Rubus ursinus Cham. & Schltdl.
California blackberry (Dwarf Red Raspberry; Pacific trailing blackberry; Salmonberry; trailing blackberry)
Rosaceae (Rose family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

© Vince Poulin     (Photo ID #24833)


Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Rubus ursinus
Click here to view the full interactive map and legend

SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC

Rubus ursinus ssp. macropetalus

Species Information

General:
Trailing shrub, 2-5 m or more long; stems barely woody, 2-10 mm in diameter, arching, sprawling and trailing along the ground, some rooting at the tip, with slender, straight to slightly recurved prickles, somewhat hairy when young becoming smooth and glaucous; flowering branches ascending, to 50 cm tall.
Leaves:
Alternate, deciduous, pinnately compound, 5-15 cm long; leaflets 3 (rarely 5), narrowly to broadly egg-shaped, 3-10 cm long, coarsely double-saw-toothed, green and smooth or nearly so on both surfaces, the terminal leaflet largest and often deeply 3-lobed to divided, the leaf-stalks and midveins beneath fine-prickly; stipules linear, 8-11 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of few stalked flowers in small, open, flat-topped terminal clusters, the stalks often purplish stalked-glandular; male and female flowers on separate plants; corollas white, the petals 5, spreading, elliptic and 8-11 mm long in female flowers, lanceolate and 12-17 mm long in male flowers; calyces woolly and usually stalked-glandular, sometimes fine-prickly, 5-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, spreading to bent back, 7-11 mm long; ovaries superior; stamens 75 to 100.
Fruits:
Drupelets, generally smooth, coherent in a black oblong to nearly globe-shaped cluster that falls with the fleshy receptacle (a blackberry), the berries 1-1.5 cm long.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

USDA Species Characteristics

Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Early Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Black
Present from Spring to Summer
Source:  The USDA

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Rubus ursinus

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Avg

Min

Max

Elevation (metres)
235 0 960
Slope Gradient (%)
18 0 135

Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]

209 13 360
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
3 0 8
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
D
# of field plots
 species was recorded in:
1184
Modal BEC Zone Class
CWH

All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in

BWBS(1), CDF(281), CWH(753), IDF(12), SBS(1)

Habitat and Range

Dry to moist thickets, clearings, waste places and open forests in the lowland to lower montane zones; common in SW BC; S to ID and N CA.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia