Elmleaf blackberry
Scientific Name: Rubus ulmifolius Schott
Family: Rosaceae
MORPHOLOGY
Habit and Size: Perennial, evergreen, shrubby plant with woody root, producing suckers, reaching a height of 50 to 150 cm.
Stems: Long shoots, 50 – 150 (300) cm in length, arising from the roots, initially erect or arched and then drooping, with rooting apical buds; violet or reddish in color, pruinose, with a diameter of 6 – 10 mm, pentagonal-grooved in shape, covered with stellate, simple or fascicled hairs, and bearing robust prickles at the base, more or less hooked.
Leaves: Alternate, palmate, petiolate leaves with (3) 5 leaflets, dark green on the upper surface and white-tomentose on the lower surface due to dense pubescence; terminal leaflet obovate with rounded base and presence of mucro (8) 10 – 15 mm long, with prominent venation; irregularly toothed blade; other segments palmate-elliptic with toothed margin (smaller ones elliptic and downward-facing, 1.5 – 3 x 3-4.5 cm; larger ones median, spreading, obovate-acuminate, 5 x 6 cm); petiole flattened, glabrous, with 6 – 10 sickle-shaped prickles; linear stipules about 1 mm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence forming a pyramidal terminal panicle without bracts, with 3-5-lobed leaves with leathery dark green upper surface and white-tomentose lower surface, prickles variable in number 3 – 14, (3) 5 – 8 (9) mm at the base. Flowers grouped in densely tomentose, pedicellate (with prickles), apically terminal clusters, with calyx consisting of 5 oval, long-acuminate, white-tomentose, glandular sepals (3 – 7 mm) reflexed downwards in fruiting. Petals 5 pink or rarely white, longer than the calyx, ovate or sub-orbicular (9 – 13 mm). Blooms from April to July.
Fruits and Seeds: Fruit consists of drupelets clustered around a receptacle (blackberry), initially red, then black and shiny at maturity, about 1 cm in diameter, each containing a small brown seed of irregularly elliptic shape with a surface covered with small opercula.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Found throughout Italy in uncultivated lands, along paths, riparian forests, and rubble from 0 to 1400 m.
USE
In folk medicine, Rubus plants are used for their astringent activity, as a diuretic, and as a depurative. Therapeutic action addresses oropharyngeal inflammation, gastroenteritis, intestinal and hemorrhoidal inflammations, hypoglycemic action, and mildly laxative effects. Before taking any plant-based product (medicinal or non-medicinal) for therapeutic or similar purposes, it is always advisable to consult your doctor. Blackberries are consumed fresh or in the form of jam or jelly. The fruit can be considered one of the most nutritional ones as it contains proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, calcium, iron, vitamins A and C. The seeds contain alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3) and linoleic acid (Omega-6).
INTERESTING FACTS
Currently, over 2000 distinct species of bramble are described, a tenth of which are also found in Italy. According to the renowned Italian botanist Pignatti, recognizing the species of bramble existing in nature is illusory due to their great variability and ease of hybridization. For this reason, a branch of botany, “batology” (from the Greek batos, meaning bramble), has been developed at the European level dedicated to the study of this genus.
Photo Credits: under a free license from Saxifraga, Peter Meininger, Rutger Barendse.
