Rubus fruticosus

Blackberry
Blackberries
Halved blackberry

Rubus fruticosus L. is the ambiguous name of a European blackberry species in the genus Rubus (part of the rose family). The name has been interpreted in several ways:

  • The species represented by the type specimen of Rubus fruticosus L., which is also the type specimen of the genus Rubus.[1] This specimen is considered to match the species R. plicatus, in Rubus subgenus Rubus, section Rubus.[2][3]
  • Various species consistent with Carl Linnaeus' original description of the species, which was based on a mixture of specimens now considered to match Rubus ulmifolius [citation needed] and R. plicatus
  • a species aggregate (group of similar species) Rubus fruticosus agg. (a nomen ambiguum) that includes most (or rarely all) of a group called Rubus subgenus Rubus[3] (or less often: Rubus section Rubus [sensu latissimo] [4][5]):
    • in a narrow sense, sometimes separated as the section Glandulosus (alternative name: subsection Hiemales), with about 289 microspecies.[3] In this sense the species aggregate does not include the type of the genus Rubus.
    • in a broad sense: (1) (i) sections Glandulosus and Rubus [sensu stricto] (in non-British systems, these two sections are classified together as section Rubus [sensu lato], section Glandulosus being called subsection Hiemales and section Rubus [sensu stricto] being called subsection Rubus)[6][5][7] or (ii) "most of" these sections;[8] or (2) sections Glandulosus, Rubus [sensu stricto] and Corylifolii.[3] Section Rubus [sensu stricto] (about 20 microspecies) are probably hybrids involving members of section Glandulosus with either R. idaeus or R. allegheniensis.[3] Section Corylifolii (about 24 microspecies) are probably hybrids involving members of section Glandulosus with R. caesius.[3]
    • even more broadly, including all the taxa in the subgenus Rubus[5][9]
  1. ^ Farr, E. R. and G. Zijlstra (ed.), Index Nominum Genericorum, Smithsonian Institution, retrieved 15 May 2015
  2. ^ "Rubus plicatus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Stace, C. (2010). New Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521707725.
  4. ^ "Rubus in Flora of China". Efloras.org. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Jarvis, C.E. (1992). "Seventy-Two Proposals for the Conservation of Types of Selected Linnaean Generic Names, the Report of Subcommittee 3C on the Lectotypification of Linnaean Generic Names". Taxon. 41 (3): 552–583. doi:10.2307/1222833. JSTOR 1222833.
  6. ^ Heinrich E. Weber (2008). "Aktuelle Übersicht über die Brombeerflora in Westfalen (Rubus L. subgen. Rubus)" (PDF). Abhandlungen aus dem Westfälischen Museum für Naturkunde. 70: 289–304. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Rubus L. subg. Rubus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Rubus fruticosus auct". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  9. ^ "Rubus fruticosus L. sensu typo". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 1 May 2019.