Raspberry
Scientific name: Rubus idaeus L.
Diagnostic features
Stems to 1.5(2.5)m, erect, with few to numerous weak prickles, otherwise ± glabrous to pubescent.
Leaves pinnate, with 3-7 ovate leaflets white-tomentose on lowerside.
Flowers few in racemes, white, c.1cm across, in some plants male only.
Fruit red, rarely yellow or white.
Chromosome number: 2n=14, 21, 28, 42.
Habitat
Native; woods, heaths and marginal ground.
Distribution
Frequent throughout British Isles, but only escape from cultivation in some places.
This species is keyed out on Page 2264 in the Text Key.
Hybrids
- Rubus x paxii Focke (= Rubus idaeus x Rubus phoenicolasius) was found in 1930 in South Lancs.
- Rubus x pseudoidaeus (Weihe) Lej. (= Rubus idaeus x Rubus caesius) (Synonym: Rubusx idaeoides Ruthe) is very sparsely scattered in England, North Tipperary; it resembles Rubus caesius in habit and stem characters and Rubus idaeus in leaf characters. It is largely sterile, with undeveloped fruits or partiallydeveloped reddish-black ones. |
