Rubus chamaemorus (Cloudberry)

Plant Info
Also known as: Baked-apple Berry
Genus:Rubus
Family:Rosaceae (Rose)
Life cycle:perennial woody
Origin:native
Status:
  • State Threatened
Habitat:part shade, sun; boreal forest openings, bogs, rock outcrops, mossy woods, peaty tundra
Bloom season:June - July
Plant height:8 to 12 inches
Wetland Indicator Status:GP: none MW: none NCNE: FACW
MN county distribution (click map to enlarge):Minnesota county distribution map
National distribution (click map to enlarge):National distribution map

Pick an image for a larger view. See the glossary for icon descriptions.

Detailed Information

Flower: Flower shape: 4-petals Flower shape: 5-petals

[photo of female flower] Flowers are single on a slender stalk at the tip of erect stems, blooming as leaves emerge. Male and female flowers are on separate plants (dioecious), similar, ¾ to 1¼ inches across with 4 or 5 broad, rounded white petals. Male flowers have a cluster of numerous yellow-tipped stamens in the center. Female flowers have a cluster of green to yellowish styles surrounded by numerous short, sterile, white-tipped stamens.

[photo of sepals] The 5 to 8 sepals are egg shaped, often with a short, abruptly pointed tip (mucronate), half as long as the petals or less, often reddish, the outer surfaces and the stalk variably covered in a mix of short, soft glandular and non-glandular hairs. Stalks are ¾ to 2 inches long.

Leaves and stems: Leaf attachment: alternate Leaf type: lobed Leaf type: simple

[photo of leaves] Leaves are simple and alternate, the blades leathery, roughly round or kidney shaped in outline, 1½ to 4¼ inches long, 2 to 4½ inches wide with 3 to 7 (mostly 5) rounded lobes and palmate veins, the base heart-shaped, edges finely toothed, upper surface dark green and mostly hairless, lower surface pale grayish green with hairs along the veins. Mature leaves are long-stalked.

[photo of stipules and stem] Near the base of the stem and at the base of leaf stalks are pairs of appendages (stipules) that are broadly egg-shaped and up to ¼ inch long. Stems, stalks and stipules are typically reddish and variably covered in a mix of short, fine glandular and non-glandular hairs but no bristles or prickles. Stems are unbranched, arise from a woody base, mostly erect, and die back to the woody base each year. Plants form clonal colonies from creeping rhizomes.

Fruit: Fruit type: berry/drupe

[photo of fruit] Fruit is an irregularly rounded cluster, 1/3 to ¾ inch in diameter, of only a few fleshy druplets, reddish turning yellowish to reddish orange when ripe.

Notes:

Cloudberry is a circumpolar species whose southern range in the US barely dips into extreme northeast Minnesota and into Maine. It is very rare in Minnesota and, according to the DNR, wasn't even discovered here until 1954. Its habitat here is sparsely forested black spruce/sphagnum bogs, but is known from fewer than 12 locations and in 1984 it was listed as a state Threatened species. Its primary means of reproduction is vegetative rhizomes that can form large clonal colonies. It rarely sets fruit in Minnesota, perhaps in part due to isolated, small colonies being either all male or all female, and also studies have shown that the male flowers often open too early to provide pollen for the later flowering females. In Scandinavia however, it fruits well enough to provide for a commercially harvestable crop, though being all hand picked from the wild - it makes for expensive jam. Cloudberry leaves may resemble those of some gooseberries (Ribes species), which have woody stems, lack the stipules, and some of which have prickles. Also of note is that some references state Cloudberry stems are not glandular hairy except perhaps on the upper stem, but our images show stems clearly glandular to the base, at least on the population we photographed. It's a variable trait.

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More photos

Photos courtesy Peter M. Dziuk taken near Grand Portage in Cook county, MN. Fruit photo courtesy Andy Fyon, OntarioWildflower, taken in Ontario, Canada.

Comments

Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?

Posted by: Amada S - Columbia Heights
on: 2018-01-02 17:15:06

Hi, I am buying 35 acres of land with 1 acre in a wetland/swamp area and we're interested in trying to grow cloudberries. Do you know if it is possible to plant them here? Do you have any suggestions about this? I appreciate your help. Thank you.

Posted by: K. Chayka
on: 2018-01-02 18:23:10

I'm afraid we don't know anything about propagating this species. If you have a seed source you might ask them for advice.

Posted by: lance n - n. d.
on: 2018-01-08 10:26:48

i'm from north dakota but i go to norway often , . cloudberries have not been successfully farmed yet . soiL , fertilizer (moose) temps and the fact that each plant has about ten ft. of roots make them hard to plant . it taKES ABOUT SEVEN YEARS TO GROW A PLANT TO BARE FRUIT . AND NOT EVERY YEAR . GOOD LUCK AND IF THEY GROW CAN I PICK SOME ? THEY ARE GOOD . SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS .

Posted by: Jeff P - Minneapolis
on: 2019-12-05 17:58:09

Just moved from Fairbanks. I've can dozens of jars of cloudberry jam for the past 40 years. I will be experimenting with growing cloudberries this next year in Minnesota.

Posted by: Susan Meades
on: 2020-10-07 09:40:14

When ripe, bakeapple fruits are translucent yellow; immature fruits are opaque and red to orange. See: https://newfoundland-labradorflora.ca/flora/dview/?id=1059

Posted by: Amy - MOORHEAD
on: 2021-04-19 19:20:21

Curious if the previous posters had any luck attempting to propagate cloudberries in MN. Thanks!

Posted by: Carly Austin-Kukowski - Airport lake, Winona, MN
on: 2022-08-09 13:53:51

Found along the airport side of the lake in what used ro be a rope swinging spot.

Posted by: K Chayka
on: 2022-08-09 17:50:47

Carly, there is no way you found this in Winona, in what is likely a pretty disturbed area. Notice the natural habitat: boreal forest, bogs, mossy woods. You found something else, but I can't say what. Post some image on the Minnesota Wildflowers Facebook page for help with an ID, or try iNaturalist.

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