Rubus rosifolius Sm.
(C.J.W., D.R.G.)
strawberry-raspberry
Low-growing, suckering, softly woody shrub; stems terete, hairy and with sessile glands, especially when young, purplish green; armature of flattened, falcate prickles. Lvs usually imparipinnate with 2-3 pairs of leaflets, rarely pinnately 3-foliolate, rugose and with many short hairs and sessile glands on both surfaces, 2-serrate; terminal leaflet lamina ovate-lanceolate, 25-60 × 10-20 mm, acuminate, rounded at base, petiolulate; stipules lanceolate. Infl. a few-flowered, leafy cyme or fls solitary; axis prickly. Fls up to 30 mm diam. Sepals ovate, acuminate, densely hairy, with sessile glands. Petals obovate, flat, white. Stamen filaments white. Fr. of waxy, red drupelets, ± conic, c. 15 mm long.
N.: eastern N. Auckland (from Broadwood to Dargaville), S. Auckland (Coromandel Peninsula, Coromandel Is).
Tropical and subtropical E. Asia, Australia 1927
Scrub, hill country pasture, fernland, waste places.
FL Sep-Nov FT Oct-Jan.
This sp. has always been misidentified in N.Z. as R. illecebrosus, a closely related but generally more slender plant which is eglandular and has glabrous stems and pedicels. The common name of R. illecebrosus, strawberry-raspberry, is used for R. rosifolius in N.Z.
