Rubus laciniatus

Botanical Description

Rubus laciniatus is an evergreen to tardily deciduous shrub producing a cluster of erect to arching (sometimes creeping), very spiny, biennial stems growing from a woody rootstock - the stems can be 200cm or more long[ 270 Title Flora of N. America Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses. ]. The stems only produce leaves, and do not flower, in their first year of growth, forming flowering branches in their second year and then dying after fruiting. Plants in the wild can form dense thickets. The plant is commonly harvested from the wild for local use as a food. It has been cultivated as a fruit crop since the late 17th century and is probably the most important and widely cultivated domesticated blackberry in the world. It is grown on a large scale, mainly in the form of the spineless chimera-mutation 'Thornless Ever-Green'. The plant is also often cultivated for ornament and as a ground cover[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ]. The plant has great potential as a weed - it frequently occurrs as a garden escape and regionally it is fully naturalized in Central and W Europe (e.g. Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Poland, USA)[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. , 1050 Title Fire Effects Information System Publication Author Website http://www.feis-crs.org/feis/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line information site with comprehensive information on over 1,100 species of plant. Mainly developed to supply information on the effects of fire on plants and animals, it also contains a wealth of other information on the plants ].