A blackberry is a small, dark purple fruit (almost black when fully ripe) made up of many tiny connected spheres. Each little bump you see on a blackberry is actually its own miniature fruit called a drupelet, and they all cluster together on a core. When you pick a ripe blackberry, that white or green core stays attached to the fruit.

Blackberries grow wild on thorny bushes in many parts of North America, Europe, and Asia. The bushes spread quickly and can take over fields and forest edges, which farmers sometimes see as a nuisance but which hikers appreciate when they discover fresh berries on a summer trail. Wild blackberries can taste sweeter and more complex than store-bought ones.

People eat blackberries fresh, bake them into cobblers and pies, or make them into jam. They're closely related to raspberries, but raspberries are hollow inside when you pick them (the core stays on the plant), while blackberries keep their core. Both are delicious, but blackberries have a deeper, slightly tart flavor that many people prefer.

The word blackberry also refers to a type of smartphone that was extremely popular in the early 2000s, named because its keyboard buttons resembled the fruit's bumpy surface.