisingly few pips.)

--
Rusty
Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters.
(Alice Thomas Ellis)

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:54:54 +0100, Joanna
wrote:

Rubus leucodermis and Rubus occidentalis
are black-fruited American raspberries, but whether one of these is
what Focus are selling, instead of a variant of Rubus idaeus, or a hybrid of
some description, I can't say. (Wikipedia tells me that the American
black raspberry has its own taste, distinct from both that of the
European raspberry and that of the blackberry.)


Sorry for the late update. I wrote to Focus to ask them. Unfortunately
they have not given me a definitive answer. They did however helpfully
look up "black raspberry" on the internet and pointed me towards the
wikipedia entry for R. occidentalis! I have written back to point out
that the label says R nigrum not R occidentalis and to ask them to ask
their supplier. Of course by the time this gets resolved it will be
too late to buy and plant any!

I see that garden centres still have stock of raspberries. Is it too
late to plant them? Sadly the Focus stores seem to have sold out of
the black variety and the stores which do have one or two left seem to
have a "dead stick of wood in a pot". How can I be sure it is a
dormant plant rather than a dead one before I buy?

Thanks.

I'm amazed they gave you any answer. In our local Focus, the staff give you the impression they'd rather you nicked the stuff rather than give them the bother checking it out. If you ask them if they have something, they routinely answer "no". I only go there because it is much further to go anywhere else.