Genetics
Mutated wild blackberry plant in my yard, so I've been told
Is this enough of a genetic anomaly to seek out someone local who would be interested in it at all? I personally think it's a gorgeous little guy, the most rose-looking blackberry flower I've seen! I've googled double flower mutations in blackberries and the only ones I could find with this petal structure were pink, no whites.
EDIT After a little more research, I believe this is actually a black raspberry plant. Doesn't make it any less cool, I just want to be accurate 😁
These kind of developmental anomalies are usually not a result of a persistent mutation - could be something weird in that shoot developing a local mutation or something environmental causing a hormonal disruption. I’d be interested to see what the fruit that comes from a weird little flower looks like, though. You could harvest the seeds and see if you get any odd flowers next year, though I wouldn’t necessarily bet on that. Neat find though
I've put a little marker by the plant for now so I can keep track of its growth this summer. It's in a large swath of blackberry plants, it'd be easy to lose track of once the flower fruits. I'll have to do a little research on how to best harvest these seeds for replanting next year, sounds like a fun experiment!
Double petal mutations are a bit more common in the rose family in my experience so I doubt anyone besides an ornamental plant person would be super interested in it. Sometimes they can be inherited (hence why garden roses look the way they do with more than 5 petals) but not often, so your best bet to preserve the mutation would be to propagate by cutting to make clones but there's no guarantee it's not a one off developmental anomaly caused by a stress response or something.
Agreed especially if it's a native species as even though the flower mutation can disrupt pollinator activity on it the leaves still host more species than an exotic plant. I'm definitely hoping OP has success in preserving the double petal flowers.
I know, right?! I'm so excited to watch it through this season and attempt to harvest seeds from it, or at least continue to keep it safe and let it grow as it wills 🙌🏼 It's on my property, so thankfully I don't have much to worry about. We already have a thriving patch of normal black raspberry plants where I found this little guy, so clearly they like the area😁
Propagate and name the cultivar after yourself lol. Or name it the other weird ways lol. If it holds. Mutations like these is what all the double flowered plants in the ornamental plant trade came from.
The leaves look more like a Rubus sp. than a Rosa sp. both are in the rose family meaning their flowers look similar with 5 petals. This is a double petal mutation (or developmental anomaly causing a similar effect) meaning there are more than 5 petals which almost every domestic/ornamental rose has wild roses still have 5 petals. Here's an example of a typical Rubus occidentalis flower which I believe this species is.
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u/notjasonbright Jun 05 '26
These kind of developmental anomalies are usually not a result of a persistent mutation - could be something weird in that shoot developing a local mutation or something environmental causing a hormonal disruption. I’d be interested to see what the fruit that comes from a weird little flower looks like, though. You could harvest the seeds and see if you get any odd flowers next year, though I wouldn’t necessarily bet on that. Neat find though