Cranberries, Round III

by SAM THAYER

The July and November 2001 issues carried conflicting reader reports about "highbush" cranberries ("Cranberry Catharsis" and "Learning to Love Highbush Cranberries"). Such misunderstanding occurs because the common name highbush cranberry" actually refers to three different species: Viburnum opulus, V. trilobum and V. edule.

John Venable, who found "highbush cranberries" to taste horrible, lives where V. opulus, an introduced European shrub, grows. The fruit of this plant is indeed unpalatable: I don't even consider it to be edible. The nearly identical V. trilobum, or American highbush cranberry, grows in the northern United States and the southern half of Canada. Its fruit closely resembles the true cranberry in flavor. Every year I make lots of juice, jelly and sauce from them. Unfortunately, this species sometimes hybridizes with its distasteful European cousin (especially near urban areas), polluting its pure flavor. The confusion between these species isn't helped by the fact that many botanists don't separate them. One large nursery even sells the European kind labeled as the American V. trilobum. In the November issue, Kate McLaughlin wrote from Alaska, where V. edule (called "highbush cranberry" or "squashberry") grows. This species is held in the highest esteem of the three. No wonder her family raves about her jelly.

This confusion has been going on for decades. Now perhaps you can understand why botanists stick with scientific names.