Marion

Blackberry Marion is a thorny trailing cultivar from Oregon, which was intended to expand the blackberry's industry in the middle of XX century. It was presented in 1957. In those years the most widely frown blackberry varieties were Thornless Evergreen and Boysen. The Thornless Evergreen was late-ripening cultivar. The Boysen, although its season was much earlier, haв not given satisfactory yields. Marion was earlier than Thornless Evergreen and had more yield than Boysen. Fruit quality of Marion blackberry cultivar had been generally superior to that of both other varieties. Over the years Marion was the main blackberry cultivar in commercial blackberry production.
Marion has a few long canes, typically 5-6 m each. Canes are easy to train. This gave Marion a distinct advantage over Boysen, which had many canes of various length. The number of thorns is high, but thorns are large. The buds are relatively close together and the internodes are short. The fruit branches are long, have many flowers and fruits per lateral. These fruiting laterals are strong and extend out from the cane arch fashion. This fruit production habit makes for ease in picking, and thorns do not cause pickers. Average yield of Marion is about 11 t/ha or up to 5 kg/plant. Average berry weight is about 5 g. Berries typically have round slightly elongated shape, drupelets are medium size, seeds are medium size. Color is bright black. Flavor is superior.