Rubus ulmifolius
Rubus pubescens
elm-leaf blackberry
dwarf raspberry, dwarf red blackberry, dwarf red blackberry or raspberry or red raspberry, dwarf red blackberry raspberry, dwarf red raspberry, five-leaf bramble, red raspberry, ronce pubescente, trailing raspberry
biennial, erect, then arching, usually moderately, rarely sparsely, hairy hairs stellate, eglandular, strongly pruinose;
prickles absent or sparse to dense, erect to hooked, stout, 3–10 mm, broad-based.
creeping, flowering branches erect, glabrous or sparsely to moderately hairy, eglandular, not pruinose.
persistent or nearly so, ternate to palmately compound;
stipules filiform to linear, 4–12 mm;
leaflets 3–5, terminal ovate, elliptic, or suborbiculate to obovate, 4–10 × 2–6(–9) cm, base rounded to cuneate, unlobed, margins finely to moderately serrate, apex acute or acuminate to attenuate, abaxial surfaces with hooked prickles on larger veins, densely white short-velutinous, hairs usually minute, eglandular.
deciduous, usually ternate, sometimes pedately 5-foliate;
stipules lance-ovate to oblanceolate, (5–)8–12(–20) mm;
leaflets 3(–5), petiolule of terminal leaflet 2–7 mm, terminal rhombic to obovate, (2–)4–8(–10) × 2–4(–6) cm, base cuneate, unlobed or 2-lobed, margins deeply serrate to doubly serrate, apex acute or acuminate, abaxial surfaces glabrous or sparsely hairy, eglandular.
terminal, 10–60-flowered, paniculiform or thyrsiform.
1–3-flowered, sometimes umbelliform.
unarmed or prickles moderate to dense, erect to hooked, densely short-hairy, eglandular.
moderately to densely long-hairy, eglandular to densely stipitate-glandular.
bisexual;
petals usually pink, sometimes white, obovate or elliptic to suborbiculate, 5–12 mm;
filaments filiform;
ovaries apically hairy.
bisexual;
petals white to pink, oblanceolate to obovate, (4–)6–8(–10) mm;
filaments laminar;
ovaries glabrous, styles glabrous.
black, globose to ovoid, 1–1.5 cm;
drupelets 10–40, strongly coherent, separating with torus attached.
red, globose to conical, 0.5–1.4 cm diam., drupelets (5–)10–25, loosely coherent, falling separately or as a unit with torus attached.
= 14.
= 14.
Rubus ulmifolius
Rubus pubescens
Rubus ulmifolius can be distinguished, especially from the closely related R. bifrons and R. vestitus, by its strongly pruinose stems, finely serrate leaflets, and lack of glands throughout. Unlike R. ulmifolius, strongly pruinose native Rubus species lack relatively large and showy pink petals. Some new stems developing from tip-rooting, and early leaves on such stems (especially in shade), are not whitened abaxially and are tomentose. Such unusual stems develop typical leaves and surfaces in parts formed later.
There has been nomenclatural confusion over unarmed plants of Rubus ulmifolius (see E. Monasterio-Huelin and H. E. Weber 1996). Rubus inermis Willdenow is an illegitimate later homonym of R. inermis Pourret, and the type specimens for both names are of poor-quality. If an unarmed variety of R. ulmifolius is to be recognized, such as occurs in California, the name var. anoplothyrsus Sudre should be used instead of var. inermis (Willdenow) Focke.
Rubus ulmifolius is attractive and is potentially weedy but relatively uncommon, found primarily in coastal California from the San Francisco Bay region southward. It probably no longer persists in New Jersey, last collected there in 1897, and it is rare in Nevada and Oregon. Rubus ulmifolius likely hybridizes with R. bifrons where they co-occur; it is one of relatively few diploid and sexually reproducing species of European blackberries.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Rubus pubescens is recognized by its creeping, unarmed stems, oblanceolate to lance-ovate stipules, relatively small flowers, and white to pink petals. It hybridizes with R. arcticus subsp. acaulis in areas of sympatry, and the hybrids are referable to R. ×paracaulis L. H. Bailey [= R. pubescens var. paracaulis (L. H. Bailey) B. Boivin]. The hybrids are similar to R. arcticus subsp. acaulis in having more obovate, rounded leaflets, and larger, pink to magenta petals; they are larger, creeping, and have hairy and stipitate-glandular pedicels and sepals like R. pubescens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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