Kingdom: Plantae
(Unranked): Angiosperms
(Unranked): Eudicots
(Unranked): Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Rubus
Subgenus: Idaeobatus
Species: R. phoenicolasius
Binomial name: Rubus phoenicolasius
Common name: Japanese Wineberry, Wine Raspberry
Rubus phoenicolasius is native to the temperate regions of eastern Asia. It is widely naturalised in temperate regions of the world. It is a vigorous shrub and can form dense thickets covering large areas in invaded habitats displacing native plants. It is found growing in forests, riparian areas on banks, roadside, scrubland and wasteland.
It is a robust, perennial, suckering, scrambling shrub growing up to 4 m high, with round stems that are trailing but erect near the base.
Its stems are almost always covered in reddish bristles and straight flattened prickles which become woody with age.
Its leaves are alternate, palmately compound, typically 3, heart-shaped and have toothed margins. They have a white tomentose on the lower surface.
Flowers appear late spring on short, very bristly racemes at the ends of the branches. The pale pink to red flowers have five petals, five sepals and numerous stamens and is up to 35 mm diameter.
The fruit is 1 cm in diameter, edible, orange-red to dark red drupelets when ripe and produced in summer or early autumn. As a fruit develops, it is surrounded by a protective calyx covered in hairs that exude tiny drops of sticky fluid. These berry-like fruits are actually made up of much smaller fruit, each containing a single small seed.
The flower.mid December.
The underside of a leaf.
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
