Location:      North America,, Southeast Alaska

Season:        Summer

Category:      Plant

Explanation:

Salmonberries blossom here in Juneau in May, and bear delicious fruit (which local black bears also love, if you don't mind the play on words) in late June and early July.  The berries range in color from nearly-black to deep "raspberry" red to bright orange.  It is this latter color that earned the berry its name -- supposedly called that by Alaska Natives because it looks like salmon eggs.  These berries are great to eat right off the bush for breakfast, but are even more highly prized for jelly-making.

Billie Wilson

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/picts/Rspectabfruit1.jpg

About the Plant

Leaf: Pinnately compound (3 leaflets), alternate, deciduous; leaflets are ovate, 1 to 3 inches long, green above and below, margins are doubly serrate or lobed and serrate; the opposing lateral leaflets often have a single lobe and together resemble a butterfly. Leaflets are armed below and have a wrinkled surface above.

Flower: Monoecious, perfect, complete; large (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter), bright pink to dark red (often magenta), occur either singly or in clusters of 2 to 4, appearing in May to early June.

Fruit: Yellow to red (often salmon colored), mushy raspberries (aggregate of drupelets). Pull free from the torus (central core), leaving a thimble-like appearance, edible, but taste varies.

Twig/Bark: New stems are green and armed; older stems have orange bark that is thin, papery, exfoliates, and has fine prickles that exfoliate.

Form: An erect, spindly deciduous shrub that commonly grows 3 to 10 feet tall; often forms dense thickets.

Look at more pictures here:

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/rspectabilis.htm

http://www.wildfoodadventures.com/pab_rubus_spect_1.html

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Worldwide use:

Benibana-ichigo (Japanese) ベニバナイチゴ　　紅花苺

http://www.hakubaonline.com/flower/happo/040629/benibanaichigo/benibanaichigo.htm

Lachsbeere (German)

in Europa recht selten anzutreffender sommergrüner Strauch mit etwas stacheligen Trieben. Blätter dreizählig, Blättchen etwas fiederspaltig. Die bis zu 2,5 cm großen purpurfarbenen Blüten erscheinen im Mai und duften. Im Sommer entwickelt sich aus der Blüte eine etwas durchscheinende, gelbe bis orange, essbare Frucht.

http://www.eggert-baumschulen.de/rusp.htm

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Things found on the way:

Haiku:

May morning--

from the salmonberry bush

a low buzz of bees

 Billie Wilson -- Juneau, Alaska USA

[The Haiku Calendar 2003, Snapshot Press (UK), 2003]

http://haiku.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/shiki-workshop.archive/html/200105/0038.html

Between the branches
the juncos' trill;
first salmonberry blossoms

Astrid Greene

http://haiku.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/shiki.archive/html/9904/0325.html

Related words:

Read part 2 of this kigo entry:

http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/07/salmonberry.html