Last week I did a post highlighting some of the unusual members of the Rubus genus, or more commonly known as brambles. I want to share one more of those rarities— Rubus odoratus AKA purple-flowering raspberry. Originally I started with one lowly plant from the edible forest garden at MSU’s Student Organic Farm. Now an ever expanding clump of purple flowering raspberry lives beneath the canopy of one of my peach trees. Its a lovely plant with attractive, almost star-shaped leaves and pretty pink flowers. Only problem is that the plants are shy to bear. The plants, and the fruits themselves, bear much resemblance to thimbleberry(R.parviflorus). Today I was able to munch on a few ripe berries and they had a pleasant nutty flavor reminiscent of a dried raspberry. Although unproductive, purple-flowering raspberry is a lovely ornamental none-the-less.
The Fruit Nut 