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nafex - [NAFEX] Strange flowering on High Bush Cranberry

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  • From: "Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>
  • To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Strange flowering on High Bush Cranberry
  • Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2008 10:23:38 -0600

Marsh called it Viburnum trilobum, Linnaeus called it Viburnum Opulus and the pictures of it do not do it justice. The High Bush Cranberry has a strange flowering habit that I've not seen on another plant. It produces a cluster of tiny perfect flowers surrounded by bracts that closely resemble real flowers. The bracts are each about 1/2" in diameter and are brilliant enough to attract passing pollinators to the insignificant flowers in the center of the cluster.
If you get a chance to see one in bloom, it is worth the experience just for the unusualness of it.
Oh, and if you should ever have the opportunity to get enough of the fruit to make jelly, be sure to stand up-wind when cooking it and be prepared for down-wind neighbors to complain of the stench. It makes a wonderfully tasting jelly, one of my favorites, but, when you first open the jar, it smells of dirty socks. It is not one of our best sellers but we do sell alot of it, mostly to folks whose mothers or grandmothers made the jelly.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
For jams, jellies & syrups:
www.bberryfarm.com
(877)265-6856 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]




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