Rubus idaeus Marastar - Raspberry

The Marastar Raspberry is a perpetual variety, producing large, very tasty, dark red fruits with a conical shape. It is a vigorous variety with good disease tolerance which bears fruit on this year's shoots: continuous harvest from July to October, up to 3 kg per plant in a season.

The Raspberry Marastar produces large red, very tasty fruits with a conical shape. To fully enjoy their flavour, raspberries should be consumed quickly after picking, as they do not keep well. If you have an abundant harvest, consider making coulis, sorbets, pies or jams. You can also freeze them. Production reaches its full level in the third year after planting. A plant can produce fruit for about 10 years.

The Marastar variety is an improvement on the Zeva variety. Very productive, it is vigorous and disease tolerant. It is a perpetual variety which produces fruit in June and then from August to October. Non-perpetual varieties have an abundant harvest around June - July.

The Raspberry is a deciduous shrub with upright stems, forming a bush about 1.50m (4.9ft) in all directions over time. The stems or canes are biennial, each dying after fruiting. Every year, suckers emerge from the roots, new canes armed with small, slightly prickly thorns. The Raspberry has green leaves on the top surface, white-green and downy on the underside. The flowering is very nectar-rich. The white flowers are small (1 to2 cm (0.8in) in diameter), grouped in clusters of 10 to 12, and appear in April-May. The fruits are formed of small berries, easy to detach when ripe.

The Raspberry belongs to the Rosaceae family, like strawberries, blackberries, and wild roses. The wild raspberry is native to Europe and temperate Asia, where it grows in cool climates alongside elderberry, beech, or rowan, mostly in mountain undergrowth, but also in plains.