Rubus leucodermis
Rubus leucodermis, also called whitebark raspberry, blackcap raspberry, blue raspberry, or Chkohpeen by the Yurok is a species of Rubus native to western North America. Despite its name, it has no connection to the artificial flavoring known as blue raspberry.
Description
Rubus leucodermis is a deciduous shrub growing to, with prickly shoots. While the crown is perennial, the canes are biennial, growing vegetatively one year, flowering and fruiting the second, and then dying. As with other dark raspberries, the tips of the first-year canes often grow downward to the soil in the fall, and take root and form tip layers which become new plants. The leaves are pinnate, with five leaflets on the leaves' hardy stems in their first year, and three leaflets on leaves on flowering branchlets with white flowers.The fruit is diameter, red to reddish-purple at first, turning dark purple to nearly black when ripe. The edible fruit has high contents of anthocyanins and ellagic acid.
R. leucodermis is similar to the eastern black raspberry.
Taxonomy
Subdivision
Three varieties are recognized:- Rubus leucodermis var. leucodermis – Alaska to Chihuahua
- Rubus leucodermis var. bernardinus Jepson – southern California
- Rubus leucodermis var. trinitatis Berger – southern California
Etymology