PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
No image available
Rosaceae FAMILY

Rubus plicatus

Rubus plicatus

Edibility
5/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Shrub
GrowthFast

Forms of Rubus plicatus are generally winter hardy to at least -18°c[1]. Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil[2, 3, 4]. Succeeds in acid and calcareous soils[5]. Tolerates poor soils[1]. Established plants are drought resistant[6]. Succeeds in sun or semi-shade[2, 3, 4], though it fruits less well in the shade[1]. Plants will also fruit when grown in fairly deep shade or against a north facing wall, though the fruit will ripen later[7]. Plants tolerate quite severe exposure[5]. Rubus plicatus (Rubus fruticosus L., sensu str), is an aggregate species made up of several hundred slightly differing species. The reason for this is that most seed is produced by a non-sexual method (Apomixis) and is therefore genetically identical to the parent plant. On occasions when sexual production of seed takes place the offspring will all be slightly different from the parent plant and will then usually reproduce identical offspring by means of apomixy. Modern treatment of this aggregate usually does not use the name Rubus fruticosus because of the confusion over which species it should apply to[8]. The following members of the aggregate have been highly recommended for their fruit - some of this have separate entries, but in general they are only listed here[8]. Rubus badius. Rubus cyclophorus. Rubus gratus. Rubus nemoralis. Rubus oxyanchus. Rubus pyramidalis. Rubus separinus and Rubus winteri. The following members are said to be nearly as good. Ruus balfourianus. Rubus broensis. Rubus carpinifolius. Rubus foliosus. Rubus fuscoviridis. Rubus infestus. Rubus insericatus newbouldianus. Rubus koehleri. Rubus largificus. Rubus londinensis. Ruus ludensis. Rubus macrophyllus. Rubus obscurus. Rubus pseudo-bifrons. Ruus rhombifolius. Rubus riddelsdellii. Rubus scaber. Rubus thyrsiflorus. Rubus vallisparsus. Ruus vestitus[8]. Plants form dense thickets and this makes excellent cover for birds[5]. They regenerate freely after being cut back or burnt in a fire[5]. This species is also a good plant for bees and butterflies[9]. This species has biennial stems, it produces a number of new stems each year from the perennial rootstock, these stems fruit in their second year and then die[4]. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus[4].

Propagation

Seed - requires stratification and is best sown in early autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed requires one month stratification at about 3°c and is best sown as early as possible in the year. Prick out the seedlings when they are large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, mid summer in a frame[4]. Tip layering in July. Plant out in autumn. Division in early spring or just before leaf-fall in the autumn[4]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Rubus+plicatus>

Pollinators

Insects, Apomictic

References

  1. [1]Climbers and Wall Shrubs. — Davis. B. · Viking. · 1990 · ISBN 0-670-82929-3 ↩︎Contains information on 2,000 species and cultivars, giving details of cultivation requirements. The text is terse but informative.
  2. [2]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  3. [3]Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. — Bean. W. · Murray · 1981 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.
  4. [4]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  5. [5]Planting Native Trees and Shrubs. — Beckett. G. and K. · Jarrold · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent guide to native British trees and shrubs with lots of details about the plants.
  6. [6]Fruits of the Earth. — Bianchini. F., Corbetta. F. and Pistoia. M. ↩︎Lovely pictures, a very readable book.
  7. [7]Gardening on Walls — Grey-Wilson. C. & Matthews. V. · Collins · 1983 · ISBN 0-00-219220-0 ↩︎A nice little book about plants for growing against walls and a small section on plants that can grow in walls.
  8. [8]Handbook of the Rubi of Great Britain and Ireland. — Watson. W. C. R. ↩︎There are hundreds of slightly differing species of the common blackberry growing in Britain. This is a book for the dedicated.
  9. [9]Making a Wildlife Garden. — Baines. C. ↩︎Fairly good with lots of ideas about creating wildlife areas in the garden.
  10. [10]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  11. [11]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  12. [12]Herbs — Phillips. R. & Foy. N. · Pan Books Ltd. London. · 1990 · ISBN 0-330-30725-8 ↩︎Deals with all types of herbs including medicinal, culinary, scented and dye plants. Excellent photographs with quite good information on each plant.
  13. [13]Food for Free. — Mabey. R. · Collins · 1974 · ISBN 0-00-219060-5 ↩︎Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.
  14. [14]Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. — Chiej. R. · MacDonald · 1984 · ISBN 0-356-10541-5 ↩︎Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.
  15. [15]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  16. [16]Britain's Wild Larder. — Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. · David & Charles; Newton Abbot. · ISBN 0-7153-7971-2 ↩︎A handy pocket guide.
  17. [17]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  18. [18]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  19. [19]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  20. [20]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  21. [21]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  22. [22]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  23. [23]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  24. [24]Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. — Grae. I. · MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. · 1974 · ISBN 0-02-544950-8 ↩︎A very good and readable book on dyeing.
  25. [25]From Agar to Zenery. — Freethy. R. · The Crowood Press · 1985 · ISBN 0-946284-51-2 ↩︎Very readable, giving details on plant uses based on the authors own experiences.
  26. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎