Rubus rosifolius

Taxobox
name = Rose-leaf Bramble


image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Rubus rosifolius"
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
unranked_classis = eudicot
ordo = Rosales
familia = Rosaceae
genus = "Rubus"
species = "R. rosifolius"
binomial = "Rubus rosifolius"
binomial_authority = Sm.

"Rubus rosifolius", (syn. "Rubus rosaefolius") also known as roseleaf bramble, West Indian raspberry, thimbleberry and ola'ais a prickly subshrub native to rainforest and tall open forest of the Himalayas, East Asia, and eastern Australia. [ "Rubus rosaefolius" plant profile, Plant for the Future database [http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Rubus+rosaefolius] ]

Rose-leaf bramble leaves are compound with toothed margins, with glandular-hairs on both sides of leaflets. Flowers are white in panicles or solitary. [ PlantNET, "Rubus rosifolius" plant profile. [http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rubus~rosifolius] ] Edible fruit are 2 cm long.

Uses

The fruit is sweet and pleasant flavoured when grown with good soil mositure. The fruit is also sold at markets in the Himalaya's. [Gamble, J. S., "A Manual of Indian Timbers", Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, 1972]

Leaf is used as a medicinal herb tea, for treating diarrhoea, menstrual pains, morning sickness and labour pains. [ Low, T., "Bush Medicine - A Pharmacopoeia of Natural Remedies," 1990, ISBN 0 207 16462 2 ] The leaf contains essential oils. [ Southwell, I., 'The Constituents of Rubus rosifolius. The Structure of Rosifoliol, a Biogenetically Significant Sesquiterpenoid',"Australian Journal of Chemistry", 1978, vol. 31(11), pp2527 - 2538 [http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/CH9782527.htm] ]

"R.rosifolius" is rarely cultivated.

Weed Risk

"R. rosifolius" is an introduced environmental weed in the Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico and French Polynesia, and extreme caution should be adopted when considering introducing this plant into regions where it is not already native. ["Rubus rosifolius" weed profile, Global Compendium of Weeds [http://www.hear.org/gcw/species/rubus_rosifolius/] ] [ "Rubus rosifolius" plant profile, Plants Database, United States Department of Agriculture [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RURO] ]

References