Rubus parvus Buchanan
(C.J.W., D.R.G.)
creeping lawyer
Low-growing shrub; creeping stems up to 1 m long, rooting at nodes, terete, glabrous; armature of small prickles restricted to young stems. Lvs reduced to a single leaflet; leaflet lamina coriaceous, linear-lanceolate to linear-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, (20)-25-90 × 5-22 mm, sometimes with a pair of obscure lobes near base, glabrous on both surfaces or with sparse scattered hairs on midrib, veins and margins, bronze-green on upper surface, paler on lower, sharply serrate-dentate. Infl. a few-flowered panicle or fls solitary. Petals white. Drupelets red.
S.: W. of the Main Divide from Nelson to S. Westland.
Endemic.
Lowland and montane forest and river flats.
FL Sep-Feb FT Nov-May.
R. parvus has relatively large ⚥ fls whereas the other indigenous spp. have small fls and are dioecious.
