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Raspberry

For the sound that is sometimes referred to as a "raspberry", see Bronx cheer.

The Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) is a plant that produces a tart, sweet, red composite fruit (not a true berry) in late summer or early autumn. The fruit is similar to that of the blackberry, but is smaller, softer, and of course a different colour. It grows typically in forest clearings or fields, particularly where fire or wood-cutting has produced open space for colonization by this opportunistic colonizer of disturbed soil. As a domesticated plant, it is easy to grow and has a tendency to spread unless cut back.

Two types are commercially available: the everbearing plant, which bears fruit on first-year canes throughout most of the summer and fall, and a Junebearing type that produces an abundance of fruit within a relatively short period in midsummer. Raspberries can be cultivated through USDA hardiness zone 4.

A Golden Raspberry, which is pale yellow, has been selected by horticulturalists.


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