Rubus australis

Detailed description

Much-branched dioecious vine or scrambling vine with stems up to 10 m or more long. Juvenile plants creeping over forest floor, with stems rooting at intervals. Adult vines scrambling up surrounding vegetation. Primary stems of mature vines up to 100 mm diameter, terete, glabrous, unarmed, young branchlets minutely pubescent becoming glabrous with age (juvenile vines often with glabrous stems), otherwise covered in numerous wide-based, otherwise slender, reddish, falcate prickles. Stipules minute, caducous, narrowly deltoid. Leaves of juveniles ternate to quinate, petioles up to 60 mm long; lamina of juvenile leaflets chartaceous, 10-30 × 10-20 mm, ovate to ovate-oblong, acute to obtuse, acutely serrate; borne on petiolules up to 50 mm long; veins distinct (often reddish), glabrate though with sparse fine hairs on main veins of both surfaces and margins; Leaves of adults palmate, ternate to quinate, petioles 20-50 mm long; lamina of adult leaflets coriaceous, 30-50 × 10-35 mm, elliptic to ovate or suborbicular, acute to obtuse, rounded to oblique at base, margins coarsely and often unevenly serrate up to 10x either side, adaxially weakly bullate, glossy, green to dark green, abaxially paler, otherwise weakly bullate or notmore or less glabrous (usually with weak hairs on major veins on both surfaces and margins), veins distinct to indistinct; petiolules minute (rarely up to 20 mm long). Inflorescence a much-branched panicle up to 200 mm long (sometimes a narrow few-flowered raceme), branchlets and pedicels more or less finely pubescent. Flowers white, cream or pinkish. borne distantly on pedicels c.10 mm long. Sepales 2-4 mm long, ovate, obtuse, pubescent; petals 5, 3-6 mm long, ovate to broadly so. Fruits 9 mm diameter, drupelets 8-15 (or more), yellowish to orange-red. Endocarp ‘seed’ 3.3-4.2 mm long, dorsally ridged 3x.