Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

Blackberry or mulberry is what this word means.  Brambles!  Viciously picky thorns!  Ouch!  But what a sweet and delicious reward goes to the tenacious picker.  Long sleeves are in order.

Blackberry is the common name for the Rubus allegheniensis, a large sprawling plant with canes of 1 to 2 metres in length, armed with sizeable thorns.  The blackberry is oblong to conical, and has a sweet spicy flavour appreciated by many and oh-so-good in a pie.  Blackberries are found along roadsides in Potton, however the location of a good blackberry patch is often a jealously guarded secret and sometimes is frequented by furry four legged friends.  Remember "blackberries are red when they're green".

The blackberry is easily confused with the thimbleberry or wild black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis, which also grows in Quebec.  Black raspberries detach from the plant much as a raspberry does, very easily.  The thimbleberry looks much as its name suggests, with fruit more globe-shaped than conical, and varying in colour from red to black.  Red is far more common.  Thimbleberry plants have no thorns and are known as Rubus parviflorus in scientific circles.^[1]