On offer are 5 Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) seeds.
Synonyms: Rubus pseudochamaemorus, Chamaemorus chamaemorus, Rubus nubis, Bake-Apple, Baked-apple Berry
Cloudberry is a slow-growing alpine or sub-Arctic species of Rubus, producing amber-coloured edible fruit.
Cloudberry is the name for both the plant and the fruit.
The botanical name (chamæmorus) derives from the Greek khamai ("on the ground") and moros ("mulberry").
The cloudberry grows to 10-25 cm high.
The leaves alternate between
having 5 and 7 soft, handlike lobes on straight, branchless stalks.
After pollination, the white (sometimes reddish-tipped) flowers form
raspberry-sized berries.
Encapsulating between 5 and 25 drupelets, each
fruit is initially pale red, ripening into an amber colour in early
autumn.
Cloudberries are thornless.
Distribution and ecology:
Cloudberries occur naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere from
78°N, south to about 55°N, and very scattered south to 44°N mainly in
mountainous areas. In Europe and Asia, they grow in the Nordic
countries, especially in Finland and much in the Baltic states;
sometimes in the moorlands of Britain and Ireland, and across northern
Russia east to the Pacific Ocean. Small populations are also found
further south, as a botanical vestige of the Ice Ages; it is found in
Germany's Weser and Elbe valleys, where it is under legal protection.
In North America, cloudberries grow wild across most of Canada/Alaska,
and in the lower 48 states of the United States in northern Minnesota,
New Hampshire, Maine, and a small population on Long Island, New York.
The cloudberry can withstand cold temperatures down to well below
-40°C, but is sensitive to salt and to dry conditions.
It grows in
bogs, marshes and wet meadows and requires sunny exposures in acidic
ground (between 3.5 and 5 pH).
Cloudberry leaves are food for caterpillars of several Lepidoptera
species.
The moth Coleophora thulea has no other known foodplants.
Unlike most Rubus species, the cloudberry does not self-pollinate.
Pollination requires a plant of the opposite sex.
Wide distribution
occurs due its rhizomes which can develop into extensive berry patches.
The ripe fruits are golden-yellow, soft and juicy, and are rich in
vitamin C.
When eaten fresh, cloudberries have a distinctive tart
taste.
When over-ripe, they have a creamy texture and flavour somewhat
like yoghurt.
They are often made into jams, juices, tarts, and
liqueurs.
In Finland, the berries are eaten with "Leipäjuusto" (a local cheese;
the name translates to "bread-cheese"), and lots of cream and sugar.
In Sweden, cloudberries are used as topping for ice cream or waffles.
In Norway, they are eaten with whipped cream and lots of sugar, or in cakes that often contain marzipan.
In Canada, cloudberries are used to flavour a special beer. Canadians
also use them for jam, but not on the same scale as Scandinavians.
In Alaska, the berries are mixed with seal oil, reindeer or caribou fat
(which is diced up and made fluffy with the seal oil) and sugar to make
"Eskimo Ice Cream" or Agutak. The recipes vary by region. Along the
Yukon and Kuskokwim river areas, white fish(pike,whitefish) along with
Crisco and sugar is used.
Due to its high vitamin C content, the berry was valued both by Nordic
seafarers and by Canadian Inuit as protection against scurvy.
Its high
benzoic acid content acts as a natural preservative.
Tea made from cloudberry leaves was used in ancient Scandinavian herbal medicine to cure urinary tract infections.
In Nordic countries traditionally liqueurs such as Lakkalikööri (a
Finnish liqueur) are made of cloudberry.
It has a strong taste and a
high sugar content. Cloudberry has also served as a spice for aquavit.
Dogfish Head Brewery has made an Arctic Cloudberry Imperial Wheat beer,
which was inspired by the cloudberry lambic dubbed Soleil de Minuit
made by Brasserie Cantillon for the Akkurat pub in Stockholm.
Rodrigues Winery located in Newfoundland, Canada makes a cloudberry
wine and a cloudberry liqueur from Newfoundland and Labrador grown
berries.
A cloudberry liqueur is also made in the north eastern Quebec region of
Canada.
The liqueur is known as chicoutai, which is the local
Aboriginal name for the cloudberry.
A purple to dull blue dye can be obtained from the fruit.
Cultivation details:
Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil in sun or semi-shade.
Avoids calcareous soils in the wild and is often found in boggy soils.
Considered to be a gourmet fruit, it is occasionally sold in speciality
stores.
Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown for fruit.
Propagation:
Seed - requires stratification and is best sown in early autumn.
Seed requires three months stratification at about 3°c.
Prick out the
seedlings when they are large enough to handle and grow on in a cold
frame.
Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring of
the following year.
Division in early spring or just before leaf-fall in the autumn
Pictures:
Ripe cloudberries
Ripe cloudberry (amber coloured berry) and unripe cloudberry (red coloured berry)
Shipping:
Postage within Australia is $1.50.…. for any quantity of seed packets purchased.
I use padded envelopes to protect your seeds in the post.
Seeds/plants will only shipped on Mondays to decrease the time spent in transit.
Please email me if you have any questions.
Thank You For Your Interest In My Seeds.
On 13-Oct-09 at 00:37:34 AEDST, seller added the following information:
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