Armenian Blackberry
Rubus armeniacus
A cane can root wherever its growing tip touches moist soil, allowing a single plant to clone itself rapidly across several meters of ground in a single season.
- Scientific name
- Rubus armeniacus
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Rosales › Rosaceae › Rubus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Forest edges, riparian corridors, disturbed woodlands, pastures, and roadsides
- Diet
- Photoautotroph
- Range
- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand
- Size
- Canes 2–3 m tall and up to 12 m long
- Lifespan
- 20–30 years (root crown)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Targeted mechanical eradication, selective herbicide applications, and targeted biocontrol agents such as rust fungi in its introduced range
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless toxicologically with edible ripe fruit, but structurally hazardous due to sharp, recurved prickles that can tear skin and snag clothing. Wear thick leather gloves and sturdy canvas or denim clothing when walking near or managing thickets. Clean any puncture wounds or scratches thoroughly with soap and water to prevent bacterial infection.
Rubus armeniacus , the Himalayan blackberry or Armenian blackberry , is a species of Rubus in the blackberry group Rubus subgenus Rubus series Discolores (P.J. Müll.) Focke. It is native to Armenia and Northern Iran, and widely naturalised elsewhere. Both its scientific name and origin have been the subject of much confusion, with much of the literature referring to it as either Rubus procerus or Rubus discolor , and often mistakenly citing its origin as western European. Flora of...
Photo: Brian Finzel, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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