Mysore Raspberry

Shrubs 1–2.5 m tall. Branchlets purple or green, tomentose when young, soon glabrous, with whitish bloom, with sparse prickles. Leaves imparipinnate, (5–)7–9(–11)-foliolate; petiole 1.5–4 cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 0.5–1.5 cm, lateral leaflets subsessile, petiolule and rachis tomentose, with sparse, curved minute prickles; stipules linear-lanceolate, 5–8 mm, soft hairy; blade of leaflets elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or rhombic-elliptic, terminal leaflet ovate to elliptic, slightly longer than lateral leaflets, 2.5–6(–8) × 1–3(–4) cm, abaxially gray tomentose, adaxially soft hairy along veins or glabrate, base cuneate to rounded, margin coarsely serrate or doubly serrate, sometimes terminal leaflet 3-lobed, apex acute, rarely obtuse, terminal leaflet sometimes acuminate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, corymbs, rarely short thyrses, 4–6 cm; rachis and pedicels tomentose; bracts lanceolate or linear, pubescent. Pedicel 5–10 mm. Flowers to 1 cm in diam. Calyx abaxially densely tomentose, with intermixed soft hairs; sepals erect, triangular-ovate or triangular-lanceolate, 5–8 × 2–3 mm, apex acute or abruptly pointed, rarely shortly acuminate. Petals red, suborbicular, 3–5 mm in diam, shorter than sepals, base shortly clawed. Stamens many, nearly as long as petals; filaments broadened basally. Pistils ca. 55–70, nearly as long as stamens; ovary gray tomentose; styles purplish red, base densely gray tomentose. Aggregate fruit dark red when immature, black at maturity, semiglobose, 0.8–1.2 cm in diam., densely gray tomentose; pyrenes shallowly rugose. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Aug–Sep. 2n = 14*.

Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Kashmir, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

Himalaya (Simla to Nepal), Assam, ?W. China.

2100-2900 m

Thickets on slopes, sparse forests, montane valleys, stream sides, flood plains; 500--2800 m.

Rubus bonatii H. Léveillé; R. boudieri H. Léveillé; R. distans D. Don; R. foliolosus D. Don; R. incanus Sasaki ex Y. C. Liu & Yang; R. lasiocarpus Smith; R. lasiocarpus var. ectenothyrsus Cardot; R. lasiocarpus var. micranthus (D. Don) J. D. Hooker; R. longistylus H. Léveillé; R. mairei H. Léveillé; R. micranthus D. Don; R. mysorensis F. Heyne; R. niveus var. micranthus (D. Don) H. Hara; R. pinnatus D. Don; R. pyi H. Léveillé; R. tongchouanensis H. Léveillé.

niveus: purest white

Scrambling shrubby perennial, up to 2 m, with sharp slightly recurved prickles. Young stems and branches covered in a white powdery substance, which is mostly lost on older parts. Leaves imparipinnate with 2-3 pairs of leaflets and a terminal leaflet; leaflets elliptic to ovate, shiny green and hairless above, covered in white felt below; margin serrate. Leaflets plicate along the prominent veins; main rhachis and petiole set with small prickles. Flowers in few-flowered pedicels and calyx covered in white hairs; petals shorter than sepals, white, mauve-pink or red. Fruit 8-10 mm in diameter, purple when ripe; carpels pubescent.

Native to India and Malaysia; now a widespread naturalised species in East and southern Africa.

Rubus niveus (Mysore raspberry, Ceylon raspberry, hill raspberry; Chinese: 红泡刺藤, Hindi: काला हिसालू, romanized: kala hinsalu) is a species of Rubus native to southern Asia, from Afghanistan east through India and China to Taiwan and the Philippines, south to Sri Lanka and Malaysia, and north to Gansu in China.