Rubus ursinus |
Rubus ulmifolius |
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California blackberry, California or Pacific or creeping blackberry, dewberry, Douglasberry, dwarf red raspberry, Pacific blackberry, Pacific dewberry, Pacific trailing blackberry, salmonberry, trailing blackberry |
elm-leaf blackberry |
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Habit | Shrubs, usually dioecious, to 2 dm, armed. | Shrubs, 30–50 dm, unarmed or armed. |
Stems | 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. |
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. |
Leaves | 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. |
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. |
Inflorescences | terminal on short shoots, usually appearing axillary, 1–5-flowered, cymiform or racemiform. |
terminal, 10–60-flowered, paniculiform or thyrsiform. |
Pedicels | prickles moderate to dense, erect, densely hairy, eglandular or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular. |
unarmed or prickles moderate to dense, erect to hooked, densely short-hairy, eglandular. |
Flowers | 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 pink, sometimes white, obovate or elliptic to suborbiculate, 5–12 mm; filaments filiform; ovaries apically hairy. |
Fruits | 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. |
black, globose to ovoid, 1–1.5 cm; drupelets 10–40, strongly coherent, separating with torus attached. |
2n | = 42, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84, 91. |
= 14. |
Rubus ursinus |
Rubus ulmifolius |
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Phenology | Flowering (Jan–)Mar–Aug(–Sep). | Flowering May–Jul. |
Habitat | Woodlands, shrublands, open or disturbed areas, dry to damp soil | Woodland edges, open areas, disturbed areas, moist soil |
Elevation | 0–1600 m (0–5200 ft) | 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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CA; NJ; NV; OR; WA; s Europe; c Europe; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in s South America]
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Discussion | 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 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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 55. | FNA vol. 9, p. 54. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Rubeae > Rubus | Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Rubeae > Rubus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. eastwoodianus, R. macropetalus, R. sirbenus, R. ursinus var. eastwoodianus, R. ursinus subsp. macropetalus, R. ursinus var. macropetalus, R. ursinus var. sirbenus, R. vitifolius, R. vitifolius var. eastwoodianus, R. vitifolius subsp. ursinus | R. discolor, R. ulmifolius var. anoplothyrsus |
Name authority | Chamisso & Schlechtendal: Linnaea 2: 11. (1827) | Schott: Isis (Oken) 1818: 821. (1818) |
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