Prickly arching stems and leaves of three or five serrated leaflets carry clusters of white or pink flowers and fruit that ripens from red to black
Bramble.
Nature · Shrubs
Bramble
Native · flowers Jun–Sep, fruit from late July · hedges, woodland, scrub and waste ground
Rubus fruticosus agg. — Rosaceae
The prickly arching scrambler of every hedge and wood edge in Britain, whose black fruits are the blackberries of autumn. 'Bramble' is really an aggregate of hundreds of near-identical microspecies. Its flowers feed bees, its glades host the white admiral, and it is the commonest of the familiar wild edibles.
How to spot them
- ▸Long, arching, thorny stems, 2 m or more, that root where the tips touch the ground
- ▸Alternate, palmately compound leaves of 3 or 5 serrated leaflets, dark green above and pale beneath; prickly stalks and midribs
- ▸White or pink five-petalled flowers, 2–3 cm across, with many stamens
- ▸Fruit ripens from green through red to black; when picked, a ripe blackberry keeps its soft white core
- ▸Look-alikes: wild raspberry has upright stems and leaves white beneath, and its red fruit comes off hollow; dewberry has fewer, larger, waxy fruit on ground-trailing stems
How to know it
British folklore says it should not be picked after Old Michaelmas Day because the Devil has spat on it
Bramble — blackberries.
A ripe fruit of this hedge scrambler keeps its soft white core when picked, whereas its red look-alike comes off hollow
Bramble versus wild raspberry.
Neolithic remains contain its fruit in a man's stomach, showing long-standing popularity
Bramble (Woodland Trust).
The white admiral butterfly favours sunny glades containing large patches of this scrambler
Bramble (Butterfly Conservation).
Ancient Britons used its thorny stems as a barrier, much as barbed wire is used today
Bramble.
Rubus fruticosus is an aggregate: botanists split it into hundreds of near-identical microspecies
Bramble.
Quick-fire facts
- •Rubus fruticosus agg., family Rosaceae; an aggregate of hundreds of apomictic microspecies, difficult even for experts
- •EDIBLE: blackberries are the familiar edible fruit, ripe in July–October, rich in vitamin C; eaten raw or in pies, jams, wine and vinegar
- •Familiar hedgerow edibles: bramble fruit, dog rose hips, hazelnuts and elder
- •Woodland Trust: blackberrying goes back thousands of years; strong ale brewed from blackberries was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries
- •Folklore: blackberries should not be picked after Old Michaelmas Day (October), when the Devil has sullied them; brambles were planted on graves to keep sheep off — or, superstition held, the dead in
- •Bramble flowers feed honey bees and bumblebees; leaves feed certain caterpillars and deer; foxes and badgers spread the seed; grass snakes use the thickets
- •White admiral butterflies favour neglected or mature woodland with sunny glades and large patches of bramble (Butterfly Conservation)
- •Flowers June–September; fruit ripe from late July (Woodland Trust)
- •Thrives on acidic soils; grows almost anywhere in the UK
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Bramble (Rubus fruticosus)
- Butterfly Conservation — White Admiral