A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Rubus thibetanus Franch.

Modern name

Rubus thibetanus Franch.

Synonyms

R. veitchii Rolfe

An erect deciduous shrub, 6 ft or more high; stems biennial, glabrous, round, covered with a purplish bloom, and set irregularly with straight, slender prickles. Leaves pinnate, 4 to 9 in. long, composed of seven to thirteen leaflets, the main-stalk prickly; leaflets oval or ovate, more or less oblique, stalkless, coarsely and angularly toothed, dark lustrous green, and with minutely silky hairs above, whitish felted beneath; the lowest leaflets are 1 to 2 in. long, each successive pair diminishing in size towards the apex of the leaf which is terminated by a long, deep-lobed leaflet. Flowers 12 in. across, slender-stalked, solitary in the leaf-axils, or a few together in terminal flattish panicles; the calyx very downy, with triangular lobes; petals purple. Fruits roundish, 58 in. across, black with a bluish bloom.

Native of W. China; discovered and introduced by Wilson for Messrs Veitch, with whom it flowered in August 1908. Wilson found it in the Min River Valley at elevations of 4,000 to 6,000 ft, where it is rare. Of the Chinese Rubi introduced in this century it is one of the most distinct and attractive-looking, both for its blue-purple stems and very handsomely cut foliage.


Genus

Rubus

Other species in the genus