Black Raspberry

Rubus occidentalis I,. v Sp. PL 493. 1753
Rubus idaeus americanus Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2: 196. 1827. Rubus occidentalis pallidus L. H. Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. 1582. 1902. Rubus occidentalis flavobaccus Blanchard, Rhodora 7: 146. 1905. Melanobatus occidentalis Greene, Leaflets 1: 243. 1906.
Stems biennial, 1-3 m. long, recurved, at length rooting at the tips, usually purplish or bluish, glaucous-pruinose, glabrous, armed with moderately strong, somewhat flattened, recurved prickles; leaves of the turions 3-foliolate, or some of them pedately 5-foliolate; stipules setaceous; petioles and petiolules sparingly prickly, glabrous or nearly so; petioles 5-10 cm. long; median leaflet ovate to broadly cordate, sometimes more or less lobed, doubly serrate, with ovate-lanceolate teeth, abruptly acuminate at the apex, rounded to cordate at the base, 5-8 cm. long, puberulent or glabrate and dark-green above, white-tomentose beneath; petiolules 2-4 cm. long; lateral leaflets in the 5-foliolate leaves similar but narrower, their petiolules 1-2 cm. long; outer leaflets sessile or with very short petiolules, often oblique and sometimes 2-lobed; floral branches green, their leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets similar but rarely cordate at the base and smaller, the terminal one with a petiolule about 1 cm. long, the lateral ones sessile; corymbs few-flowered, terminal or with small branches in the upper axils, more or less tomentose, and prickly but not glandular-hispid; sepals tomentose on both sides, ovate-lanceolate, long-acuminate, 7-8 mm. long, at first reflexed, but at last closing around the fruit; petals white, elliptic, shorter than the sepals; fruit dark bluish-purple, with a bloom, hemispheric; drupelets many, tomentose.
Type locality: Canada.
Distribution: New Brunswick and Quebec to the mountains of Georgia, Colorado, and Minnesota.