Rubus chamaemorus

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the rose family}} {{Redirect|Cloudberry|the computer storage solution company|CloudBerry Lab}} {{Speciesbox | image = Rubus chamaemorus, from Tromsø, August 2020.jpeg | image_caption = Ripe cloudberry | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn">{{Cite iucn|title=''Rubus chamaemorus''|article-number=e.T64323876A67730717|last=Maiz-Tome, L.|year=2016|access-date=29 April 2022|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T64323876A67730717.en}}</ref> | genus = Rubus | parent = Rubus subg. Chamaemorus | species = chamaemorus | authority = L. 1753 not Fisch. ex Ser. 1825 | range_map = Cloudberry distrib.png | range_map_caption = Distribution of ''Rubus chamaemorus'' | range_map_alt = Map of the world, with colored areas indicating the species occurs in the Arctic and Subarctic regions | synonyms_ref = | synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true |title=Synonymy |''Chamaemorus anglica'' Clus. ex Greene |''Chamaemorus anglicus'' Greene |''Chamaemorus chamaemorus'' (L.) House |''Chamaemorus norvegicus'' Greene |''Chamaemorus norwegica'' Clus. ex Greene |''Rubus chamaemorus'' var. ''pseudochamaemorus'' (Tolm.) Hulten |''Rubus nubis'' Gray |''Rubus pseudochamaemorus'' Tolm. |''Rubus yessoicus'' Kuntze }} }}

'''''Rubus chamaemorus''''' (also known as '''cloudberry''') is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae.<ref name="itis">{{cite web |title=''Rubus chamaemorus'' L. |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=24850#null |publisher=Integrated Taxonomic Information System |access-date=17 February 2026 |date=17 February 2026}}</ref> It has numerous common names varying by region, such as '''Nordic berry''', '''Arctic berry''', '''baked apple''', '''knotberry''', '''aqpik''', and '''lowbush salmonberry'''.<ref name="uaf">{{cite web|url=https://www.uaf.edu/ces/publications/database/food/cloudberries.php |publisher= Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension, University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Cooperative Extension Service|title=Cloudberrries|date=August 2022|access-date=17 February 2026}}</ref><ref name="foodb.ca/00161">{{cite web |title=Cloudberry |url=https://foodb.ca/foods/FOOD00161 |access-date=23 October 2022|publisher=Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Foundation for Innovation, and Metabolomics Innovation Centre|date=2022}}</ref>

A herbaceous perennial, it produces amber-colored fruit similar in structure to the blackberry. It is native to cool temperate regions, alpine and Arctic tundra, and boreal forest. Although not cultivated commercially, the fruit is edible.

==Description== Unlike most ''Rubus'' species, the cloudberry is dioecious, and fruit production by a female plant requires pollination from a male plant.<ref name=uaf/> The plant germinates from seeds spread by animals that consumed the fruit, then reproduces locally by rhizomes.<ref name="abmi">{{cite web |title=Cloudberry|url=https://abmi.ca/species/rubus-chamaemorus|publisher=Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute |access-date=17 February 2026 |date=February 2024}}</ref> Vegetative growth can be extensive, with rhizomes growing 10 meters (33 feet) or longer.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jean |first=Donald |last2=Lapointe |first2=Line |date=2001 |title=Limited carbohydrate availability as a potential cause of fruit abortion in Rubus chamaemorus |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1034/j.1399-3054.2001.1120311.x |journal=Physiologia Plantarum |language=en |volume=112 |issue=3 |pages=379–387 |doi=10.1034/j.1399-3054.2001.1120311.x |issn=0031-9317|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The cloudberry grows {{convert|10|–|25|cm|frac=2}} high. The short stems are unbranched and have 1-3 leaves. The leaves have five to seven handlike (palmate) lobes. After pollination, the white (sometimes reddish-tipped) flowers form raspberry-sized aggregate fruits, which are more plentiful in wooded rather than sun-exposed habitats.<ref name=itis/><ref name=uaf/> Consisting of between five and 25 drupelets, each fruit is initially pale red, ripening into an amber color in early autumn. After pollination the sepals close around the developing fruit, opening again when the fruit is ripe.<ref name="Jones-2010" />

{{gallery|mode=packed |Rubus chamaemorus LC0151.jpg|Male flower |Rubus chamaemorus 0001.jpg|Foliage and fruit in Côte-Nord, Quebec |Chamaemorus fruit.jpg|Unripe cloudberry |Cloudberries.jpg|Ripe cloudberries }}

===Chemistry=== Cloudberries are rich in vitamin C,<ref name=uaf/> citric acid, malic acid, {{nowrap|α-tocopherol}}, anthocyanins, and the provitamin A carotenoid, {{nowrap|β-carotene}} in contents that differ across regions of Finland due to sunlight exposure, rainfall, and temperature.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=22083544|year=2012|last1=Jaakkola|first1=M.|title=Chemical composition of ripe fruits of ''Rubus chamaemorus'' L. grown in different habitats|journal=Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture|volume=92|issue=6|pages=1324–30|last2=Korpelainen|first2=V.|last3=Hoppula|first3=K.|last4=Virtanen|first4=V.|doi=10.1002/jsfa.4705|bibcode=2012JSFA...92.1324J}}</ref> The ellagitannins lambertianin C and sanguiin H-6 are also present.<ref name=Kahkonen>{{cite journal|title=Antioxidant activity of isolated ellagitannins from red raspberries and cloudberries|last1=Kähkönen|first1=M.|last2=Kylli|first2=P.|last3=Ollilainen|first3=V/|last4=Salminen|first4=J. P.|last5=Heinonen|first5=M.|journal=J Agric Food Chem|year=2012|volume=60|issue=5|pages=1,167–74|doi=10.1021/jf203431g|pmid=22229937|bibcode=2012JAFC...60.1167K}}</ref> Genotype of cloudberry variants may also affect polyphenol composition, particularly for ellagitannins, sanguiin {{Nowrap|H-6}}, anthocyanins and quercetin.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=21916411|year=2011|last1=McDougall|first1=G. J.|title=Assessing the influence of genotype and temperature on polyphenol composition in cloudberry (''Rubus chamaemorus'' L.) using a novel mass spectrometric method|journal=Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry|volume=59|issue=20|pages=10,860–8|last2=Martinussen|first2=I.|last3=Junttila|first3=O.|last4=Verrall|first4=S.|last5=Stewart|first5=D.|doi=10.1021/jf202083b|bibcode=2011JAFC...5910860M}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat== 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.<ref name=uaf/> In Europe, they grow in the Nordic countries, but are rare in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and Poland.<ref name=uaf/> They are present in the English Pennines and the Scottish Highlands, while a single, fragile site exists in the Sperrin Mountains of Northern Ireland.<ref name=habitas>{{cite web|url=https://www.habitas.org.uk/priority/species.asp?item=3317|title=''Rubus chamaemorus'' - cloudberry|publisher=National Museums, Northern Ireland|date=2011|access-date=29 December 2016}}</ref> They occur across northern Russia east towards the Pacific Ocean as far south as Japan in the island of Hokkaido.<ref name=iucn/><ref name=uaf/>

In North America, cloudberries grow wild across Greenland, most of northern Canada, Alaska, northern Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, and New York.<ref name=iucn/><ref name=uaf/><ref>{{BONAP|ref|genus=Rubus|species=chamaemorus|state=1}}</ref>

Wide distribution occurs due to the excretion of the indigestible seeds by birds and mammals.<ref name=abmi/> Further distribution arises through its rhizomes, which are up to {{convert|10|m|abbr=on}} long and grow about {{convert|10|-|15|cm|abbr=on|frac=2}} below the soil surface, developing extensive and dense berry patches.<ref name=uaf/><ref name=abmi/> Cuttings of these taken in May or August are successful in producing a genetic clone of the parent plant.<ref>{{cite journal|author=K. Rapp|year=1986|title=Vegetativ oppformering av molte (''Rubus chamaemorus'' L.)|journal=Jord og Myr|volume=10|pages=1–11}}</ref> The cloudberry grows in bogs, marshes, wet meadows, and tundra, and at elevations of {{convert|1743|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level in Norway, requiring acidic ground (between 3.5 and 5.0 pH).<ref name=iucn/><ref name=itis/><ref name=uaf/>

==Ecology== Cloudberry leaves are food for caterpillars of several Lepidoptera species. The larvae of the moth ''Coleophora thulea'' has no other known food plants.<ref>{{cite web |title=Coleophora thulea – Plant Parasites of Europe |url=https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/gelechioidea/coleophoridae/coleophora/coleophora-thulea/ |website=bladmineerders.nl}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Plant Of The Month: September |url=https://professorhedgehogsjournal.uk/2016/09/12/plant-of-the-month-september-2/ |website=Professor Hedgehog's Journal |language=en |date=12 September 2016}}</ref>

==Conservation== The plant occurs in the wild across several geographic zones, and is not considered "vulnerable", but rather is listed as having "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.<ref name=iucn/>

==Cultivation== As mainly a tundra species, cloudberries grow in the wild, and are not cultivated on a commercial scale.<ref name=abmi/> In northern Alberta, agriculture, energy and industrial footprints reduce habitat suitability.<ref name=abmi/>

==Uses== {{More citations|section|date=July 2025}} {{Cookbook|Cloudberry}} thumb|Cloudberry jam [[File:Leipäjuusto cheese with cloudberry jam.jpg|thumb|Bread cheese with cloudberry jam]]

When ripe, cloudberry fruits are golden-yellow, soft, and juicy, and are rich in vitamin C.<ref name=uaf/> When eaten fresh, cloudberries have a distinctive tart taste. They are often made into jams, juices, tarts, and liqueurs. In Finland, the berries are eaten with heated {{lang|fi|leipäjuusto}} (a local cheese; the name translates to "bread-cheese"), as well as cream and sugar. In Sweden, cloudberries ({{lang|sv|hjortron}}, also known in northern Sweden as ''snattren'')<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cloudberries – a Swedish delicacy {{!}} Visit Umeå |url=https://visitumea.se/en/hjortron |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=visitumea.se}}</ref> and cloudberry jam are used as a topping for ice cream, pancakes, and waffles. Cloudberry ''filmjölk'' (soured milk) is available in supermarkets.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

In Norway, they are often mixed with whipped cream and sugar to be served as a dessert called ''moltekrem'' (cloudberry cream), as a jam or as an ingredient in homemade ice cream. Cloudberry yoghurt—{{lang|no|molte-}} or {{lang|no|multeyoughurt}}—is a supermarket item in Norway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tine.no/merkevarer/tine-yoghurt/produkter/tine-yoghurt-molte|title=TINE Yoghurt Molte|work=TINE.no|access-date=2015-08-15|archive-date=2016-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809121606/http://www.tine.no/merkevarer/tine-yoghurt/produkter/tine-yoghurt-molte}}</ref>

In Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, cloudberries are used to make bakeapple pie, jams, jellies, fruit wines, and toppings for cheesecakes and ice cream.

Arctic Yup'ik and Inupiat 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''.<ref name="Jones-2010">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Anore |title=Plants that we eat: nauriat nigiñaqtuat from the traditional wisdom of the Iñupiat elders of northwest Alaska |date=2010 |publisher=University of Alaska Press |isbn=978-1-60223-074-3 |location=Fairbanks}}</ref> 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 Indigenous people in the Arctic, including the Yup'ik, Inuit and Sami.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nilsen |first=Gerd Sigrid |date=2005-09-01 |title=Cloudberries—The Northern Gold |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J492v05n02_06 |journal=International Journal of Fruit Science |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=45–60 |doi=10.1300/J492v05n02_06 |issn=1553-8362|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Due to its high vitamin C content,<ref name=uaf/> the berry is valued both by Nordic seafarers and Northern indigenous peoples. Cloudberries can be preserved in their own juice without added sugar, if stored cool.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wild berries: cloudberries|url=http://www.arctic-flavours.fi/en/info/berries/wild+berries/cloudberry/ |publisher=Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry|date=2014|access-date=15 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915162711/http://www.arctic-flavours.fi/en/info/berries/wild+berries/cloudberry|archive-date=15 September 2014}}</ref>

===Alcoholic drinks=== thumb|Bottle of Lakka (Cloudberry) liqueur

In Nordic countries, traditional liqueurs such as {{lang|fi|lakkalikööri}} (Finland) are made of cloudberry,<ref name="aaflora/roruch">{{cite web |title=Cloudberry - ''Rubus chamaemorus'' L. |url=https://nature.ca/aaflora/data/www/roruch.htm |website=Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago |publisher=Canadian Museum of Nature |access-date=23 October 2022}}</ref> having a strong taste and high sugar content. In Sweden, cloudberry flavoured gin is produced in limited quantities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=En Värmländsk Jävla Hjortron-Gin Stay True Brewing |url=https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/sprit/en-varmlandsk-javla-hjortron-gin-3206402/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |website=www.systembolaget.se |language=sv}}</ref> Cloudberry is used as a flavouring for making ''akvavit''. In northeastern Quebec, a cloudberry liqueur known as {{lang|fr|chicoutai}} (Innu-aimun name) is made.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chicoutai |url=http://www.terroirsquebec.com/encyclopedie/chicoutai |language=fr |publisher=terroirsquebec.com |access-date=7 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124011809/http://www.terroirsquebec.com/encyclopedie/chicoutai |archive-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> In Newfoundland and Labrador, cloudberries (called "bakeapples") have been used to make fruit wine, bitters, and beer.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mmmmm, bakeapple beer: Newfoundland berries find their way into Halifax mugs |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/bakeapple-beer-two-crows-brewery-1.4706667 |access-date=22 April 2026 |agency=CBC News |date=Jun 15, 2018}}</ref>

Polyphenol extracts from cloudberries have improved storage properties when microencapsulated using maltodextrin {{Nowrap|DE5-8}}.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=18989975|year=2008|last1=Laine|first1=P.|title=Storage stability of microencapsulated cloudberry (''Rubus chamaemorus'') phenolics|journal=Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry|volume=56|issue=23|pages=11,251–61|last2=Kylli|first2=P.|last3=Heinonen|first3=M.|last4=Jouppila|first4=K.|doi=10.1021/jf801868h|bibcode=2008JAFC...5611251L}}</ref> At least 14 volatile compounds, including vanillin, account for the aroma of cloudberries.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=835340|year=1977|last1=Pyysalo|first1=T.|title=The influence of heat on the aroma of cloudberries (''Rubus chamaemorus'' L.)|journal=Zeitschrift für Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und -Forschung|volume=163|issue=1|pages=25–30|last2=Honkanen|first2=E.|doi=10.1007/BF01123552|s2cid=29831932}}</ref>

===Harvesting on public property=== {{See also|Freedom to roam}}

In some northern European countries, such as Norway, a common-use policy on 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.<ref name="berryFAO">{{cite web|last1=Saastamoinen|first1=Olli|title=Forest policies, access rights and non-wood forest products in northern Europe|url=https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/8491/Forest%20policies,%20access%20rights%20and%20non-wood%20forest%20products%20in%20northern%20Europe.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|access-date=17 August 2020|website=FAO|archive-date=21 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121124052/https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/8491/Forest%20policies,%20access%20rights%20and%20non-wood%20forest%20products%20in%20northern%20Europe.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Guide to Cloudberries|url=http://mylittlenorway.com/2011/07/guide-to-cloudberries/|website=My Little Norway|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://artikkel.ut.no/dette-har-du-lov-til-a-gjore-pa-tur-ifolge-allemannsretten-1.12450653|title=Dette har du lov til å gjøre på tur|language=no|publisher=UT.no, Norwegian Trekking and NRK|date=2015|access-date=17 August 2015|archive-date=16 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150816204026/http://artikkel.ut.no/dette-har-du-lov-til-a-gjore-pa-tur-ifolge-allemannsretten-1.12450653}}</ref> Transporting ripe cloudberries from the harvest location is permitted in many countries.<ref name=berryFAO />

Harvesting unripe cloudberries in Norway was illegal between 1970 and 2004.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lov om forbud mot plukking av moltekart - Lovdata |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLO/lov/1970-05-06-25 |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=lovdata.no}}</ref><ref name="NorwayGuide-2022">{{Cite web |date=2022-08-13 |title=Is It Illegal to Pick Unripe Cloudberries in Norway in 2022? All You Need to Know! - The Norway Guide |url=https://thenorwayguide.com/pick-unripe-cloudberries/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |language=en-US}}</ref> Many people believe that it is still illegal to harvest unripe cloudberries in Norway, but that law is no longer in effect.<ref name="NorwayGuide-2022" />

==In culture== [[File:Muurame.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright=.55|Coat of arms of Muurame]]

The cloudberry appears on the Finnish version of the 2 euro coin.<ref>{{cite web|title=Finnish face of Euro coins: cloudberry, swan and heraldic lion|url=http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/avs/files/euro/092-euro-fi/181297.html|publisher=ec.europa.eu|access-date=3 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305044606/http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/avs/files/euro/092-euro-fi/181297.html|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref> The name of the hill {{lang|gd|Beinn nan Oighreag}} in Breadalbane in the Scottish Highlands means "Hill of the Cloudberries" in Scottish Gaelic.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/beinn-nan-oighreag-hill-of-the-cloudberries-1-1168948|title=Beinn nan Oighreag, Hill of the Cloudberries|access-date=7 April 2013|work=Scotsman.com|date=20 May 2008}}</ref> Transactions of Camden's Britain (1637 edition) indicate 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'.<ref>John Howard Nodal, George Milner, A Glossary of the Lancashire Dialect, Part 1, 1875, 84</ref> In Norrland cloudberries are known as Norrland's gold.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.isof.se/matkult/bar-och-frukt/olika-sorters-bar-och-frukt/hjortron.html |title=Hjortron - Institutet för språk och folkminnen |website=www.isof.se |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030111203/https://www.isof.se/matkult/bar-och-frukt/olika-sorters-bar-och-frukt/hjortron.html |archive-date=2020-10-30}} </ref>

In Newfoundland and Labrador, several communities, including Garnish and Forteau, host festivals celebrating the harvest of cloudberries.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons|Rubus chamaemorus}} * {{PFAF}}

chamaemorus Category:Berries Category:Flora of Europe Category:Flora of Northern America Category:Flora of temperate Asia Category:Finnish cuisine Category:Inuit cuisine Category:Canadian cuisine Category:Norwegian cuisine Category:Swedish cuisine Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Dioecious plants