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Rubus -
by Gerry Moore
Not peer reviewed
Last modified: 09/08/2006
Nomenclature
Rubus L., Sp. Pl. 482. 1753. Gen. Pl., ed. 5, 218. 1754. LECTOTYPE: Rubus idaeus L., Rydberg (1905), Rubus fruticosus L., Britton & Brown (1913), or Rubus caesius L., Hitchcock & Green (1929).
Chamaemorus Hill, Brit. Herb. (Hill) 331. 1756. TYPE: Not designated.
Melanobatus Greene, Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit. 1: 243. 1906. TYPE: Not designated.
Key to the species of Rubus
1. Stems erect, 1-2 m tall, unarmed; leaves simple, lobed; fruit depressed...Rubus odoratus
1. Stems
prostrate or erect, 0.1-2.5 m tall, armed with prickles and/or bristles; leaves
compound; fruit subglobose to elongate...2
2. First-year stem (primocane) leaves ternate or digitately or
pinnately quinate, whitish beneath; petals inconspicuous, generally less than 7
mm long, spatulate or obovate, green-white, white, or rose-pink; ripe fruit
yellow, amber, red, purple, or purple-black, readily separated from the
receptacle...3
2. Primocane leaves ternate or digitately
quinate or 7-foliate, green to gray-green beneath; petals showy, generally at
least 7 mm long, obovate to nearly orbicular, white to pale pink; ripe fruit
dark purple to black, not separating from the receptacle...5
3. Inflorescences many-flowered and paniculiform; calyces and
pedicels densely covered with reddish gland-tipped hairs...Rubus phoenicolasius
3. Inflorescences
few-flowered, corymbiform, umbelliform, or short-racemose; calyces
gray-tomentose and minutely glandular-pubescent...4
4. Pedicels with stout curved prickles, not glandular; canes
arching to decumbent, often rooting at the tip; fruit usually black...Rubus occidentalis
4. Pedicels with straight
weak bristles, also finely glandular; canes arching, not rooting at the tip;
fruit usually red...Rubus idaeus
Note: The hybrid between R. occidentalis and R. idaeus
is known as Rubus ×neglecta.
5. Leaflets pinnately lobed or incised nearly to the midrib;
calyx lobes with firm prickles...Rubus
laciniatus
5. Leaflets merely toothed or at most shallowly lobed;
calyx lobes unarmed (may be glandular-setose)...6
6. Canes arching to prostrate, rooting at the tips...7
6. Canes erect to arching, not rooting at the tips...10
7. Inflorescences racemiform, pedicels subtended by small
bracts...Rubus arundelanus
7. Inflorescences leafy, the pedicels
subtended by leaves...8
8. Armature mostly slender prickles or bristles, these little
if at all expanded at the base...Rubus hispidus
8. Armature only stout, stiff, commonly hooked prickles with expanded
bases...9
9. Terminal leaflet of trifoliate flowering-stem (floricane)
leaves somewhat ovate, with a broadly rounded to subcordate base and sharply
acute to long-acuminate tip...Rubus
flagellaris
9. Terminal leaflet of trifoliate floricane leaves oblong
to oblanceolate or obovate, with narrow to broadly cuneate base and obtuse to
very abruptly and inconspicuously acuminate tip...Rubus enslenii
10. Armature mostly slender prickles or bristles, these little
if at all expanded at the base...Rubus
setosus
10. Armature only stout, stiff, commonly hooked prickles with
expanded bases...11
11. Glandular hairs abundant on the pedicels and
elsewhere...Rubus allegheniensis
11.
Glandular hairs absent or with a few on the pedicels...12
12. Leaflets oblanceolate to obovate, broadest well above the
middle, densely and closely white to gray-tomentose beneath...Rubus cuneifolius
12. Leaflets lanceolate to
oblong or ovate, not gray or white beneath...Rubus pensilvanicus
List of Rubus Species
- Rubus allegheniensis
- Rubus argutus
- Rubus armeniacus
- Rubus arundelanus
- Rubus bifrons
- Rubus canadensis
- Rubus cuneifolius
- Rubus enslenii
- Rubus flagellaris
- Rubus hispidus
- Rubus idaeus
- Rubus laciniatus
- Rubus linkianus
- Rubus occidentalis
- Rubus odoratus
- Rubus pensilvanicus
- Rubus phoenicolasius
- Rubus pubescens
- Rubus setosus
- Rubus x neglectus (R. occidentalis × R. idaeus)