Rubus flosculosus
Focke
Gong jing xuan gou zi
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Deciduous shrub reaching 2.5 m tall. Hardy to UK zone 6. Flowers in July with seeds ripening August to September. Hermaphrodite flowers pollinated by insects. Tolerates light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils with good drainage. Grows in mildly acid, neutral, or mildly alkaline pH. Adapts to semi-shade or full sun and prefers moist soil.
Description
A shrub. It grows 1.5-2.5 m tall. The branches arch over. They are reddish brown. They have purplish-red curved prickles. The fruit are reddish to red-black. They are round and 5-8 mm across. They are hairy.
Edible Uses
The red to reddish-black fruit, 5–8mm in diameter, can be eaten raw or cooked.
Medicinal Uses
None known.
Distribution
It is a temperate plant. They grow on riverbanks and forested slopes between 900-2800 m altitude in China. In Sichuan.
Where It Grows
Asia, China,
Cultivation
Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil in sun or semi-shade. This species is a raspberry with biennial stems, it produces a number of new stems each year from the perennial rootstock, these stems fruit in their second year and then die. The stems have only a few prickles. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus.
Propagation
Seed requires stratification and is best sown in early autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed needs one month stratification at about 3°c and should be sown as early in the year as possible. Prick out seedlings when large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame, then plant out into permanent positions in late spring of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood can be taken in July/August in a frame. Tip layering in July, planting out in autumn. Division can be done in early spring or just before leaf-fall in autumn.
Other Uses
A purple to dull blue dye is obtained from the fruit.
Notes
There are about 250 Rubus species.
Dangerous Lookalikes
This plant can be confused with the following toxic species. Always verify identification carefully before consuming any wild plant.
Red Baneberry
Actaea rubra
Walter Siegmund (talk)
Gong jing xuan gou zi
Rubus flosculosus
Red Baneberry: Short herbaceous plant (no thorns), berries on thick red stems, each berry has a single seed, compound sharply-toothed leaves.
Gong jing xuan gou zi: Thorny woody canes (brambles), aggregate berry made of many drupelets, berries pull easily from receptacle.
Also Known As
Caizipao
References (5)
- Hooker's Icon. Pl. 20: sub t. 1952. 1891
- Kang, Y., et al, 2012, Wild food plants and wild edible fungi in two valleys on the Qinling Mountains (Shaanxi, central China) Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; 9:26
- Lu Lingdi, Boufford, D.E., Rubus. Flora of China.
- Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
- www.efloras.org Flora of China Volume 9
