Japanese wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)

Common Names: Wine raspberry

Description: Introduced in the United States in 1890 as breeding stock for new Rubus cultivars (blackberries and raspberries). It is used today by berry breeders to add specific genes to berry varieties or species.

Habit: Perennial shrub with long arching stems (canes) up to 9 ft in length.

Leaves: Alternate, palmately compound, 3 heart-shaped serrated leaflets.

Stems: Arching, known as canes, grows up to 9 ft in length, Upright stems have red gland tipped hairs and small spines.

Flowers: Small, greenish in color with white petals and reddish hairs; blooms in late spring to early summer.

Fruit and seeds: Edible raspberry-like fruit, bright red to orange-red in color, multiple drupes and ripens in mid summer. Produces seeds as well.

Habitat: Native to Japan, Korea, and China. Found in forests, fields, streams and wetland edge habitats, open woods, savannas and prairie habitats.

Reproduction: By seeds, and through vegetative means including root buds and the sprouting of new plants from where canes touch the soil.

Similar species: Red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) / (Rubus leucodermis) and blackberry (Rubus fruticosus).

Monitoring and rapid response: Removal of plants by hand-pulling or use a 4-prong spading fork when the soil is moist. Branches and berries should be bagged but the remaining plant material can be left to compost. Sites can be burned or mowed. Also can be effectively controlled using any of several readily available general use herbicides such as glyphosate, triclopyr, or metsulfuron-methyl.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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