Rubus fruticosus Loureiro (1790), not Linnaeus (1753); R. playfairii Hemsley.

Shrubs climbing. Branchlets brown to purplish brown, yellow tomentose when young, gradually glabrescent, with sparse, curved small prickles. Leaves palmately compound, 5-foliolate, sometimes 3-foliolate; petiole 4–5 cm, petiolule of leaflets 3–6 mm, tomentose when young, glabrate in age, with sparse, curved minute prickles; stipules flabellate, 5–7 mm, broader, tomentose initially, glabrate in age, palmately divided, lobes lanceolate; blade of leaflets elliptic, obovate-elliptic, or elliptic-lanceolate, 5–10(–15) × 2–3.5(–5) cm, central leaflet slightly larger than lateral leaflets, abaxially densely brown-yellow tomentose and with minute prickles along midvein, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, margin irregularly sharply serrate, apex shortly acuminate. Inflorescences terminal ones cymose paniculate, axillary ones subracemes, sometimes flowers several in clusters in leaf axils; rachis and pedicels densely yellow tomentose, with sparse, curved small prickles; bracts caducous, 4–6 mm, narrow, palmately or pectinately divided, tomentose when young. Pedicel 4–10 mm. Flowers 0.8–1.2 cm in diam. Calyx campanulate, densely tomentose, unarmed abaxially; sepals ovate-orbicular, 4–6 × 3–5 mm, apex acuminate, outer sepals apically 3-lobed. Petals white, suborbicular, shorter than sepals. Stamens many, shorter than petals; filaments subulate, glabrous. Pistils 30–40, longer than petals, glabrous. Aggregate fruit red when immature, black at maturity, globose, 8–11 mm in diam., glabrous; pyrenes conspicuously rugose. Fl. Mar–May, fr. Jul–Aug.

The fruit and roots are used in medicine.

Thickets, roadsides, slopes; Low to medium elevations. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Yunnan [Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam].