rubus chamaemorus--hjortron

[dick]

Hello,
on my search for seeds-plants of the rubus chamaemorus I found your forum also. I saw a few threads for this berries.
Our love for Sweden is accompanied with the love for cloudberries-hjortron (in Dutch kruipbraam). Just for fun I want to try to grow the berries myself, but finding plants or seeds is not easy. Anyone with tips for getting it??
By the way, like your forum!! Very interesting and much information!!
Dick

[Maggi Young]

Hello Dick, welcome to this forum- thanks for your kind words.
Good luck in finding the rubus. Might be hard to get it to grow well and fruit in the  climate of the  Netherlands, though....

[Hoy]

Dick, have you got any answers?

I can send you some stolons in October or some seeds from the fridge now if you like.

The Norwegian name is "molte" which etymologically probably has the same root as English molten and describes the ripe berry!

In Swedish they use a similar name "smultron" which is another berry (Fragaria) which is "jordbær" in Norwegian. The part "jord" of the word is the same as the Swedish "hjort" in "hjortron". Complicated


"Molte" flower:

[Jacek]

Hi Dick,

I have never seen Rubus chamaemorus in nature, but it is a native plant in Poland, where it achieves its southernmost range (in Europe, at least). It is regarded a postglacial relic and is present in isolated localities scattered in the Northern part of the country (the postglacial lake belt, a lowland area) and in just a few places high in the mountains in the South (Sudeten). While rare, it has a common Polish name - malina moroszka. It grows only in peat bog locations. It rarely sets fruits - probably too warm.

I have not tryed to grow Rubus chamaemorus in my lowland garden, but Rubus arcticus is able to survive both summer heat and relative drought in the garden. It does not set any fruits though.

Dear friends from Scotland - is Rubus chamaemorus a native plant in your cool and moist Northwest?

[Maggi Young]

The Cloudberry is native in Scotland - though not widespread and rarely found these days,  I think.

[johnw]

aka Bake Apple in Newfoundland & Labrador.

See here:  http://www.timescolonist.com/life/food-drink/bakeapple-cream-puffs-cod-au-gratin-featured-dishes-at-bacalao-restaurant-1.700885

johnw

[Hoy]

. . . .
I have not tryed to grow Rubus chamaemorus in my lowland garden, but Rubus arcticus is able to survive both summer heat and relative drought in the garden. It does not set any fruits though.
......

Jacek, you know you have to grow both male and female plants to get fruit?

Here's a female flower. The other I showed was male.

[Jacek]

Hoy, I know R. chamaemorus is dioecious, but I don't have it anyway. So having fruits is not really possible.

Rubus arcticus is clearly another species. I don't know if it is dioecious or not. Another explanation (besides inappropriate climate) is self infertility (here I do not have any knowledge, either). My plants were bought in a nursery and I believe they belong to a single clone.

So if R. chamaemorus rarely sets fruits in the wild in Poland, the question is how it has survived since the last glaciation. There are two answers:
1. Is is stoloniferous and may be long-lived if conditions are preserved.
2. Rarely does not mean never. If we have cool rainy summer it might give some fruits. Temperature may be critical factor. I've read fruiting capacity is lowest in sunny locations = warmer than others.