Rubus ulmifolius Schott, Rosaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: elm-leaf blackberry

Spanish: zarzamora

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Scrambling shrub; primocanes low-arching and interlacing, distinctly whitish pruinose, becoming reddish, ± sharply angled and ± flat between, with few subsessile glands, and usually sparsely to moderately clothed in mostly stellate hairs, rarely finally glabrous; armature of few to many stout, erect to slightly falcate prickles on angles. Young stems with stellate tomentum, and scattered simple hairs and subsessile glands. Leaflets 5, glabrous or almost glabrous on upper surface, pilose on veins and with dense whitish tomentum between on lower surface, 1-2-serrate; terminal leaflet lamina oblong to narrow-obovate, acuminate, 30-80 x 20-50-(60) mm, with petiolule 1/3-2/5 length of lamina. Stipules linear. Inflorescence densely hairy with subsessile glands. Sepals acuminate, tomentose and with very few, longer, simple hairs, usually without but sometimes with prickles. Petals rounded, strongly crinkled, bright pink. Anthers glabrous" (Webb et al., 1988; p. 1131).

Habitat/ecology:  In New Zealand, "roadsides, streamsides, waste places, neglected pasture, hillsides, margins of forest and scrub" (Webb et al., 1988; p. 1131).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Africa, Europe; naturalized elsewhere (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008) Collected in survey, herbarium record pending.
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009) Naturalized
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 313)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1131) "Roadsides, streamsides, waste places, neglected pasture, hillsides, margins of forest and scrub".

Comments:  Subject of an eradication program in the Galápagos Islands (Chris Buddenhagen, pers. com.)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Rubus ulmifolius is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Rubus ulmifolius as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Rubus ulmifolius may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2009. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.