Rubus ferocior

Rubus ferocior is a European bramble of the rose family (Rosaceae), one of the many apomictic microspecies that make up the Rubus fruticosus aggregate. Like other brambles it is a scrambling, arching shrub with biennial, woody, prickly canes that root at the tips, the stout stems armed with strong, often broad-based prickles. The leaves are palmately compound, usually with three to five toothed leaflets, green above and paler and hairy beneath. White to pale pink five-petalled flowers are borne in branched clusters in summer, followed by aggregate fruits of many small drupelets that ripen from green through red to glossy black (the blackberry). It grows in hedgerows, woodland margins, scrub, and waste ground across temperate Europe. The microspecies is distinguished by subtle differences in cane armature, leaf form, and inflorescence recognised by specialist batologists.