The following taxa have been described from or reported for China, but we have seen no specimens and are therefore unable to treat them in this account. Further revisionary study is necessary.
Rubus calophyllus C. B. Clarke (J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 25: 19. 1889), described from India, reported for Xizang (“Tibet”): F. K. Ward 6321.
Rubus chui Handel-Mazzetti (Oesterr. Bot. Z. 90: 121. 1941), described from Sichuan: K. L. Chu 3019; K. L. Chu 3533.
Rubus hiemalis Focke (Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Genève 20: 105. 1917, not Kuntze, 1879), described from Taiwan: O. Warburg 10161.
Rubus nigricaulis Prochanov (Bot. Mater. Gerb. Glavn. Bot. Sada RSFSR 5: 54. 1924), described from Yunnan: A. Henry s.n.
Rubus parapungens H. Hara (Bull. Univ. Mus. Univ. Tokyo 2: 58. 1971; R. horridulus J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 2: 341. 1878, not P. J. Mueller, 1868; R. pungens Cambessèdes var. horridulus H. Hara): a specimen (at E, not seen) from SE Xizang has been identified as this taxon (Eona Aitken, pers. comm.).
Rubus pekinensis Focke (Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Genève 20: 104. 1917), described from Hebei: O. Warburg 6549.
Rubus rectangulifolius Kuntze (Meth. Sp.-Beschr. Rubus, 60, 78. 1879), described from China: G. Staunton s.n.
Rubus sinosudrei H. Léveillé (Bull. Acad. Int. Géogr. Bot. 24: 251. 1914), described from Guizhou: J. Esquirol 3506.
Rubus sweginzowianus Sivers ex Focke (Biblioth. Bot. 17(Heft 72): 188. 1911), described from Gansu: M. v. Sivers s.n.
Rubus viburnifolius Franchet (Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 1: 63. 1895, not Focke, 1910, nor (Greene) Rydberg, 1913), described from ?NE Yunnan (“Tchen-fong-chan”): Delavay s.n.
Rubus chamaemorus (Rosaceae), the Cloudberry, used to have more significance before agriculture, technology, and trade advanced. Cloudberry is thought to be a key part of survival because it is a plant that grows in cold climates such as Russia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Someone stranded with no food in these Arctic and Subarctic regions would see a cloudberry as a lifeline due to its edibility and nutrition. Cloudberry flourishes in these climates, making it a key food for survival because it may be the only food around (due to the cold climates) in some locations (Karst 2011). Collection Cloudberry for sustenance was a seasonal cultural tradition to because they were important for survival and were a symbol of life in such cold places. Presently, cloudberries are not a means for survival and aren’t consumed as much as they used to be. Children lack the interest in them and it is very likely that the next generation will continue to lose interest (Karst 2011).
It is necessary to know what cloudberries contain that are essential for survival and improve living conditions. “Cloudberries among other Rubus—berries are rich in ellagitannins, which are complex phenolic secondary metabolites with various positive bioactivities (anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities) for human health” (Nohynek 2014). Cloudberries are beautiful plants that have a great history. Though they have lost their importance for survival, they are still highly beneficial in many other ways.
Cloudberries can be found in the northern hemisphere around the world. They grow in cool environments like tundra, boreal forests, and mountain ranges. While there are edible and can be used as a food source, their biggest use comes in the form of their antioxidant properties. This is of huge significance. Once scientific journal produced a study and results from a study in Finland. This is a country located in northern Europe. In the article, the author discussed how berries have been found to have high amounts of phenolic compounds. These compounds have been directly linked to good health. Phenolic compounds are essentially antioxidant components, resulting in less bacteria and healthier food and people. Since Finland is located in northern Europe, it has a large cloudberry population. The cloudberry is very common in the Finnish diet, meaning these people are consuming a lot of antioxidants.
The second set of information came from a different scientific journal. The article talks about the chemical makeup of berries, and why they have antioxidant properties. Raspberries and cloudberries are very high in a chemical compound called ellagitannins. The chemical name for these compounds is very long, but it consists of a chain of chemicals, that when strung together, produce this compound that acts as an antioxidant.
Rubus chamaemorus (Cloudberry) is a small plant, stem being 5 to 20cm in height and with its 1 to 3 leaves ranging from 2 to 5cm across and 3 to 7cm long. It possesses a dynamic color sequence as it starts out green, then turns to red, and finishes flowering at an orange-yellow color. It depends on nonflowering reproduction, which takes place underground through the stem or rhizome. Its growth relies on and is most successful in moist or even drier arctic tundras with just enough snow cover to provide protection against harsher weather. (Forbes, 2011)
Male flowers are larger than females but do not produce as much nectar, however little the female flower may produce. Of 43 insect families that visited the cloudberries being studied at the University of Ottawa, the Apidae, Halictidae, Muscidae, and Syrphidae made up 87% of the insects total (Brown, 2009). Although, Dipterans (flies) were found to be the most important pollinator because it is unable to extract the nectar from the competing plant, Ericaceae. This means that flies depend on cloudberries for food and regularly pollinate them. (Brown, 2009)
Cloudberries are inhabitants of Arctic and subarctic regions of the northern temperate zone (Encyclopedia Britannica 2015). Cloudberries are found as north as 78°30' N in Svalbard, Norway and they can be found as south as 44°N in New Hampshire in the United States. It is also very common in northern parts of Norway and can be seen in highland areas and mountains to the south. Cloudberries are also found in many parts of Canada including Alberta, Manitoba, Nunavut, and Quebec. They are widespread in the Northern US and Canada as well.
Cloudberries can handle cold temperatures to as low as -40 degrees Celsius. However, they are extremely sensitive to salt and dry conditions and will not thrive in humid environments. “It grows in bogs, marshes, wet meadows, and tundra, requiring acidic ground (between 3.5 and 5 pH)” (Wikipedia 2017).
Rubus chamaemorus is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to cool temperate regions, alpine and arctic tundra and boreal forest.[2] This herbaceous perennial produces amber-colored edible fruit similar to the blackberry. English common names include cloudberry,[3] nordic berry, bakeapple (in Newfoundland and Labrador), knotberry and knoutberry (in England), aqpik or low-bush salmonberry (in Alaska – not to be confused with salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis),[4] and averin or evron (in Scotland).[5][6]
Unlike most Rubus species, the cloudberry is dioecious, and fruit production by a female plant requires pollination from a male plant.[2]
The cloudberry grows to 10–25 cm (4–10 in) high.[2] The leaves alternate between having 5 and 7 soft, handlike lobes on straight, branchless stalks. After pollination, the white (sometimes reddish-tipped) flowers form raspberry-sized aggregate fruits which are more plentiful in wooded rather than sun-exposed habitats.[2] Consisting of between 5 and 25 drupelets, each fruit is initially pale red, ripening into an amber color in early autumn.
Cloudberries are a circumpolar boreal plant, occurring naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere from 78°N, south to about 55°N, and are scattered south to 44°N mainly in mountainous areas and moorlands.[2] In Europe, they grow in the Nordic countries but are rare in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Poland.[2] They occur across northern Russia east towards the Pacific Ocean as far south as Japan in the island of Hokkaido.[2] Due to peatland drainage and peat exploitation, they are considered endangered[2] and are under legal protection in Germany's Weser and Elbe valleys, and at isolated sites in the English Pennines and Scottish Highlands. A single, fragile site exists in the Sperrin Mountains of Northern Ireland.[7]
In North America, cloudberries grow wild across Greenland, most of northern Canada, Alaska, northern Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, and New York.[2][8]
Wide distribution occurs due to the excretion of the indigestible seeds by birds and mammals. Further distribution arises through its rhizomes, which are up to 10 m (33 ft) long and grow about 10–15 cm (4–6 in) below the soil surface, developing extensive and dense berry patches.[2] Cuttings of these taken in May or August are successful in producing a genetic clone of the parent plant.[9] The cloudberry grows in bogs, marshes, wet meadows, tundra and elevations of 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) above sea level in Norway, requiring acidic ground (between 3.5 and 5 pH).[2]
Cloudberry leaves are food for caterpillars of several Lepidoptera species. The moth Coleophora thulea has no other known food plants. See also List of Lepidoptera that feed on Rubus.
Despite great demand as a delicacy (particularly in Sweden, Norway and Finland) the cloudberry is not widely cultivated and is primarily a wild plant. Wholesale prices vary widely based on the size of the yearly harvest, but cloudberries have gone for as little as €10/kg (in 2004).[10]
Since the middle of the 1990s, however, the species has formed part of a multinational research project. Beginning in 2002, selected cultivars have been available to farmers, notably 'Apolto' (male), 'Fjellgull' (female) and 'Fjordgull' (female). Finnish self-pollinated 'Nyby' variety is monoecious, i.e. the female and male flowers are located in the same plant unit.[11] The cloudberry can be cultivated in Arctic areas where few other crops are possible, for example along the northern coast of Norway.
When ripe, cloudberry fruits are golden-yellow, soft and juicy, and are rich in vitamin C.[2] When eaten fresh, cloudberries have a distinctive tart taste. When over-ripe, they have a creamy texture somewhat like yogurt and a sweet flavor.[12] They are often made into jams, juices, tarts, and liqueurs. In Finland, the berries are eaten with heated leipäjuusto (a local cheese; the name translates to "bread-cheese"), as well as cream and sugar. In Sweden, cloudberries (hjortron) and cloudberry jam are used as a topping for ice cream, pancakes, and waffles. In Norway, they are often mixed with whipped cream and sugar to be served as a dessert called multekrem (cloudberry cream), as a jam or as an ingredient in homemade ice cream. Cloudberry yoghurt—molte- or multeyoughurt—is a supermarket item in Norway.[13]
In Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, cloudberries are used to make "bakeapple pie" or jam. Arctic Yup'ik mix the berries with seal oil, reindeer or caribou fat (which is diced and made fluffy with seal oil) and sugar to make "Eskimo ice cream" or akutaq.[2] The recipes vary by region. Along the Yukon and Kuskokwim River areas, white fish (pike) along with shortening and sugar are used. The berries are an important traditional food resource for the Yup'ik.
Due to its high vitamin C content,[2] the berry is valued both by Nordic seafarers and Northern indigenous peoples. Its polyphenol content, including flavonoid compounds such as ellagic acid, appears to naturally preserve food preparations of the berries.[2] Cloudberries can be preserved in their own juice without added sugar, if stored cool.[14]
Extract of cloudberries is also used in cosmetics such as shower gels, hand creams and body lotions.
In Nordic countries, traditional liqueurs such as lakkalikööri (Finland) are made of cloudberry,[15] having a strong taste and high sugar content. Cloudberry is used as a flavouring for making akvavit. In northeastern Quebec, a cloudberry liqueur known as chicoutai (Innu-aimun name) is made.[16]
Cloudberries are rich in vitamin C and ellagic acid,[2] citric acid, malic acid, α-tocopherol, anthocyanins and the provitamin A carotenoid, β-carotene in contents which differ across regions of Finland due to sunlight exposure, rainfall or temperature.[17] The ellagitannins lambertianin C and sanguiin H-6 are also present.[18] Genotype of cloudberry variants may also affect polyphenol composition, particularly for ellagitannins, sanguiin H-6, anthocyanins and quercetin.[19]
Polyphenol extracts from cloudberries have improved storage properties when microencapsulated using maltodextrin DE5-8.[20] At least 14 volatile compounds, including vanillin, account for the aroma of cloudberries.[21]
The cloudberry appears on the Finnish version of the 2 euro coin.[22] The name of the hill Beinn nan Oighreag in Breadalbane in the Scottish Highlands means "Hill of the Cloudberries" in Scottish Gaelic.[23] Transactions of Camden's Britain (1637 edition) indicates the etymological origins of 'cloud-berry', the plant's name in old Lancashire dialect: 'Pendelhill [in Lancashire] advenceth itselfe up the skie [...] and in the very top thereof bringeth forth a peculiar plant which, as though it came out of the clowdes, they tearme clowdes-berry'.[24] In Norrland cloudberries are known as Norrland's gold.[25]
One of the gnomes in The Little Grey Men, a 1942 children's book by "BB" (Denys Watkins-Pitchford), and its sequel is named Cloudberry.
In some northern European countries such as Norway, a common use policy to non-wood forest products allows anyone to pick cloudberries on public property and eat them on location, but only local residents may transport them from that location.[26][27][28] Transporting ripe cloudberries from the harvest location is permitted in many counties.[26]
It was illegal to harvest unripe cloudberries in Norway between 1970 and 2004.[29][30] Many people still believe that it's illegal to harvest unripe cloudberries in Norway, but the law has been made defunct.[30]
Ripe cloudberry, February 2006
Ripe cloudberry, July 2006
![Cloudberry distribution in US,[31] Map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rubus_chamaemorus_in_the_USA.svg)
Cloudberry distribution in US,[31] Map
Rubus chamaemorus is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to cool temperate regions, alpine and arctic tundra and boreal forest. This herbaceous perennial produces amber-colored edible fruit similar to the blackberry. English common names include cloudberry, nordic berry, bakeapple (in Newfoundland and Labrador), knotberry and knoutberry (in England), aqpik or low-bush salmonberry (in Alaska – not to be confused with salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis), and averin or evron (in Scotland).
