Fig. 3

An early nineteenth-century illustration of Rubus caesius, showing the flowers, berry, root, and leaves. European dewberry is a small shrub with hairy leaves and biennial stems, which die after fruiting in their second year. The plant sends out long runners, which root at the tops to create new plants. In this illustration, the dewberry looks very dark blue, almost black, but the illustrator has with great fidelity to the original captivated different parts of this rarely used plant before the arrival of the twentieth century and greater availability of sugar (Source: C. Quensel & J.W. Palmstruch Svensk botanik vol. 4, 1805)