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• Rosaceae
• Rubus
• Rubus flagellaris

Rubus flagellaris — northern blackberry, northern dewberry

Facts

Northern blackberry is a creeping liana with stems up to 5 m (15 feet) long. It is distinguished from other trailing species of Rubus by its few-flowered inflorescences with ascending pedicels, glabrous to sparsely pubescent leaves, and relatively stout stems. The fruit are eaten by chipmunks, white-footed mice, and raccoons, while cottontail rabbits and white-tailed deer browse the stems.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), cliffs, balds, or ledges, forest edges, grassland, meadows and fields, woodlands

Characteristics

• Buds or leaf scars

  Bud scale number

  there are three or more scales on the winter bud, and they overlap like shingles, with one edge covered and the other edge exposed

  Bud scar shape (Fraxinus)

  NA

  Collateral buds

  there are no collateral buds on the sides of the branches

  Leaf scar arrangement

  there is one leaf scar per node on the stem or twig

  Superposed buds

  there are no superposed buds on the branch

  Winter bud stalks

  the winter buds have no stalks

• Flowers

  Carpels fused

  • the carpel is solitary or (if 2 or more) the carpels are not fused to one another
  • the carpels are fused to one another

  Enlarged sterile flowers

  there are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant

  Flower petal color

  white

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Hairs on ovary (Amelanchier)

  NA

  Hypanthium present

  the flower has a hypanthium

  Inflorescence hairs

  there are no hairs on the inflorescence

  Inflorescence type

  • the inflorescence is a corymb (with long lower branches and shorter upper branches, giving it a more or less flat-topped look)
  • the inflorescence is a raceme (a long unbranched stem with stalked flowers growing along it)

  Number of pistils

  6 or more

  Ovary position

  the ovary is above the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes two cycles of petal- or sepal-like structures

  Petal appearance

  the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are separate

  Sepal appearance

  the sepals resemble leaves in color and texture

  Sepal cilia (Ilex)

  NA

  Sepal tip glands

  there are no glands at the tips of the sepal lobes

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  the sepals are separate from one another

  Stamen number

  13 or more

  Stamens fused

  the stamens are not fused to one another

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  • NA
  • black

  Fruit tissue origin

  there are no flower parts that form part of the fruit

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is fleshy

  Fruit type (specific)

  • the fruit is a berry (fleshy, with the wall enclosing one or more sections, with two or more seeds)
  • the fruit is a drupe (fleshy, with a firm inner ovary wall that encloses a single seed)
  • the fruit is an aggregate (composed of multiple fused ovaries from one flower)

  Nut with spines (Fagaceae)

  NA

  Wings on fruit

  there are no wings on the fruit

• Glands or sap

  Sap color

  the sap is clear and watery

  Stalked glands on fruit (Rosa)

  NA

• Growth form

  Growth form

  • the plant is a liana (i.e., a woody plant with a vine-like growth form)
  • the plant is a shrub (i.e., a woody plant with several stems growing from the base)

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  • the underside of the leaf has hairs on it
  • the underside of the leaf has no hairs

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf blade base shape

  • The base of the leaf blade is cordate (heart-shaped, with rounded lobes)
  • the base of the leaf blade is rounded

  Leaf blade base symmetry

  the leaf blade base is symmetrical

  Leaf blade bloom

  the underside of the leaf has no noticeable bloom

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade edges (Acer)

  NA

  Leaf blade flatness

  the leaf is flat (planar) at the edges

  Leaf blade hairs

  the hairs on the leaf blade are different from the choices given

  Leaf blade length

  60–130 mm

  Leaf blade scales

  there are no scales on the leaf blades

  Leaf blade shape

  the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

  Leaf blade texture

  • the leaf blade is chartaceous (thin and dry like paper)
  • the leaf blade is herbaceous (has a leafy texture)

  Leaf blade translucent dots

  there are no translucent dots on the leaf blade

  Leaf blade vein pattern

  the main veins of the leaf blade are pinnate (the secondary veins branch off at intervals from the main central vein) and non-arcuate (not arched towards the leaf tip)

  Leaf blade veins

  the leaf blade has one main vein running from the base toward the tip

  Leaf blade width

  60–130 mm

  Leaf duration

  the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)

  Leaf form

  the plant is broad-leaved (with broadly flattened leaf blades)

  Leaf lobe tips (Quercus)

  NA

  Leaf midrib glands

  the midrib of the leaf blade lacks glands on the upper surface

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk attachment to leaf

  the petiole attaches at the basal margin of the leaf blade

  Leaf stalk nectaries

  there are no nectaries on the leaf stalk

  Leaf stalk shape

  the leaf stalk is not flattened

  Leaf teeth

  the leaf blade margin is serrate (with forward-pointing) or dentate (with outward-pointing) with medium-sized to coarse teeth

  Leaf teeth hairs (Carya)

  NA

  Leaf type

  the leaf blade is compound (i.e., made up of two or more discrete leaflets

  Leaves per node

  there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Specific leaf type

  • the leaf is compound, with three leaflets
  • the leaf is palmately compound with more than three leaflets

  Stipules

  the plant has stipules

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • cliffs, balds, or ledges
  • edges of forests
  • grasslands
  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields
  • woodlands

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the plant does not have much of an odor, or it has an unpleasant or repellant odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Aerial roots

  the plant has no aerial roots

  Bark texture

  the bark of an adult plant is thin and smooth

  Branch brittleness (willows only)

  NA

  Branch cross-section

  the branch is circular in cross-section, or it has five or more sides, so that there are no sharp angles

  First-year cane (Rubus)

  the first year cane stems are doming (arched over to touch the ground at their tips) to trailing (lying along the ground or neighboring vegetation)

  Lenticels on twigs

  there are no lenticels on the twigs, or they are very hard to see

  Pith shape

  the outline of the pith in a twig is roughly round

  Short shoots

  there are no peg- or knob-like shoots present

  Twig bloom

  there is no bloom on the twig

  Twig hairs

  the twigs have few or no hairs on them

  Twig papillae (Vaccinium species only)

  NA

  Twig scales

  there are no scales on the twig surface

  Twig winter color

  • green
  • red

  Wings on branch

  the branch does not have wings on it

  armature on plant

  the plant has spines, prickles, or thorns

Wetland status

Usually occurs in non-wetlands, but occasionally in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: FACU)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae