Rubus nutkanus
Rubus glaucifolius
thimbleberry
Cuyamaca raspberry, San Diego raspberry, wax leaf raspberry
biennial, erect, sparsely hairy, glabrescent, moderately stipitate-glandular, glands yellowish to reddish, not pruinose.
biennial, creeping, glabrous, eglandular, strongly pruinose;
prickles sparse, erect or slightly curved, weak, slender, 2–3 mm, narrow-based.
deciduous, simple;
stipules lanceolate to ovate, 5–15 mm;
blade orbiculate to reniform, 5–20 × 5–25 cm, base cordate, palmately, shallowly to moderately deeply, (3–)5(–7)-lobed, margins coarsely, irregularly serrate to doubly serrate, apex shortly acuminate to obtuse, abaxial surfaces glabrate to densely hairy, sparsely to moderately stipitate-glandular, glands yellowish to reddish.
deciduous, ternate;
stipules filiform to linear, 3–10 mm;
terminal leaflets ovate to elliptic, 4–8 × 3–7 cm, base tapered or subcordate, often 2-lobed, margins coarsely dentate, apex acute to rounded, abaxial surfaces unarmed, densely white-tomentose, eglandular.
terminal and axillary, (1–)3–7(–15), cymiform to thyrsiform.
terminal and axillary, (1–)2–4(–10)-flowered, cymiform.
sparsely to moderately hairy, moderately to densely stipitate-glandular, glands yellowish to reddish.
unarmed, finely hairy, stipitate-glandular.
bisexual;
petals white, broadly obovate, (10–)14–22(–28) mm;
filaments filiform;
ovaries distally densely hairy, styles clavate, glabrous.
bisexual;
petals white, oblong to oblanceolate, 4–8 mm;
filaments laminar;
ovaries white-tomentose.
red, hemispheric, 1–1.8 cm;
drupelets 50–60, coherent, separating from torus.
reddish purple, hemispheric to conic, 0.4–1 cm diam.;
drupelets 10–40, coherent, separating from torus.
= 14.
Rubus nutkanus
Rubus glaucifolius
Rubus nutkanus is distinguished from other flowering raspberries by its erect, unarmed stems, simple leaves, large flowers, white petals, glabrous, clavate styles, and yellowish to reddish stipitate glands covering most plant parts. A hybrid with R. odoratus (R. ×fraseri Rehder) is thought to occur in areas of overlap in northern Michigan (E. G. Voss 1972–1996, vol. 2). Varieties and forms have been described based on indument and glandularity of stems, leaves, petioles, pedicels, and sepals (for example, M. L. Fernald 1950). Different variants often occur mixed in the same population and generally do not correspond to definite geographic regions (N. C. Fassett 1941). Plants from coastal California (considered as var. velutinus) tend to have densely hairy leaf abaxial surfaces; this variation may be environmentally induced; other Rubus species show the same pattern (for example, R. spectabilis var. franciscanus) in that area. Wild thimbleberries are collected in Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, and are used in beverages and especially for jam.
Rubus nutkanus is typically associated with western North America but was originally described from plants at its eastern range limit in northern Michigan. The Great Lakes populations are disjunct from western mountain populations by around 600 miles.
The name Rubus parviflorus var. grandiflorus Farwell, which applies here, is illegitimate.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Rubus glaucifolius is found in the Sierra Nevada and Klamath mountains as well as the Peninsular and northern Coastal ranges in California, and in adjacent Oregon only in Jackson County.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
IL Wildflowers
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
