Rubus amabilis
Focke
Showy Blackberry, Pleasant raspberry
Wikimedia Commons - U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Wikimedia Commons - Jee Young Park
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked. It is large with a good, sweet flavour and measures about 16mm in diameter.
Dangerous Lookalikes
This plant can be confused with the following toxic species. Always verify identification carefully before consuming any wild plant.
Red Baneberry: Short herbaceous plant (no thorns), berries on thick red stems, each berry has a single seed, compound sharply-toothed leaves.
Showy Blackberry: Thorny woody canes (brambles), aggregate berry made of many drupelets, berries pull easily from receptacle.
Where to Find It
It is a temperate plant. In China it grows in mountain valleys between 1,000-3,700 m altitude in temperate regions. In Sichuan.
Asia, China, Himalayas, Nepal,
How to Identify
A shrub. It grows 1-3 m tall. The flower bearing branches are short and soft with very small prickles. The leaves have 7-11 leaflets with a leaflet at the end. The flowers are 3-4 cm across and white. There are some botanical varieties.
How to Grow
Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil in sun or semi-shade.Prefers a humus-rich soil. Hardy to about -20°c. A very ornamental plant. This species is a raspberry with biennial stems, it produces a number of new stems each year from the perennial rootstock, these stems fruit in their second year and then die. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus.
Propagation: Seed requires stratification and is best sown in early autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed needs one month stratification at about 3°c and should be sown as early as possible in the year. Prick out seedlings when large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame, then plant out into permanent positions in late spring of the following year. Division can be done in early spring or just before leaf-fall in autumn.
Medicinal Uses
None known.
Other Uses
A purple to dull blue dye is obtained from the fruit.
Wikipedia
A deciduous shrub reaching 2 m tall. Hardy to UK zone 6. Hermaphrodite flowers bloom June to July, pollinated by insects, with seeds ripening July to August. Tolerates light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils with good drainage. Grows in mildly acid, neutral, or mildly alkaline pH. Adapts to semi-shade or full sun and prefers consistently moist soil.
Notes
There are about 250 Rubus species.
Names & Synonyms
Hong mao zi, Xiu li mei
References (8)
- Altschul, S.V.R., 1973, Drugs and Foods from Little-known Plants. Notes in Harvard University Herbaria. Harvard Univ. Press. Massachusetts. no. 1424
- Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 36:53. 1905
- Flora of China. 9:195-285, 2003
- Hu, Shiu-ying, 2005, Food Plants of China. The Chinese University Press. p 455
- Kang, Y., et al, 2014, Wild food plants used by the Tibetans of Gongba Valley (Zouqu country, Gansu, China) Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 10:20
- Kang, J. et al, 2016, Wild food plants and fungi used in the mycophilous Tibetan community of Zhagana (Tewo Country, Gansu, China) Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 12:21
- Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
- www.efloras.org Flora of China Volume 9
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