European blackberry

Rubus plicatus is a vigorous, scrambling deciduous shrub of the Rosaceae family, one of the parental microspecies of the Rubus fruticosus aggregate. It produces arching biennial canes 2-3 m long, sharply angled and longitudinally plicate (folded), armed with stout, broad-based recurved prickles. Leaves are palmately compound with usually five ovate to elliptic leaflets, dark green above and paler beneath, the margins doubly serrate. Inflorescences are short, broad panicles bearing white to pale-pink flowers 2-3 cm across with five petals. The aggregate fruit ripens from red to glossy black and consists of numerous fleshy drupelets cohering to a central torus. Native to woodland margins, hedgerows, and clearings across temperate Europe, it flowers in early to midsummer and fruits from late summer through autumn.