Rubus idaeus

Taxobox
name = "Rubus idaeus"

---

image_width = 240px
image_caption = Fruit on a wild Raspberry, Czech Republic
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Rosales
familia = Rosaceae
subfamilia = Rosoideae
genus = "Rubus"
subgenus = "Idaeobatus"
species = "R. idaeus"
binomial = "Rubus idaeus"
binomial_authority = L.

"Rubus idaeus" (Raspberry; occasionally as European Raspberry, Framboise, or Red Raspberry to distinguish it from related species) is a species of "Rubus", native to Europe and northern Asia.Flora Europaea: [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Rubus+&SPECIES_XREF=idaeus&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK= "Rubus idaeus"] ] Germplasm Resources Information Network: [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?32348 "Rubus idaeus"] ] A closely related plant in North America, formerly often regarded as a variety "Rubus idaeus" var. "strigosus", is now usually treated as a distinct species "Rubus strigosus" (American Raspberry).Germplasm Resources Information Network: [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?32351 "Rubus strigosus"] ]

It is a perennial plant which bears biennial stems ("canes") from the perennial root system. In its first year, a new stem grows vigorously to its full height of 1.5-2.5 m, unbranched, and bearing large pinnate leaves with five or seven leaflets; normally it does not produce any flowers. In its second year, the stem does not grow taller, but produces several side shoots, which bear smaller leaves with three or five leaflets. The flowers are produced in late spring on short racemes on the tips of these side shoots, each flower about 1 cm diameter with five white petals. The fruit is red, edible, sweet but tart-flavoured, produced in summer or early autumn; in botanical terminology, it is not a berry at all, but an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. In raspberry, as in other species of the subgenus "Idaeobatus", the drupelets separate from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit, whereas in blackberry the drupelets stay attached to the core.Flora of NW Europe: [http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/BIS/flora.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=2609 "Rubus idaeus"] ] Flora of China: [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200011446 "Rubus idaeus"] ] Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). "Flora of Britain and Northern Europe". ISBN 0-340-40170-2.] Huxley, A., ed. (1992). "New RHS Dictionary of Gardening". Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.]

It typically grows in forests, forming open stands under a tree canopy, and denser stands in clearings. In the south of its range (southern Europe, central Asia), it only occurs at high altitudes in mountains. The species name "idaeus" refers to its occurrence on Mount Ida near Troy in northwest Turkey, where the ancient Greeks were most familiar with it.

Cultivation and uses

The fruit is an important food crop, though most modern commercial raspberry cultivars derive from hybrids between "R. idaeus" and "R. strigosus".

References