Berries to be

When I started this blog almost a year ago, I did so with the expectation that a). it probably wouldn't last—I have a disturbing habit of beginning something with great enthusiasm, then letting it go unfinished— and b). it would simply be an ad hoc thing that came out of my daily camera-clad walks... in other words, I wouldn't really have a clue as to what I'd be posting until I looked at the day's haul and said, "Yes, that's it." And this shot, taken on a walk through an open meadow at the Nature Conservancy's nearby Bell Cedar Swamp preserve, fits Part B perfectly. I knew, when I spotted the flowers, both fresh and spent, of a wild berry bush that they'd make a great subject for close-up pictures, and when I examined my collection, I knew I'd guessed right. But there was a problem, one more about natural history than photography. I don't know which wild berry the image depicts. It's definitely a Rubus, a genus that includes raspberries and blackberries, but without good leaf and stem pictures, I'm out of luck on making a species guess. So I'll just have to make a return trip, this time with appropriate field guides and camera in hand. Somehow, I've managed to keep at this daily blogging thing, my enthusiasm undiminished, so I'll be needing future material. Perhaps I'll also get some good wild berries out of the trek.