Taxonomy
Family: Rosaceae
Habitat
Woodland edges and old fields.
Associates
Distribution
Most of the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada. Absent from the very southern U.S. from FL to TX and most of the west.
Morphology
Woody perennial to 2 m. Stems woody, biennial, bearing stout, stiff, hooked prickles, bearing flowers the second year. Leaves palmately compound; leaflets usually five. Flowers white, in long, terminal, racemiform inflorescences; pedicels with glandular hairs. Fruit a blue-black cluster of drupelets remaining attached to the receptacle at maturity.
Notes
Flowers mid May to early July
Wetland indicator: Facultative Upland +
Cultivated forms of this plant tend to have larger fruits and fewer thorns. Very common in open woods that have been recently logged.
Bibliography
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2005 |