Rubus pluribracteatus

L. T. Lu & Boufford

Rosaceae Edible: Leaves, Fruit, Flowers 3 iNaturalist observations

Has a deadly poisonous lookalike — see comparison below

wikimedia· cc-by-sa

Wikimedia Commons - Franz Xaver

wikimedia· cc-by-sa

Wikimedia Commons - Franz Xaver

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Description

A shrub. It grows 3 m tall. There are a few curved spines. The leaves are simple and 7-16 cm across. Flowers can be at the ends of branches or in the axils of leaves. The petals are white. The fruit is aggregate and red. They are 2 cm across.

Edible Uses

The leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable, while ripe fruits are eaten raw.

Traditional Uses

The leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. The ripe fruit are eaten raw.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

It is a tropical plant. It grows near the edges of forests and in river valleys between 300-2,700 m above sea level in southern China. It grows in Yunnan in China.

Where It Grows

Asia, Cambodia, China, Indochina, Laos, SE Asia, Thailand, Vietnam,

Production

In China plants flower in March to June and fruit August to September.

Dangerous Lookalikes

This plant can be confused with the following toxic species. Always verify identification carefully before consuming any wild plant.

DEADLY

Red Baneberry

Actaea rubra

Walter Siegmund (talk)

Safe

Rubus pluribracteatus

Wikimedia Commons - Franz Xaver

Red Baneberry: Short herbaceous plant (no thorns), berries on thick red stems, each berry has a single seed, compound sharply-toothed leaves.

Rubus pluribracteatus: Thorny woody canes (brambles), aggregate berry made of many drupelets, berries pull easily from receptacle.

Synonyms

Rubus andropogon H. Lev.Rubus multibracteatus H. Lev. & Vaniotand others

References (5)

Flora of China @ efloras.org Volume 9
Ghorbani, A., et al, 2012, A comparison of the wild food plant use knowledge of ethnic minorities in Naban River Watershed Nature Reserve, Yunnan, SW China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; 8:17
Liu, Yi-tao, & Long, Chun-Lin, 2002, Studies on Edible Flowers Consumed by Ethnic Groups in Yunnan. Acta Botanica Yunnanica. 24(1):41-56 (As Rubus multibracteatus)
Luo, B., et al, 2019, Wild edible plants collected by Hani from terraced rice paddy agroecosystem in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 15:56 (As Rubus multibracteatus)
Xu, You-Kai, et al, 2004, Wild Vegetable Resources and Market Survey in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. Economic Botany. 58(4): 647-667.