Native raspberry with splendid bush tucker fruit is the equal of the exotic raspberry, but more fragile. The fruits are aggregates of succulent drupelets. Rubus probus can form dense thickets in good sun, therefore a good replacement for Lantana to provide small bird, reptile, mammal habitat. Can be too vigorous for some, the best thing is to trim it to thickets. Climbs using recurved hooks on the stems and prickly leaves. Green pinnate leaves with roughly seven lightly hairy, thin, soft leaflets. White terminal flowers from spring to summer. Rubus is Latin for blackberry, probus means upright, generous. Found in rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest from Tasmania to Queensland. Can be aggressive, so not recommended for the home garden unless you want a fast-growing expanding weedy thicket.
Photo: Robert Whyte
Native Raspberry Jam
- 1.3 kg raspberries
- 1 kg sugar
- juice of half a lemon
Wash the raspberries lightly if you need to. Warm the sugar in a low oven for 10 minutes. Place the berries in a heavy-based pot. No water is needed. Cook for a few minutes until very soft. Mash the the berries with a potato masher. Stir through warmed sugar, add lemon juice and cook for about 20 minutes until the jam is glossy and has reached setting stage. Seal in sterilised jars.
PHOTO: Mark Crocker
Form
For a long time, like many others, we confused the two local raspberries R. probus and R. rosifolius. We now know that R. probus has fruits wider than they are long, and delicious, while R. rosifolius has fruits longer than they are wide, and aren’t so tasty.
