SPECIES DESCRIPTION
RUBUS SANCTUS
Family and Genus:- See- ROSACEAE
Common Names:- Bramble, Blackberry.
Homotypic Synonyms:- Rubus anatolicus, Rubus sanguineus, Rubus
thessalus, Rubus ulmifolius
Meaning:- Rubus The ancient Latin name for brambles, bramble-like.
Sanctus (L)Holy, sacred.
General description:- Very variable, thicket-forming, semi-evergreen shrub.
Stems:-
1) Arching, procumbent or nearly erect, usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely
tomentose or pubescent, the hairs stellate, or occurring singly or in tufts, with
a few glands and acicles.
Prickles:-
1) Strong and broad-based, curved, usually dark red with a yellowish apex; acicles
and stalked glands absent.
Leaves:-
1) Small, pedate, upper, usually covered with stellate hairs above.
a) leaflets, 3-7, usually tomentose, above, grey-white-tomentose beneath,
terminal leaflet, rhombic, 4 times as long as its petiole, subacuminate,
entire or subcordate at the base, deeply serrate.
2) Stipules, linear-lanceolate to filiform.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, usually narrow, conical. rather long, nearly leafless, the axis
tomentose, usually eglandular.
2) Peduncles, ascending, slender, with small, yellowish, subulate prickles.
3) Bracts, lanceolate;
a) lower, trifid.
4) Sepals, deflexed after flowering, grey-white, sometimes aciculate,
5) Petals, small, obovate-oblong, yellowish-white.
6) Stamens, white, more or less equalling the green styles; pollen completely
fertile.
a) carpels, glabrous.
Fruit:-
1) (Blackberry) red at first, purplish-black when ripe, edible.
2) Drupelets, usually more than 20, rarely pruinose.
.
Key features:-
1) Stems, usually not pruinose.
2) Stipules, linear-lanceolate to thread-like filiform.
3) Leaflets, 3-7.
4) Drupelets, usually more than 20, rarely pruinose.
5) Prickles, nearly always very unequal, often scattered on the stem-faces.
6) Stem, and inflorescence usually with stalked glands.
7) Upper leaves, usually covered with stellate hairs above.
Habitat:- Commonly forming roadside thickets, also on field margins, along brooks
and in ruderal habitats. 0-900(-1300) m.
Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean. Widespread
and common on Crete.
Flowering time:- May-July, sometimes later.
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
