Dwarf red blackberry or raspberry or red raspberry, ronce pubescente

Rubus saxatilis Linnaeus var. canadensis Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 298. l803; R. pubescens var. pilosifolius A. F. Hill

Herbs, to 0.4 dm, unarmed. Stems creeping, ˂flowering branches erect˃, glabrous or sparsely to moderately hairy, eglandular, not pruinose. Leaves deciduous, usually ternate, sometimes pedately 5-foliate; stipules lance-ovate to oblanceolate, (5–)8–12(–20) mm; leaflets 3(–5), ˂petiolule of terminal leaflet 2–7 mm˃, terminal rhombic to obovate, (2–)4–8(–10) × 2–4(–6) cm, base cuneate, unlobed or 2-lobed, margins deeply serrate to doubly serrate, apex acute or acuminate, abaxial surfaces glabrous or sparsely hairy, eglandular. Inflorescences 1–3-flowered, sometimes umbelliform. Pedicels moderately to densely long-hairy, eglandular to densely stipitate-glandular. Flowers bisexual; petals white to pink, oblanceolate to obovate, (4–)6–8(–10) mm; filaments laminar; ovaries glabrous, ˂styles glabrous˃. Fruits red, globose to conical, 0.5–1.4 cm diam., drupelets (5–)10–25, loosely coherent, falling separately or as a unit with torus attached. 2n = 14.

Flowering May–Jul. Swamps, bogs, fens, stream banks, moist woods, bluffs, gravel sites, sandy soil; 0–2200 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Colo., Conn., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

Rubus pubescens is recognized by its creeping, unarmed stems, oblanceolate to lance-ovate stipules, relatively small flowers, and white to pink petals. It hybridizes with R. arcticus subsp. acaulis in areas of sympatry, and the hybrids are referable to R. ×paracaulis L. H. Bailey [= R. pubescens var. paracaulis (L. H. Bailey) B. Boivin]. The hybrids are similar to R. arcticus subsp. acaulis in having more obovate, rounded leaflets, and larger, pink to magenta petals; they are larger, creeping, and have hairy and stipitate-glandular pedicels and sepals like R. pubescens.