Rubus fruticosus
(blackberry)

Preferred Common Name

• blackberry

Other Scientific Names

• Rubus fruticosa

International Common Names

• English: bramble; European blackberry; scaldhead; shrubby blackberry; wild blackberry; wild blackberry complex
• Spanish: zarza; zarzamora; zarzamora comun
• French: murier; murier sauvage; ronce; ronce commune
• Portuguese: amora silvestre; silva

Local Common Names

• Croatia: obicna kupina
• Denmark: almindelig brombær; brombær; klynger
• Finland: karhunvattu; oimuvatukka
• Germany: Echte Brombeere
• Italy: mora di rovo; rogo; roveto; rovo
• Netherlands: bosbraam; braam; braambes; gewone braam
• Norway: björnbär; sötbjörnbär
• Poland: jerzyna; jezyna; jezyna faldowana; jezyna krzewiasta
• Sweden: bjoernbaer; bjønnbær; bjørnebær; søtbjønnbær

EPPO code

• RUBFR (Rubus fruticosus)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Rosales
•                         Family: Rosaceae
•                             Genus: Rubus
•                                 Species: Rubus fruticosus

The original Linnaean Rubus fruticosus L., senso typo, has been treated as a broad complex, an aggregate of several slightly differing species that belong to several sections and subsections. Over 300 species have been recognized in the UK (Clapham et al., 1952). For a full list of species included refer to Tutin et al. (1968) and Floraweb (2003). Edees and Newton (1988) published a taxonomic account of Rubus in Britain listing 307 species. There are a greater number in continental Europe, although taxonomic studies are incomplete. In eastern USA, their taxonomy is also unresolved and further complicated by horticultural introductions. Evans et al. (2007) has used RFLPs to examine the systematics of the R. fruticosus aggregate in Australia, correlating 35 DNA phenotypes with 15 taxa. Almost all species of Rubus are agamospecies, segregated from R. fruticosus L. Many of these species arose during the Pleistocene era as a result of hybridization and apomixis (reproduction by seeds which develop without sexual fusion; Tutin et al., 1968). Due to this facultative apomixis, the seed is genetically identical to the parent plant. In the case of the less frequent sexual production, the offspring will be slightly different from the parent plant and will then usually reproduce as a new species by means of apomixis. In combination with the ability of Rubus to spread vegetatively over large areas, this has the consequence that the slightest variation tends to persist and to become recognised as a species, complicating the taxonomy. As such, this datasheet covers R. fruticosus in its broadest aggregate sense.

R. fruticosus is a very prickly, scrambling, woody shrub with a perennial root system and biennial canes. It grows up to 2 m or more tall and is extremely variable in leaf shape and plant form. Stems are variable, semi-erect canes, which grow up to 8 or 10 m long. The canes may be green, purplish, or red and have generally backward pointing thorns, and are moderately hairy, round or angled, sometimes bearing small, stalked glands. They are arching, entangling, and woody. Stems can root at the tips to form new plants and new stems grow from the base each year. Roots are stout, branched, creeping underground, growing vertically to a maximum depth of 1.5 m depending on soil type, from a woody crown up to 20 cm in diameter. Secondary roots grow horizontally from the crown for 30-60 cm, and then grow down vertically. Many thin roots grow in all directions from the secondary roots (Weber, 1995; Bruzzese 1998; Roy et al. 1998; Anon, 2001). The alternate leaves are divided into 3 or 5 serrated, shortly stalked, oval leaflets, which are arranged palmately, coloured dark green on top and pale beneath. Some taxa have the underside of leaves covered in pale hairs. Stalks and mid-ribs are prickly. Flowers are white to pink, 2-3 cm in diameter, with five petals and numerous stamens, in many-flowered clusters. In the northern hemisphere, R. fruticosus flowers approximately from May to August, in the southern hemisphere from November to April. The fruit is an aggregated berry, 10-20 mm long, changing colour from green to red to black as it ripens, made up of approximately twenty to fifty single-seeded drupelets. Seeds are deeply and irregularly pitted, oval, coloured light to dark brown, and 2.6-3.7 mm long and 1.6-2.5 mm wide.

Generally, introduction and spread of R. fruticosus L. agg. have been intentional as a fruit crop or a barrier hedge. In Australia, blackberry was evidently planted in New South Wales by the late 1830s. In 1842 blackberry was first recorded as being deliberately introduced from Europe into Adelaide, South Australia for its fruit. It was included in the sale catalogue of a Tasmanian nursery by 1845. Blackberry was recognised to have become a significant weed by the 1880s, and first proclaimed a noxious weed in Gippsland, Victoria in 1894.(Anon., 2001). The initial introduction to New Zealand was probably as a food plant by early settlers and other introductions can be traced back to distributions of plants from the Melbourne Botanic Gardens in the mid 1800s (Webb et al., 1988). In New Zealand, the initial spread of blackberry was intentional by planting for use as a food source and to form hedges, with unintentional distribution via humans, sheep and particularly by introduced birds, and by horticultural escape (Healy, 1952; Guthrie-Smith, 1953).

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• acid
• alkaline
• neutral
• very acid

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Special soil tolerances

• infertile

R. fruticosus can degrade the natural environment by altering habitats as a result of crowding out and suppressing the growth of native vegetation. Blackberry thickets provide habitats for introduced birds and animals such as foxes and rabbits in Australia (Groves et al., 1998). Due to its biennial growth habit, the majority of biomass in a blackberry thicket is dead material from previous years, resulting in the exacerbation of fire hazards in larger infestations (Bruzzese, 1998). Around the root mass, soil erosion is accelerated along watercourses. This in turn results in an increase in sedimentation within the watercourses and the spread of blackberry seeds downstream. The extensive use of herbicides to control blackberry is environmentally undesirable.

R. fruticosus can threaten populations of certain native plant species that are already rare or endangered (Briggs, 1998; Davies 1998). Williams and Timmins (1990) listed blackberry as a significant problem weed of protected natural areas, which can permanently alter the structure, successional processes, and composition of organisms present in native communities. However, dense blackberry thickets can provide nesting and sheltering sites for birds and mammals.

Due to its vigorous growth and entangling canes, R. fruticosus can cause restriction of access to areas of public land for management purposes and restriction of access by visitors for recreational activities. Dead, dry canes are also undesirable from an aesthetic point of view as well as the nuisance value of the thorny stems. Blackberry invasions can result in loss of amenity, can cause interference with water flow, and prevent the establishment of species with desirable bank-stabilizing attributes. Property values can decrease substantially due to heavy infestations of blackberry. Large thickets can also obstruct visibility along roads.

• Invasive in its native range
• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Highly mobile locally
• Has high reproductive potential
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year

• Damaged ecosystem services
• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Negatively impacts agriculture
• Negatively impacts human health
• Negatively impacts animal health
• Negatively impacts tourism
• Reduced amenity values
• Reduced native biodiversity

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Pest and disease transmission
• Produces spines, thorns or burrs

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately
• Difficult/costly to control

R. fruticosus presents a food source for honey bees, goats, deer (Bruzzese, 1998) and other wild animals as well as for humans. Fruits are highly palatable with high vitamin C content and can be eaten raw, or made into drinks, jams, syrups or various preserves (Bown, 1997). Blackberries are harvested and sold in fresh and processed markets. For the fresh market, they are sold pick-your-own, for local sales, as well as on the international wholesale fresh market. In the processing market, the fruit are typically frozen whole, puréed or juiced and from these basic ‘industrial’ products, hundreds of products are made for sale to consumers in every section of a grocery store. Bakery products, jams and jellies, dairy and cereal products are some of the more common consumer products that contain blackberries. The juice is often fermented to make wines or liqueurs (Janick and Paull, 2008).

Leaves are used in the preparation of herbal teas and the root bark and leaves are used medicinally, being strongly astringent, depurative, diuretic, and vulnerary. Fruits provide a blue dye and a fibre can be obtained from the stems to make string. Blackberry bushes can prevent soil erosion on infertile, disturbed sites (Dersal, 1938).