Rubus cuneifolius
Rubus ursinus
sand blackberry
California blackberry, California or Pacific or creeping blackberry, dewberry, Douglasberry, dwarf red raspberry, Pacific blackberry, Pacific dewberry, Pacific trailing blackberry, salmonberry, trailing blackberry
biennial, erect, rarely arching, sparsely to densely hairy (especially young), eglandular, not pruinose;
bark not papery, peeling;
prickles usually dense, hooked to retrorse, usually stout, 3–6 mm, broad-based.
biennial, creeping (often growing over other vegetation), sparsely to densely hairy, eglandular or sparsely to densely sessile- to stipitate-glandular, usually strongly pruinose;
prickles moderate to dense, erect to retrorse or hooked, weak to moderately stout, 4–10 mm, narrow- to broad-based.
deciduous to semievergreen, usually ternate, sometimes palmately compound;
stipules filiform or linear to lanceolate, 3–15 mm;
leaflets 3–5, terminal cuneate to obovate, 2–6 × 3–4 cm, base cuneate, unlobed, margins serrate, rarely doubly serrate, apex broadly rounded to subtruncate, often cuspidate, abaxial surfaces often with prickles on midveins, densely gray- to white-hairy, sparsely to densely sessile-glandular.
deciduous or persistent, usually ternate, sometimes simple or pinnately compound;
stipules filiform to linear, 7–17 mm;
leaflets 3(–5), terminal ovate to lanceolate, 3.5–12 × 3–10 cm, base cuneate or rounded to cordate, shallowly sharp-lobed or unlobed, margins coarsely serrate to doubly serrate, apex acute to acuminate, abaxial surfaces with slender, erect prickles on larger veins, moderately to densely hairy, eglandular, rarely sparsely sessile-glandular along midvein.
terminal on short shoots, sometimes appearing axillary, (1–)3–5(–12)-flowered, cymiform.
terminal on short shoots, usually appearing axillary, 1–5-flowered, cymiform or racemiform.
unarmed or prickles sparse to moderate, hooked to retrorse, moderately to densely hairy, eglandular or sparsely to moderately sessile-glandular.
prickles moderate to dense, erect, densely hairy, eglandular or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular.
bisexual;
petals white, elliptic to obovate, 5–15 mm;
filaments filiform;
ovaries glabrous or glabrate.
usually functionally unisexual;
petals white, in staminate flowers ovate or obovate to narrowly elliptic, 7–18 mm, in pistillate ovate to elliptic, 6–11 mm;
filaments filiform;
ovaries glabrous or hairy.
black, globose to cylindric, 0.6–2 cm;
drupelets 15–50, strongly coherent, separating with torus attached.
black, sometimes red or purple, rarely white, not pruinose, globose to cylindric, 1–2.5 cm;
drupelets 20–50, strongly coherent, separating with torus attached.
= 21, 28.
= 42, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84, 91.
Rubus cuneifolius
Rubus ursinus
Rubus cuneifolius is characteristic of the Coastal Plain and Piedmont. The species is distinguished from most other blackberries in the flora area by its usually strongly erect and shrub-forming habit and abaxial leaflet surfaces often with dense white to gray indument; it may be confused with R. pascuus. Rubus cuneifolius has white petals and cuneate to obovate leaflets with usually revolute margins, the proximal third entire; R. pascuus has pale pink to white petals and ovate to broadly elliptic leaflets with the margins flat and entire only at base.
Rubus longii Fernald may represent hybridization between R. cuneifolius and another, yet-undetermined, blackberry (perhaps R. pascuus). Hybrids of R. cuneifolius and R. hispidus can be found around abandoned commercial cranberry bogs in New Jersey (G. Moore, pers. obs.). Rubus cuneifolius is introduced in South Africa and is officially recognized there as a noxious weed (L. Henderson 1995; T. Olkers and M. P. Hill 1999; H. Klein 2002). Preliminary examination of plants identified as R. cuneifolius from South Africa has shown that the plants are not R. cuneifolius but may be hybrids involving R. cuneifolius and another species.
The following nothospecies names are based on putative hybrids involving Rubus cuneifolius and: R. pensilvanicus (R. ×acer L. H. Bailey, R. ×acer var. subacer L. H. Bailey, R. ×argutinus L. H. Bailey, R. ×floridensis L. H. Bailey); R. trivialis (R. ×inferior L. H. Bailey).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
In habit, Rubus ursinus is often reminiscent of the predominantly eastern North American, non-sympatric R. flagellaris; it is also polymorphic. Rubus ursinus comprises a polyploid spectrum dominated by octoploid and dodecaploid plants. It is an allopolyploid involving phylogenetically distant ancestors with its closest relative being the Hawaiian endemic R. macraei A. Gray. See S. W. Brown (1943) for a discussion of morphological and chromosome number variation in R. ursinus. The widespread, glaucous-stemmed, trifoliate-leaved forms of R. ursinus are vegetatively nearly identical to R. caesius. Of agricultural significance, R. ursinus is a parent of some important cultivars, including loganberry and boysenberry.
There has been uncertainty whether the name Rubus menziesii Hooker and subsequent combinations [Parmena menziesii (Hooker) Greene, R. spectabilis var. menziesii (Hooker) S. Watson, and R. ursinus var. menziesii (Hooker) Focke] pertain to R. spectabilis or R. ursinus. The protologue by Hooker describes a hairy, relatively small, procumbent plant, which is congruent with R. ursinus. The type specimen at Kew also looks like R. ursinus. In the protologue Hooker also claimed the species has red petals and suggested that it may have an affinity with R. spectabilis.
Specimens examined for this study of North American collections attributed to Rubus macrophyllus Weihe & Nees (synonym R. amplificatus Lees) are R. ursinus. If R. macrophyllus was once present in the flora area it is likely absent now; some reports of R. macrophyllus could represent hybrids. There are reports of R. ursinus hybridizing with R. bifrons and R. pensilvanicus in California (T. S. Mallah 1954; L. V. Clark and M. Jasieniuk 2012; L. A. Alice, unpubl.).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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