Flora of New Zealand Series

Himalaya blackberry

Erect shrub forming thickets, suckering; primary stems stout, obscurely angled, densely covered in brown, felty tomentum, the younger stems soft and trailing or twining; armature of numerous, short, flattened, straight prickles. Lvs simple; petiole brown-tomentose and prickly; lamina (3)-5-7-lobed and dentate, ± orbicular, 80-200 mm diam., dark green and rugose on upper surface with distinct veins and scattered hairs, brown-tomentose on lower surface, strongly cordate at base; stipules ovate, laciniate. Infl. a short, terminal, leafy panicle; axis and branches brown-tomentose and prickly. Fls 15-20 mm diam. Sepals triangular, acute, densely brown-tomentose, with jagged margins, ± erect at fruiting. Petals orbicular, crumpled, pale pink to rose or lilac. Fr. of black, waxy drupelets, broad-conic, c. 12 mm long.

N.: N. Auckland.

India, Himalaya, S.E. Asia 1935

Established locally, roadsides, scrub, wasteland, coastal habitats.

FL Aug-May FT Oct-Jun.

This sp. has usually been referred to in N.Z. as R. rugosus var. thwaitesii but this name is treated as a synonym of R. rugosus by Tirbengadum, D. D., Fl. Ceylon 3 (1981). The fr. of the N.Z. plant is black when fully mature; this contrasts with the red fr. of the related R. moluccanus L. and its var. austropacifica P. Royen which is the form found in much of the W. Pacific and Australia. At most sites this sp. appears to have persisted without spreading a great distance. R. rugosus has been recently introduced into horticulture under the name keriberry with the suggestion that it may have been deliberately brought to N.Z. as early as 1820 (Nobbs, K., New Zealand Gard. Sept. 1985: 13 (1985)).