''Rubus leucodermis'', also called whitebark raspberry or blackcap raspberry, is a species of '' Rubus'' native to western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Description

''Rubus leucodermis'' is a deciduous

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

growing to , with prickly shoots. While the crown is perennial, the canes are biennial, growing vegetatively one year, flowering and fruiting the second, and then dying. As with other dark raspberries, the tips of the first-year canes (primocanes) often grow downward to the soil in the fall, and take root and form tip layers which become new plants. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are pinnate, with five leaflets on the leaves' hardy stems in their first year, and three leaflets on leaves on flowering branchlets with white (and infrequently light purple) flowers. The fruit is diameter, red to reddish-purple at first, turning dark purple to nearly black when ripe. The edible fruit has high contents of

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...

s and ellagic acid.Flora of North America ''Rubus leucodermis'' Douglas ex Torrey & A. Gray, 1840.
/ref> ''R. leucodermis'' is similar to the eastern black raspberry ('' Rubus occidentalis'').

Taxonomy

Subdivision

Three varieties are recognized: *''Rubus leucodermis'' var. ''leucodermis'' – Alaska to Chihuahua *''Rubus leucodermis'' var. ''bernardinus'' Jepson – southern California *''Rubus leucodermis'' var. ''trinitatis'' Berger – southern California

Etymology

The name ''leucodermis'' means "white skin", referring to the white appearance of the stems because of a thick waxy coating on the surface.

Distribution and habitat

The species can be found from Alaska southward along the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

as far as California, Arizona, New Mexico, and

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

Ecology

The plant forms natural hybrids with other species in subgenus '' Idaeobatus''.

References

External links

* *
UC Photos gallery: ''Rubus leucodermis''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1386973 leucodermis Berries Flora of Alaska Flora of British Columbia Flora of California Flora of New Mexico Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the Cascade Range Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of the Southwestern United States Garden plants of North America Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants described in 1840 Flora without expected TNC conservation status