North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] Mystery berry - can you help me identify this?

I agree.  That could easily be Amelanchier.  There are several species here in Oregon and your description fits the genus very well.  Good thing you didn't chew the seeds, though.  Raw Amelanchier seeds have cyanide in them, like apple, pear and stone fruit seeds.  Just swallowed, the cyanide isn't released, and cooking renders it harmless.
-Lon Rombough
> From: Hector Black <hblack@twlakes.net>
> Reply-To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 08:34:39 -0500
> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Mystery berry - can you help me identify this?

> Hi Ginda,
>     Sure sounds like a serviceberry to me.  Some of them can be quite good
> but the wild ones usually not.
> Hector Black  zone 6 middle tn
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <list@ginda.us>
> To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2003 7:07 AM
> Subject: [NAFEX] Mystery berry - can you help me identify this?
>
>
> > While looking for wild blueberries that weren't quite ripe in the lakes
> > region of New Hampshire last week, my husband and I came upon a a small
> > tree bearing fruits that looked a lot like blueberries.  It was near
> > peak, with lots of ripe berries and lots of ripening berries.  The tree
> > was about 15' tall, with a central trunk about 2-4" thick (not very
> > round).  It was growing on the edge of an island, leaning out over the
> > lake.   The bark was smooth.
> >
> > The leaves were "leaf shaped" simple leaves, a little bigger than the
> > wild blueberries, but within the range of sizes I've seen for domestic
> > highbush blueberries.  They were softer in texture than a blueberry
> > leaf - less leathery - and has tiny sharp serrations pointing towards
> > the tip.  Each little point was a couple of millimeters long (maybe
> > less) and they were fairly uniform.
> >
> > The berries were large for wild blueberries, although smaller than
> > domestic blueberries.  They grew in loose clusters of about 20 or more,
> > and each berry has a prominent blossom scar, with long "tags" of skin
> > around it.  We each ate a couple fresh, and they tasted similar to
> > blueberries, but not as good.  A couple days later, when neither of us
> > got sick, we ate a lot more.  They were pleasant, but seedy and a bit
> > bland.  They were not terribly popular around the table, but that may
> > have been partly because I couldn't say for sure what they were.
> >
> > My first guess is some kind of service berry, although it didn't
> > exactly match any of the ameliamchor in the only tree book I could
> > find.  I have a good photo of a twig with fruit that I can e-mail to
> > anyone who wants to take a stab at identifying it, but I don't know how
> > to post to NAFEX space, and I think we are requested not to send
> > attachments to this list.
> >
> > Thanks for any ideas,
> > Ginda
> >
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