General:
Perennial herb (rarely somewhat woody at the base) from a slender rhizome; annual flowering shoots erect, 5-15 cm tall, several, tufted, leafy, unarmed, finely soft-hairy.

Leaves:
Alternate, deciduous, 2 to 5 per flowering shoot, long-stalked, palmately compound or shallowly lobed, the stalks more or less hairy; leaflets or lobes 3, the leaflets, if present, wedge-egg-shaped, 1-5 cm long, the leaflets or lobes usually rounded at the summit, coarsely single- or double-toothed except near the base, greenish on both surfaces, smooth to hairy above, paler and usually hairy especially on the veins beneath; stipules lanceolate to egg-shaped.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of 1 to 3 stalked flowers atop erect leafy shoots; corollas pink to rose, the petals 5, lance-egg-shaped to spoon-shaped, 8-18 mm long, erect; calyces fine-hairy and sometimes glandular, 5-lobed, the lobes narrowly lanceolate, 5-13 mm long, bent back; ovaries superior; stamens 30 to 40, the filaments flattened.

Fruits:
Drupelets, 20 to 30, smooth, coherent in a red to purplish, globe-shaped cluster, about 1 cm wide, that separates from the dry receptacle (raspberry-like).

Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC:

1. Leaves compound; calyces lacking glands; frequent throughout BC............... ssp. acaulis (Michx.) Focke

1. Leaves 3-lobed or nearly entire; calyces with yellow glands; rare in NW BC................. ssp. stellatus (Sm.) Boivin

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Rubus arcticus var. stellatus (Sm.) Boivin
Rubus stellatus Sm.