Burke: Rubus spectabilis vs. Rubus nigerrimus

	Rubus spectabilis	Rubus nigerrimus
	salmonberry	dark raspberry, northwest raspberry
Habit	Rhizomatous, thicket-forming, woody perennial 1-3 m. tall, the stems bristly at least below, the bark brown and shredding.	Strong, deciduous perennial, the primocanes erect to clambering, glabrous, greenish and glaucous, up to 5 m. long, the prickles straight and flattened; flowering stems trailing, up to 5 m. long, armed with flattened, hooked prickles.
Leaves	Leaves trifoliate, the leaflets ovate, nearly glabrous, doubly serrate, the terminal one 4-9 cm. long, the others smaller, often lobed.	Leaves green and glabrous on both surfaces, trifoliate on the flowering stems but 5- foliate on the canes, the lower 2 leaflets sessile; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, doubly lobed-serrate.
Flowers	Flowers 1-2 on short leafy branches; calyx pubescent, the 5 lobes ovate-lanceolate, pointed, spreading, 9-15 mm. long; petals 5, purplish-red, obovate-elliptic, half again as long as the sepals; stamens 75-100; pistils numerous.	Flowers 1-5 in small, loose clusters; sepals 5, spreading, 5-8 mm. long; petals white, elliptic, 4-7 mm. long, often more than 5; stamens 75-100, pistils 25-40.
Fruits	Drupelets yellow to reddish, weakly coherent, coming free from the receptacle.	Drupelets barely coalescent, blackish, strongly roughened, rather dry, free from the receptacle.

	Rubus spectabilis	Rubus nigerrimus
Flowering time	March-June	May - June
Habitat	Lowland moist woods and swamps to middle elevations in the mountains.	Moist hillsides, usually along streams.
Distribution	Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, disjunct in northern Idaho. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest, where endemic along the Snake River in Whitman County, Washington; [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Threatened in Washington (WANHP)
Sibling taxa	R. allegheniensis, R. arcticus, R. bifrons, R. idaeus, R. laciniatus, R. lasiococcus, R. leucodermis, R. nigerrimus, R. nivalis, R. parviflorus, R. pedatus, R. pensilvanicus, R. pubescens, R. ulmifolius, R. ursinus, R. vestitus	R. allegheniensis, R. arcticus, R. bifrons, R. idaeus, R. laciniatus, R. lasiococcus, R. leucodermis, R. nivalis, R. parviflorus, R. pedatus, R. pensilvanicus, R. pubescens, R. spectabilis, R. ulmifolius, R. ursinus, R. vestitus
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Rubus nigerrimus

salmonberry

dark raspberry, northwest raspberry

Habit

Rhizomatous, thicket-forming, woody perennial 1-3 m. tall, the stems bristly at least below, the bark brown and shredding.

Strong, deciduous perennial, the primocanes erect to clambering, glabrous, greenish and glaucous, up to 5 m. long, the prickles straight and flattened; flowering stems trailing, up to 5 m. long, armed with flattened, hooked prickles.

Leaves

Leaves trifoliate, the leaflets ovate, nearly glabrous, doubly serrate, the terminal one 4-9 cm. long, the others smaller, often lobed.

Leaves green and glabrous on both surfaces, trifoliate on the flowering stems but 5- foliate on the canes, the lower 2 leaflets sessile;

leaflets ovate-lanceolate, doubly lobed-serrate.

Flowers

Flowers 1-2 on short leafy branches;

calyx pubescent, the 5 lobes ovate-lanceolate, pointed, spreading, 9-15 mm. long;

petals 5, purplish-red, obovate-elliptic, half again as long as the sepals;

stamens 75-100;

pistils numerous.

Flowers 1-5 in small, loose clusters;

sepals 5, spreading, 5-8 mm. long;