Blog  September 7, 2012

Thimbleberry is berry good!

Thimbleberry in flower (Photo: Bill Moses)

Thimbleberry, or Rubus parviflorus, is a member of the rose family, native to western and northern North America, from Alaska east to Ontario and Michigan, and all the way south to northern Mexico. Like other raspberries, thimbleberry is not a true berry, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. The drupelets may be carefully removed separately from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit which bears resemblance to a thimble, perhaps giving the plant its name.

The thimbleberry shrub typically grows along roadsides, railroad tracks, and in forest clearings, and is one of the first pioneer species in the ecological succession in clear-cut and forest-fire areas. Both in BC and Ontario, Evergreen likes to use thimbleberry in ecological restoration projects and in colonizing previously cleared areas, providing habitat and food for bird and animal species!

Learn more about thimbleberry and other native shrubs in Canada in the Native Plant Database.