Rubus fruticosus

Rubus fruticosus L. is the ambiguous name of a European blackberry species in the genus Rubus. The name has been interpreted in several ways:

The species represented by the type specimen of Rubus fruticosus L., which is also the type specimen of the genus Rubus. This specimen is considered to match the species R. plicatus, in Rubus subgenus Rubus, section Rubus.
Various species consistent with Carl Linnaeus' original description of the species, which was based on a mixture of specimens now considered to match Rubus ulmifolius and R. plicatus

a species aggregate Rubus fruticosus agg. that includes most of a group called Rubus subgenus Rubus :
* in a narrow sense, sometimes separated as the section Glandulosus In this sense the species aggregate does not include the type of the genus Rubus.
* in a broad sense: sections Glandulosus and Rubus or "most of" these sections; or sections Glandulosus, Rubus and Corylifolii. Section Rubus are probably hybrids involving members of section Glandulosus with either R. idaeus or R. allegheniensis. Section Corylifolii are probably hybrids involving members of section Glandulosus with R. caesius.
* even more broadly, including all the taxa in the subgenus ''Rubus''

Incorrect applications

Apart from the established meaning of Rubus fruticosus L. as R. plicatus, the name R. fruticosus has been incorrectly applied to several species, including:

Rubus fructicosus Weihe & Nees, Rubi Germ. 24, 1822 -> Rubus montanus Lib. ex Lej., Fl. Spa 2: 317, 1813
Rubus fruticosus G.N.Jones -> Rubus vestitus Weihe
Rubus fruticosus L. ex Dierb. -> Rubus vulgaris Weihe & Nees
Rubus fruticosus Lour. -> Rubus cochinchinensis Tratt.