Dewberries are blackberries “lowly” cousins
Dewberries: Rubus Trivialis
Dewberries go far in the world, for a lowly vine. They can reach up to 15 feet long, one node root at a time.
Essentially a blackberry on the ground, Dewberries are a delicious addition to any foraging. Besides me and thee, the Dewberry is very popular with bees. The flowers attract honeybees, bumblebees, mason bees, leaf-cutting bees, cuckoo bees and miner bees. The flowers also attract butterflies and skippers. The berries, actually drupes, are important summer food for many birds including red-headed woodpeckers, bluebirds, northern cardinals, and wild turkeys. The raccoon, fox squirrel, chipmunk and white-footed mouse eat the fruits. The cottontail rabbit and white-tailed deer browse on the leaves and stems. In fact, during lean years the Dewberry is an extremely important deer food, but then again, so too is poison ivy. Only humans and primates are allergic to poison ivy.
The Southern Dewberry (Rubus trivialis, ROU-bus triv-ee-AY-liss) differs some from the more widespread Common Dewberry (Rubus flagellaris.) While both have prickles, the Southern Dewberry has bristles, the Common Dewberry does not. What’s the difference between prickles and bristles? It’s the amount of little spines you catch your finger on. A few are a prickles, a lot are bristles.) Also, the Southern Dewberry is evergreen, the Common Dewberry is not. The family the dewberry is in in some 250 genus strong, 26 of them in the southern United States. And the family has been around a long time according to fossil records, some 30 million years give or take a million or two the experts tell us. A whole lot of creatures have enjoyed them over the millennia.
Per usual, the botanical name for Dewberry, Rubus trivialis, is part Dead Latin and bastardized Greek. Rubus is a Roman word meaning red, the hair and or bristles on the stems often make them look reddish. Trivialis refers to the common occurrence of this plant. While it’s also the source of the English word “trivial” it really means “three ways” or crossroads. In Greek Tria is three and Via is force or way. Why “crossroads” means trivial is anyone’s guess but I would suppose crossroads are far less important than the main road, thus we have mainline and trivial.
Dewberries specifically are found Pennsylvania south to Florida and west to Colorado and Texas. Blackberries are found around the world. For example, the Dewberry is listed as an noxious weed in Tasmania. Imagine, a people so removed from nature that an abundance of delicious berries is a nuisance. Hmmmm…. A 2007 study showed a blackberry leaf extract was good at reducing the formation of wrinkles. Seems to me the Tasmanians have the opportunity to be the most wrinkle-less folks on the planet. See my article on Blackberries.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile
IDENTIFICATION; Trailing vine, often roots at the nodes, twigs have reddish hairs; prickles small and scattered. Leaves alternate, variable in size and shape; leaflets elliptic to narrow-oval, twice as long as wide; hairless, toothy. Blossom has five petals, white to pink; pistils many, stamens numerous
TIME OF YEAR: Spring in Florida, June and July in northern climes. Dewberries ripen before other blackberries.
ENVIRONMENT: Edges of woods, roadsides, old fields. Likes most soils, can grow in full sun or some much shade.
METHOD OF PREPARATION: Black fruit, off the vine or prepared like any fruit berry. Leaves can be made into a tea, long used to treat diarrhea.
I bet the noxious weed part is from the plant taking over everything. Like Himalaya blackberries. The vines choke out everything else. I love the berries, but the plant is a problem.
Same with Japanese Raspberries on the East Coast. They crowd out everything, even native Rubus species. Also, all the specialized bees that other Rubus species attract won’t touch it.
Any of the aforementioned are great to find around but i always assess the history of the site…. Too human? anybody dump used motoroil/even old iron filings around cotton gins could be too high in Ar for mass or regular eating…. then again how is a site to disperse(export) it otherwise, the decomposer level? Plants do absorb heavy metals(Cd,Ar Sb,Bi,Pb) when certain trace minerals (Fe,Mo,Mg,B,Cu…) are deficient,true qualitatively I’m sure given the right conditions too(pH?) I wonder about the local asian neighborhood=they grow in thier yard and do ALL thier own engine and body work OH yeah metals are sometimes cleaner nowadays…. done now ; }
I recently cleared out tons of these invasive vines that were growing wild on my back fence. I have had a severe allergic reaction to this weed and the doctor’s can’t seem to provide me any relief as this is unusual. I have had a cortisone shot and have been on a round of steriods with little to no relief. If anyone has any idea on how I could cure myself from this itch, I would appreciate any and all comments. I’ve been told to go to a dermatologist. This stuff is clearly systemic now. Thank you in advance.
You might want to ask the question on the Green Deane Forum where we have a few herbalists.
I am so allergic to this junk. Which is what brought me here. I never new the name of it until now but I had a reaction to it many years ago as well. I can’t remember how I treated it or anything. It’s driving me crazy. Not itching is impossible. It’s almost 2 a.m. now and I am not even considering sleep. Ugh….
Love Dewberries and came to this site in search of allergy. Never before had any problems but 2 weeks ago picked 1.5 gallons with long sleeve shirt on. That night I started itching and rash developed from knuckles to elbows. Doctor says ‘poison ivy’ though the only vines I saw were the berries. Itch and Rash continue despite Benedril (pill & gel), Calamine, Aloe+Peppermint+Myrrh+Tea Tree, TRIAMCINOLONE & METHYLPREDNISOLONE corticosteroids.
This looks very similar to what we have in our front beds. However, I have never seen any blooms or fruit. Could it be something else?
Green, may I say how much I truly enjoy your free-spirited approach to the lowly wild plants. In this instance the lowly berries such as the dew, black, Rase, and add to that, the Logan, Elder, Huckleberry, and now the wild blueberry and Goji berry. Most I’ve enjoyed since a young kid. I only hope those adventuresome in taste will be demanding nurseries make more available. Three or four years ago I read about the Goji berry and wanted to find it but was unable to do so, except for dried berries. Earlier this year Sears had it available in 4″ pots, then a month later my local nursery. Now I have two to add to my berries inventory.Dave Jones, Galveston
I love reading your articles on wild edibles. I need to add elderberry to my land. We had some years ago but that land has been damaged by last year’s ice storm. I know I have some blackberries growing and I’m hoping the two other plants I’ve found are raspberry and dew berry, though they might all be different blackberries. Do you have a good way to separate rtheaspberry from black berry and those from dew berry? I have lots of great stuff on my land: 4 persimmons currently loaded down with unripe fruit, tons of scuppernongs and muscadines. Huckleberries that are over 7ft tall, various berries as mentioned above, and passion flower fruit. We also have beauty berry and I may have found some wild blueberries. We also have hog plums and two Apple trees that were severely damaged last year in the ice storm, then someone crashed into them and knocked them over. These trees are quite a distance from the road, this person had quite a wreck. Anyway,the trees are basically knocked over but they dug their roots back in and are growing in their sides. I doubt they’ll produce much fruit in the future, but it seems to be doing well for being on its side.
And now I’ve realised im rambling. Haha. Thanks for your time And keep on writing great stuff.
Hi Dean,
What is your 3 favorite Rubus species
as far as taste goes in the South ?
I am in the New Orleans area
and am currently creating a food forest of sorts
in a suburban lot.
(i have guava, mango, starfruit, sapote, loquat, fig
– and about 20 more LOL)
For vining berries /Rubus…
i have muscadines (4 types) , some weird miniature grape.
and a raspberry.
i have 2 blackberries, but they dont produce
so, i need to replace them.
preferably something that will grow well in the South
and taste awesome 🙂
suggestions ?
thanks
Brad
To assure a steady harvest I would recommend cultivars rather than wild ones.
We have had these little vines along the south fence of our yard in the shade for ages. They’re quite resilient to drought and cold and our poor sandy soil. But they hardly ever fruited well until one miraculous year when suddenly hundreds of berries appeared. And they were quite delicious! Then the next year, back to nothing!
How do you get rid of it so it will not come back? It is choking out my roses in the flower bed and now starting to grow in my lawn, which I love to walk barefoot in. Please help. Thanks.
I am also very allergic to this vine. I can find very little on it to research and I have been treating it the same as Poision Ivy or Oak. No relief! Any information is very appreciated. The itching is so awful that it feels like I have burns on my skin. Please help. 12:41 a.m. and wide awake.
dulsey Wilson,
I have been itching since 2007, dermatologist can’t do anything, call it atopic dermatitis. I see your post is old. I love to be out in the yard, but, something got me to this terrible itching.
Have you tried Plantain leaves (not like bananas)? They’re all that stops me from itching.
In the past, we tried growing black raspberries, which were too labor intensive, berries were small, and they easily got anthracnose. Then tried primocane red raspberries, which I really like growing. I mow them each year, so maintenance is not overly labor intensive. Then two years ago a neighbor tore out some vines, saying they were raspberries, but did not know what variety. My wife brought them home and planted them, against my wishes, since I did not want any more black raspberries. So I figured I would just let them grown and identify them the following year. Well, we got some red primocanes, some blacks, and something that I was not able to identify. From pictures and descriptions on your site and others, I think they are dewberries. They start to grow upright, but bend over, like the black raspberries, and the tips root.
However, last year, their first full growing season, the vines thrived and spread, but did not bloom. I’m thinking I’ll give them another chance this year, but if they don’t bloom by April/May, I’ll probably dig them up. They seem to be pretty invasive, and that’s one task I don’t need to have regularly.
Any input for me?
Thanks
To the folks who are having an allergic reaction to what you see as Rubus Trivialis, please note that both poison ivy and rubus species often prefer the same site and look very similar if you aren’t careful. I always approach rubus species with gloves and try not to let it touch my skin unless I am 110% positive that it is a berry and not poison ivy or poison sumac. Anything that makes your skin get raised in red lines and/or rash areas which then bubbles up may very well likely be poison ivy and not necessarily an allergy to dewberry. Poison Ivy can adapt to be shiny or matte, sometimes can even be less edged to resemble other species. Take a second look if in doubt! Your TX AgriLife Extension office is just a phone call away if you’re not sure! 🙂
And blackberries have prickles on various stems, poison ivy does not.
“Trivia” was matter related to the medieval university’s introductory courses if study: grammar, logic and rhetoric. These “three roads” met in the “trivium” which was the first year of study.