View sketch

Red Raspberry, Rubus idaeus L.
Rosaceae

Height: An upright arching shrub, 0.5-1.5 m high with round stems (canes). New branches are reddish and covered with glandular bristles. Older branches are brown and covered with glandular bristles. Older branches are brown and covered with prickles and bristles.

Leaves: Alternate and pinnately compound with 3-7 oval, ovate or lanceolate leaflets. Leaflets are coarsely and sharply toothed, dark green and hairless above, pale green or whitened and densely hairy beneath, and 2-10 cm long. The veins are depressed above, giving the leaflets a wrinkled appearance. The upper leaves usually have only 3 leaflets.

Flowers: White or greenish-white, 1.5 cm across, with 5 petals and numerous stamens and pistils. The bristly sepals are usually bent backwards. The flowers occur in clusters of 2-5 in the upper leaf axils. Blooms from June to July.

Fruit: Aggregates of many red drupelets, 1.3-1.9 cm in diameter, and when ripe fall away intact from the receptacle. Ripen by late July or early August.

Habitat: Found in dry and moist woods, fields and thickets, along roadsides and in other disturbed areas throughout Newfoundland and southern Labrador.

Source: Native Trees and Shrubs
of Newfoundland and Labrador
By A. Glen Ryan

Used with permission from
Parks and Natural Areas Division
Department of Environment and Conservation
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador 1995