The loganberry is anoctaploid hybrid produced from crossing a hexaploidapomictic blackberry and a tetrachloride raspberry.
The loganberry was derived from a cross between a Rubus idaeus ‘Red Antwerp’ and a R. vitifolius’Aughinbaugh’. It was accidentally created in 1883 inSanta Cruz, California, by the American lawyer and horticulturist James Harvey Logan (1841–1928). In the 1880s, berry growers began to cross varieties to obtain better commercial varieties. Logan was unsatisfied with the existing varieties of blackberries and tried to cross two varieties of blackberries to produce a superior cultivar.
While attempting to cross two varieties of blackberries, Logan accidentally planted them next to an old variety of red raspberry, all of which flowered and fruited together. The varieties involved in the Loganberry hybrid were probably ‘Texas Early’ or ‘Aughinburgh’ blackberry and ‘Red Antwerp’ red raspberry which were two of the three Rubusvarieties planted in Logan’s yard that year. Logan gathered and planted the seed. The 50 seedlings produced plants similar to the blackberry parent Aughinbaugh, but were larger and more vigorous. One was the Loganberry; the remaining 49 included the Mammoth Blackberry (the longest fruit of any variety ever grown).
Since Logan’s time, crosses between the cultivars of raspberry and blackberry have confirmed the Loganberry’s parentage. An earlier theory that the Loganberry originated as a red-fruiting form of the common Californian blackberry Rubus ursinus has been disproved.
Logan’s original was introduced to Europe in 1897, while the ‘American Thornless’, a prickle-free mutation, was developed in 1933. A similar hybrid is the Nessberry which is a cross between a dewberry and the red raspberry. The Phenomenal Berry or ‘Burbank’s Logan’ is a 2nd generation cross (i.e. two first generation crosses were crossed to each other) between blackberry and raspberry made by Luther Burbank in 1905.
The Loganberry proved to be productive and well adapted to local conditions, but its flavor was not popular with customers. Its main use was as a parent for further hybrids. It has been used as a parent in more recent crosses between Rubus species, such as Tayberry (loganberry × raspberry), Boysenberry(loganberry × raspberry × blackberry), Youngberry (Phenomenal berry × Austin Mayes dewberry), Santiam blackberry (loganberry × California blackberry) and Olallieberry (Black Logan × Youngberry).
benefits of loganberries
- Maintaining optimum health
- Weight loss
- Low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium
- High in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Manganese, Vitamin K, Folate and Copper
