Rubus ursinus
Rubus odoratus
California blackberry, California or Pacific or creeping blackberry, dewberry, Douglasberry, dwarf red raspberry, Pacific blackberry, Pacific dewberry, Pacific trailing blackberry, salmonberry, trailing blackberry
flowering raspberry, purple flowering raspberry, ronce odorante
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.
erect, sparsely to moderately hairy, moderately to densely stipitate-glandular, glands dark purple, not pruinose.
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.
deciduous, simple;
stipules lanceolate to ovate, 5–15 mm;
blade subrotund to reniform, 9–20(–30) × (10–)15–25(–30) cm, base cordate, palmately, ± deeply, (3–)5-lobed, margins finely, irregularly serrate to doubly serrate, apex acute to acuminate, abaxial surfaces sparsely to moderately hairy, sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular, glands dark purple.
terminal on short shoots, usually appearing axillary, 1–5-flowered, cymiform or racemiform.
terminal and axillary, 4–7(–22)-flowered, cymiform to thyrsiform.
prickles moderate to dense, erect, densely hairy, eglandular or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular.
pubescent, moderately to densely stipitate-glandular, glands dark purple.
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.
bisexual;
petals usually magenta, rarely white, broadly obovate to suborbiculate, (12–)17–25(–30) mm;
filaments filiform;
ovaries distally densely hairy, styles clavate, glabrous.
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.
pale to dark red, hemispheric, 0.7–1.5 cm;
drupelets 30–60, coherent, separating from torus.
= 42, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84, 91.
= 14.
Rubus ursinus
Rubus odoratus
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.)
Rubus odoratus is introduced in Washington State. The species is distinguished from other flowering raspberries by its erect, unarmed stems, simple leaves, large flowers, magenta petals, glabrous, clavate styles, and purple stipitate glands densely covering most plant parts. A hybrid with R. nutkanus (R. ×fraseri Rehder) is thought to occur in areas of overlap in northern Michigan (E. G. Voss 1972–1996, vol. 2).
The Cherokee used leaf infusions for labor pains and the Iroquois used plant infusions for miscarriage (P. Bergner 1997). Rubus odoratus is grown as an ornamental for its relatively large flowers and magenta petals and its edible fruits that are somewhat dry and insipid.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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