Wineberries - yum!

I have been puzzling over this for most of the summer.

I bought the plant earlier in the year and a group of what I thought were flower buds formed. They were quite spiky, as you can see. I waited and waited but they never opened. Then suddenly, one day, a red fruit appeared.

I decided to do a bit of research:

'As a fruit develops, it is surrounded by a protective calyx covered in hairs that exude tiny drops of sticky fluid. A 2009 study by Sina Pohl at the University of Vienna showed that plants do not get nutrients from insects caught in the sap: the sticky mucilage contains no digestive enzymes; surrounding tissues cannot absorb nutrients; and there are no protein-storage tissues. Also, unlike carnivorous plants, wineberry grows in nurient-rich soil, so it has no need for insect nutrients.'

It turns out they are a type of raspberry, as maybe you could suspect from the fruit, but unlike most raspberries, the flowers & developing fruit remain hidden inside a protective calyx, until the fruit is ready to ripen, then it opens.

And I eat them!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_phoenicolasius