Rubus phoenicolasius
Common name
Japanese wineberry
Family
Rosaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
RUBPHO
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).
FACU: Facultative Upland
Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).
Features
Robust suckering and scrambling shrub up to about 4 m high. Stems are almost square in cross-section and are covered in reddish bristles and straight flattened prickles. The leaves are trifoliate, white tomentose on the lower surface the margins are unevenly serrate. Inflorescences are at the ends of the branches, each flower up to 35 mm diameter. Fruit are orange-red to dark red drupelets to about 15 mm long.
Similar taxa
The tri-pinnate leaves with white tomentum beneath distinguish this species.
Flowering
November, December, January
Fruiting
December, January, February, March, April
Life cycle
Spreads by suckering and seed; many seeds are produced; dispersed by people and birds.
Year naturalised
1922
Origin
E. Asia
Reason for introduction
Horticultural
Etymology
rubus: From the Latin meaning bramble