Wineberry, Schenley Park, 5 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

23 August 2026

Ticks have been in the news a lot lately, especially on the East Coast where lone star ticks are causing alpha gal syndrome, an unpleasant and potentially deadly allergy to red meat and (sometimes) dairy products. Just this week The New York Times featured alpha gal, Lyme disease, lone start ticks and black-legged ticks (a.k.a. deer ticks) in The Summer the Ticks Took Over. The news is frightening if this is the first time you’ve ever read about ticks.

Those who spend time in the woods birding, hiking, hunting or foraging are all too aware of the tick hazards in Pennsylvania. We know that Japanese barberry is tick city.

This year there’s news of another tick haven we had not recognized: Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), an Asian member of the Rose family that was introduced to North America in the 1890s as breeding stock for raspberries.

It’s pretty much everywhere and grows well in Pittsburgh’s city parks.

Wineberry, Frick Park, 8 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

It produces tasty berries in July. I’ve eaten them from both Frick and Schenley Parks.

A wineberry berry (photo by Kate St. John)

I should have suspected this dense shrub would be a haven for ticks but I did not think about it until Adam Haritan featured wineberry in a 7-minute video on his YouTube channel Learn Your Land. Check it out.