Scientific Name: Rubus fruticosus (Rosaceae). Actually an aggregate of dozens of microspecies.
English Name: Blackberry; Bramble (Rose family).
French Name: La Ronce commune.
5 Key Characters:
- very variable in terms of prickles, flower colour, leaf shape, fruit (shape, colour, flavour).
- scrambling shrub with arched prickly angled stems.
- leaves with 3-5 leaflets.
- flowers white or pink, petals often crinkly.
- fruit red then shiny black.
Lookalikes: Cultivated Rubus spp and varieties.
Habitat: Scrub, woods, wasteland, hedgerows.
Flowering Period: May-June-July-August-September.
Status: Very common and often invasive.
Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
Don't talk to me about invasive!!
ReplyDeleteTurn your back on the thug and it is crawling over your shoulder...
I've had to get a special blade for the strimmer to battle with it here!!
I was indirectly helped by the minus 21 Centipedes that we had here a couple of years back...
that really knocked it for six...
but only above ground...
and it is fighting back.
Mousehold Heath in Norwich is famous amongst Rubus specialists in having over one hundred and seventy identifiable subspecies...
believed to be because of its isolation in the middle of a city.
How do I know... I knew an elderly naturalist in Dewsbury who couldn't drive himself anywhere, anymore...
one of his great friends was such a specialist and took him there once...
once being the operative word...
his friend apparently looked at every single plant on the heath over a two day stay...
trying to find a particular subspecies that was recorded there...
but he'd never seen...
a particular deep-cut leafed ssp.
My friend just wanted to get out to the Broads, but never did!
He studied dragons and damsels!!
Tim: Habitat wise the secret is not to let it join up into one unholy impenetrable mess. The odd one dotted about the place is perfect.
ReplyDelete"...one unholy impenetrable mess."... was what we started with...
ReplyDeleteall the way along the Aigronne...
I am currently cutting windows through to divide the 500mtr "bush" into sections...
and then make those smaller from each end...
both with the afivesaid strimmer blade and the ride-on.
It seems to be working!!
Tim: Bonne continuation!
ReplyDelete