Echinate bramble

Rubus echinatus (Rosaceae) is a bramble of the Rubus fruticosus aggregate, native to western and central Europe including the British Isles, France, Germany, and the Low Countries, where it grows in hedgerows, woodland edges, and rough ground. The arching biennial canes are angular, armed with stout straight to slightly curved prickles and bristly stalked glands that give the epithet 'echinatus' (hedgehog-like). Palmately compound leaves bear five ovate, doubly serrate leaflets that are green above and softly pubescent below. White to pale pink flowers open in terminal panicles in summer, followed by glossy black aggregate drupelets ('blackberries') that ripen in late summer. The taxon is one of many described microspecies within the apomictic R. fruticosus complex.