Editing Boysenberry

{{Short description|Hybrid species of berry}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Hybridbox
| name = ''Rubus ursinus'' × ''R. idaeus''
| image = Boysenberries.jpg
| image_caption = Boysenberries in various stages of development<ref name="Taxonomy">{{cite web
    | url = http://www.oregon-berries.com/common/docs/datasheets/PROC_BOYSEN.pdf
    | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111021204223/http://www.oregon-berries.com/common/docs/datasheets/PROC_BOYSEN.pdf
    | url-status = dead
    | archive-date = 2011-10-21
    | title = Boysenberry characteristics (technical data)
    | access-date = 2008-09-13
    | publisher = Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission
    }}</ref>
| genus = Rubus
| subgenus = [[Blackberry|Rubus]]
| species1 = ursinus
| species2 = idaeus
}}
[[File:Boysenberry-LosAngeles2017.jpg|thumb|Boysenberry, June - Los Angeles, California]]

The '''boysenberry''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɔɪ|z|ən|b|ɛr|i}} is a [[Hybrid (biology)|cross]] between the European raspberry (''[[Rubus idaeus]]''), European blackberry (''[[Rubus fruticosus]]''), American [[dewberry]] (''[[Rubus aboriginum]]''), and [[loganberry]] (''Rubus'' × ''loganobaccus'').<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UdKxFcen8zgC |first=John Griffith |last=Vaughan |author2=Geissler, Catherine Alison |title=The New Oxford Book of Food Plants |year=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-954946-7 |page=88 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416104527/http://books.google.com/books?id=UdKxFcen8zgC& |archive-date=2014-04-16 }}</ref>

== Description ==
Boysenberries grow on low, trailing plants.<ref name="LATimes">{{cite news |last=Karp |first=David |date=2010-05-27 |title=Boysenberry, a California treasure |url=https://www.latimes.com/food/la-xpm-2010-may-27-la-fo-boysenberry-20100527-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130714232910/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/27/food/la-fo-boysenberry-20100527 |archive-date=2013-07-14 |access-date=2024-08-12 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> It is a large [[aggregate fruit]] with a deep [[Maroon (color)|maroon]] color, weighing {{Convert|8|g|oz}} and containing large seeds.<ref name="LATimes" /><ref name="OregonBerryHistory" /> The fruits are characterized by their soft texture, thin skins, and sweet-tart flavor. Mature fruits leak juice very easily and can start to decay within a few days of harvest.<ref name="LATimes" />

== Cultivation ==
The exact origins of the boysenberry are unclear, but the most definite records trace the plant as it is known today back to grower [[Rudolph Boysen]], who obtained the dewberry&ndash;loganberry parent from the farm of John Lubben.<ref name="hancock">{{cite book|author1=Hancock, Jim F|title=Temperate Fruit Crop Breeding: Germplasm to Genomics (pages 91-92)|date=2008|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1402069079|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=322hHeocPa0C&q=boysenberry|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040601/https://books.google.ca/books?redir_esc=y&id=322hHeocPa0C&q=boysenberry#v=onepage&q=boysenberry&f=false|archive-date=2017-12-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/05/obituaries/walter-knott-of-knott-s-berry-farm-is-dead.html
|title=Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farm
|work=The New York Times     
|author=Peter B. Flint
|date=December 5, 1981
|quote=Rudolf Boysen...had crossed raspberry, loganberry, and blackberry shoots to produce a larger, lusher fruit that Mr. Knott dubbed a ''boysenberry.''}}</ref>

In the late 1920s, [[George M. Darrow]] of the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] began tracking down reports of a large, reddish-purple [[berry]] that had been grown on Boysen's farm in [[Anaheim, California]].<ref name="OregonBerryHistory" /> Darrow enlisted the help of [[Walter Knott]], another farmer, who was known as a berry expert. Knott had never heard of the new berry, but he agreed to help Darrow in his search.

Darrow and Knott learned that Boysen had abandoned his growing experiments several years earlier and sold his farm. Undaunted by this news, Darrow and Knott headed out to Boysen's old farm, on which they found several frail vines surviving in a field choked with weeds. They transplanted the vines to Knott's farm in [[Buena Park, California]], where he nurtured them back to fruit-bearing health. Walter Knott was the first to commercially cultivate the berry in Southern California.<ref name="OregonBerryHistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.oregon-berries.com/boysenberry.cfm|publisher=Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission|date=2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021204733/http://www.oregon-berries.com/boysenberry.cfm|archive-date=2011-10-21|title=Oregon boysenberries|access-date=2008-09-13}}</ref> 

He began selling the berries at his farm stand in 1932 and soon noticed that people kept returning to buy the large, tasty berries. When asked what they were called, Knott said, "Boysenberries", after their originator.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.knotts.com/coinfo/history/index.shtml
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090720054917/http://www.knotts.com/coinfo/history/index.shtml
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 2009-07-20
|title = Knott's Berry Farm's History
|access-date = 2008-02-22
}}</ref> His family's small restaurant and pie business eventually grew into [[Knott's Berry Farm]].<ref name="LATimes" />

By 1940, {{cvt|599|acres}} of land in California were dedicated to boysenberries. The number dipped during [[World War II]] but peaked again in the 1950s at about {{cvt|2400|acre}}, to the point where boysenberry crops exceeded those of the (previously) more common raspberry and blackberry.<ref name=LATimes/> By the 1960s, the boysenberry began to fall out of favor due to a combination of being difficult to cultivate, susceptible to fungal diseases in coastal growing areas, and too soft and delicate to easily ship without damage, as well as having a short season of availability compared with newer cultivars.<ref name=LATimes/> In the 1980s, breeding efforts in [[New Zealand]] combined [[cultivar]]s and [[germplasm]] from California with [[Scotland|Scottish]] sources to create five new thornless varieties.<ref name=hancock/>

As of the early 2000s, fresh boysenberries were generally only grown for market by smaller California farmers and sold from local farm stands and markets.<ref name=LATimes/> Most commercially grown boysenberries, primarily from [[Oregon]], are processed into other products such as jam, pie, juice, syrup, and ice cream.<ref name=LATimes/>  As of 2016, New Zealand was the world's largest producer and exporter of boysenberries.<ref name=boysenberrynz>{{cite web|title=Welcome to Berryfruit New Zealand|url=http://www.boysenberry.co.nz/index.php|publisher=Berryfruit New Zealand|date=2017|access-date=16 June 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801014229/http://www.boysenberry.co.nz/index.php|archive-date=1 August 2016}}</ref>

=== Cultivars ===
Since 2007, a hybrid variety called the "Newberry" or "Ruby Boysen", was developed to overcome cultivation challenges that led to the decline in boysenberry popularity, and was marketed through farm markets and retailers in California.<ref name=LATimes/> There is also a hybrid variety with [[marionberry]] called "Silvanberry" in Australia. Classed under the blackberry family, Silvanberry plants have many characteristics commonly found among other blackberry varieties. These plants are long living (15 to 20 years) perennials, hardy and cold tolerant, easy to grow, and productive spreaders.<ref>[https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/blackberries/silvanberry-information.htm Silvanberry Planting – How To Grow Silvanberries] ''Gardening Know How''.</ref>

The 'Nectar' cultivar of boysenberry should not be confused with the nectarberry, ''[[Rubus arcticus]]'', a plant native to arctic swamps.

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
*{{commons category-inline|Boysenberries}}

{{Hybrid Rubus}}

[[Category:Hybrid Rubus]]
[[Category:Berries]]
[[Category:Crops originating from North America]]
[[Category:Fruits originating in North America]]
[[Category:Agriculture in California]]
[[Category:Knott's Berry Farm]]
[[Category:Garden plants of North America]]
[[Category:History of Orange County, California]]