Sm.
Description
Rubus rosifolius is a widespread, semi-scandent bramble native to Asia and now pantropically naturalised, the very large GBIF dataset of nearly fifteen thousand records spanning Australia, Brazil, Taiwan, the United States, Réunion, China, Indonesia, Madagascar, South Africa and many other territories. Within its native Himalayan range it occupies forest margins, clearings, streamsides, hedgerows and disturbed slopes in the subtropical to warm-temperate belt. The illustrated plant from the Arun valley of eastern Nepal at about 1800 m, flowering in May, reflects its mid-elevation habitat preference; elsewhere its colonising vigour has made it an aggressive invader of disturbed and montane ground.
The species is a perennial shrub with erect to arching, slender stems armed with fine, often recurved prickles and bearing a sparse glandular-pubescent indumentum. The leaves are imparipinnate, the leaflets ovate-lanceolate, sharply doubly serrate and rugose, recalling those of a rose, whence the epithet rosifolius. The flowers are usually solitary or few, comparatively large, with five spreading white petals, numerous stamens and an enlarged conical receptacle. The fruit is an ellipsoid to ovoid aggregate of numerous small drupelets, ripening bright red, edible but rather insipid.
Rubus rosifolius is an accepted species within the vast genus Rubus (Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae), a complex group renowned for apomixis, polyploidy and hybridisation. Its prickly arching canes and prolific seed make it a notable transformer weed in many tropical highlands, and a double-flowered cultivar ('Coronarius') is grown ornamentally. In its native Himalaya it is common and of least concern, valued locally as a wild edible.
Author: Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Focke Species Ruborum monograph