Black Raspberry
The growth and leaves of the wild black raspberry are like those of the red raspberry, and it is found in the same localities. The fruit, like the other, is cup or thimble shaped and grows on a receptacle from which it loosens when fully ripe. Blackcaps, these berries are often called. They ripen in July. The berry is sometimes a little dry, but the flavor is sweet and fine.
Purple-Flowering Raspberry
The purple-flowering raspberry is acid and insipid; it can hardly be called edible, though it is not poisonous. You will find it clambering among the rocks on the mountainside and in rocky soil. The leaves are large and resemble grape leaves, while the flower is large, purplish-red in color, and grows in loose clusters.
Mountain Raspberry, Cloudberry
The usual home of the mountain raspberry, or cloudberry, is on the mountain-tops among the clouds. You will find it in the White Mountains and on the coast of Maine, and it has recently been discovered at Montauk Point, L. I. The fruit has a pleasant flavor of a honey-like sweetness. The receptacle of the berry is broad and flat, the color is yellow touched with red where exposed to the sun. It does not grow in clusters like the other raspberries, but is solitary. The leaves are roundish with from five to nine lobes, something like the leaves of the geranium. The plant grows low, is without prickles, and the solitary flowers are white. In the far north, where it is found in great profusion, the cloudberry is made into delicious jam.
Wild Strawberry
When crossing sandy knolls or open, uncultivated fields and pastures, the alluring perfume of the wild strawberry will sometimes lead you to the patch which shows the bright-red little berry on its low-growing plant. It is common everywhere, though it bears the name of wild Virginia strawberry. In Latin it is most appropriately called Fragaria, meaning fragrant. The leaves are compound with three coarsely toothed, hairy leaflets. The small white flowers grow in sparse clusters on rather long, hairy stems. They have many deep yellow stamens which are surrounded by the fine white petals. In fruiting time the leaves are often bright-red.
Low Running Blackberry
Among the mountains and hills, down in the valleys, and on the plains; straggling along roadsides, clinging to fence rails, and sprawling over rocks, you will find the wild blackberry. There are several varieties, and blackberries of some kind are common throughout the United States.