''Rubus repens'' (dewdrop, false violet, star violet, Robin runaway. French Canadian: dalibarde rampante)
[Flora of North America, ''Rubus repens'' (Linnaeus) Kuntze, 1891. Robin runaway, false violet, dalibarde rampante ]
/ref> is a perennial plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...
(a forb
A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woo ...
) in the rose family
Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera.
The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are '' Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...
, native to eastern and central Canada and to the northeastern and north-central United States. It is part of the genus ''Rubus
''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, with over 1,350 species.
Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of the ...
'', which includes brambles, blackberries, and raspberries.[ It is fairly easily grown in shady locations in damp to wet, acidic soils, and is frequently used in wildflower and bog gardens as a ground-cover.
]
Description
''Rubus repens'' is a herbaceous plant
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent wood, woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennial plant, perennials, and nearly all Annual plant, annuals and Biennial plant, biennials.
Definition ...
with simple leaves, and hairy stems. It is the only species in the genus ''Dalibarda''. It has both sterile and fertile flowers. The sterile flowers are much less numerous than the fertile ones, have five white petals and are borne atop a peduncle. The more numerous fertile flowers are cleistogamous
Cleistogamy is a type of automatic self-pollination of certain plants that can propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers. Especially well known in peanuts, peas, and pansies, this behavior is most widespread in the grass family. How ...
(they are self-pollinating and never open), and are hidden beneath the leaves. The flower stalks (peduncles) of the cleistogamous flowers are short, 2–5 cm long, and curved downward. The calyx forms a shallow, hairy hypanthium
In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...
, which is divided into 5–6 lobes of unequal size, the 3 larger lobes are toothed (serrate).
The stem is decumbent/creeping, "several inches" in length, with a densely tufted terminal portion which bears both leaves and flowers.
The leaves are basal, simple, pinnately veined above the base, long-petiolate, and slightly hairy/downy on both sides. They are dark green in color. Leaf blades cordate to rounded (orbicular),[ 3–5 cm long; the basal lobes are rounded; the apex is blunt to rounded; the margins are scalloped, with low rounded teeth (crenate); and the petioles are hairy,][ 3–10 cm long.
The common name false violet comes not only from the heart-shaped leaves, but also because this plant, like violets, produces two kinds of flowers.
Though this plant is globally secure, it is locally endangered in Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina and Rhode Island. It is listed as threatened in Michigan and Ohio.
The plant can be identified as being low, spreading by runners with leaves and flowers arising on separate stalks from the runner. The sterile flowers are white with 5 broad petals and numerous long stamens, solitary on a long, reddish flower stalk arising from runner. Leaves are kidney-shaped, with a long petiole, and with outer margin scalloped. The plant is 2 to 5 inches in height.
The leaves of dewdrop may be confused with violet leaves, but violets have low rounded teeth that curve upward; the leaf margins of dewdrop have low scalloped edges or outward-facing blunt teeth.
The plant is found in Minnesota in the west to Nova Scotia in the east, southward to Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the mountains to North Carolina.
Dewdrop is found in northern or upland forests, in shady locations, in moist to wet conifer and mixedwood (softwoods and hardwoods) forests or swamps, and often on red pine and white pine sites with sandy, acidic soils. It thrives best in acidic soils.
A few, nearly dry, small white drupes (drupelets), 3–4 mm long, retained within the calyx are produced.
As with its close relatives in genus ''Rubus'', the young plants make a reasonably palatable pot-herb, and can be brewed as a mild infusion/tea throughout the growing season. The fruit is edible, but decidedly not "choice".
It flowers from June to August.
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References
External links
United States Department of Agriculture PlantsProfile
*
Northern Ontario Plant Database; entry for ''Rubus repens''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15525584, from2=Q17240481
repens
Flora of the Eastern United States
Flora of Eastern Canada
Plants described in 1753