Range

W. North America, Alaska to Mexico

Ecology

"Flowers produced by species within the Rubus genus produce large quantities of nectar to attract pollinators... Thimbleberry seeds are dispersed by birds and mammals...

Use of thimbleberry by elk, white-tailed deer, and mule deer can be substantial in western North America. Use may be heaviest in recently burned or logged areas, where thimbleberry is often abundant. Although thimbleberry was not generally considered preferred big game forage in northern Idaho, elk, white-tailed deer, and mule deer readily browsed thimbleberry on burned sites, especially 1-year-old burned sites in the western redcedar/Oregon boxwood habitat type. On the west side of the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest, thimbleberry was considered a principal browse species for elk, white-tailed deer, and mule deer. It was important summer elk browse in Douglas-fir forests in the southern Coast Ranges in Oregon." [1]

Equity: Cultural and Historical Significance

"Humans consume thimbleberry fruits; the fruits are considered more flavorful in the eastern than western range or in areas receiving high amounts of rainfall. Fruits are described as tasty in Michigan. The Nez Perce Indians preferred fruits from shrubs growing in mountainous areas. Many indigenous people inhabiting regions along the Pacific Coast, including the Haidi, Kwakiutl, Hoh, and Quileute Indians, ate thimbleberry fruits fresh and preserved them for later use. Thimbleberry sprouts and fruits are high in vitamin C. Other uses included: boiling thimbleberry leaves with trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus) roots and vines into a tea to treat vomiting and spitting up blood, sprinkling dried thimbleberry leaf powder into wounds to aid healing and into burns to lessen scarring, using thimbleberry leaves to catch menstrual blood and shorten the duration of a period, boiling thimbleberry leaves into a tea to treat anemia, boiling thimbleberry bark to be used in soap, and chewing on dried brown thimbleberry leaves to ease stomach aches or diarrhea. Thimbleberry stems were used by the indigenous people of the Salmon River-Cascade Head area of the Oregon Coast in basket making."

Economics

"...thimbleberry's aggressive natural regeneration on disturbed sites... suggests it may have potential in artificial revegetation and rehabilitation." [1]