No b’y, never heard of dat... the invariable response to the title question. It puzzled me to think that one of the most prolific areas of wild berry harvest had no knowledge of an edible berry plant that lived in the region. Lonicera caerulea is a medium sized bush that is found in many regions of the northern hemisphere. In Russia and Japan, the plant has been used for centuries as a medicinal plant; however, within the last five years that the taste of the plant has improved by Dr. Bob Bors at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Bors has been releasing the plants as an edible fruit crop.

My name is James Dawson, originating in Riverhead, Harbour Grace, NL. I’m a PhD student at the University of Saskatchewan and I got to live out what many Newfoundlanders talk about: seeing as much of the Island as you can. When I came into Dr. Bors’ program he had just come back from a sabbatical year where he had travelled from BC to Nova Scotia in search of wild specimens of blue honeysuckle. He had only one place left on his list, Newfoundland.

We landed in Deer Lake on the 24th of June, with the goal of finding wild specimens in as many locations as possible throughout the province. It was also important to try and sample the four corners of the Island. The basic method for the collection was to travel approximately 30 km, get out, search for the plant, take cuttings and take information about the site. We split the trip between the west and east side of the Island. Dr. Bors and I would collect on the west side and I was to go on and collect on the east side. I was aided by the fact that both my parents live on the Avalon Peninsula and both have degrees in plant science. With the continued effort, we were able to find the blue honeysuckle in 58 locations throughout the island (photo 1) and managed to sample all four corners of the province.

On this trip, I saw a variety of the more renowned flowers that habituate the island such as pitcher plants, moccasin flower or pink lady slipper, yellow lady slipper and dragon mouth orchids. We found the plant mostly in bag areas, however habitat did vary. I was able to see more of the Island in two weeks than I had in my 20 years of living there, and had one of the most colossal berry picking excursions in history.

James Dawson
PhD student, University of Saskatchewan
[email protected]

Photo caption 1 (Map_of_NL.jpg). Collection areas for Lonicera caerulea specimens
  Submitted By: James Dawson