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Portrait of Wild raspberry

Nature · Shrubs

Wild raspberry

Native · flowers in summer, fruit Jul–Aug · open woodland, heath and scrub, especially in the north and hills

Rubus idaeus — Rosaceae

The wild ancestor of the garden raspberry, a suckering shrub with upright, biennial canes and leaves white-felted beneath, growing in open woods, heaths and rocky ground, most surely native in hilly northern districts. Its red fruits come away hollow from the plant, which separates them from a blackberry.

How to spot them

  • ▸Erect, biennial canes to about 2.5 m, weakly prickly and non-arching, unlike the rooting arches of bramble
  • ▸Leaves of 3, 5 or 7 coarsely toothed leaflets, covered in white felt on the underside
  • ▸Clusters of small white flowers on year-old stems in summer
  • ▸Ripe red fruit that pulls off leaving a hollow, the 'core' staying on the plant
  • ▸Look-alike: bramble has arching, rooting stems with prickly stalks and black fruit that keeps its white core

How to know it

Erect canes bear leaves whitened underneath with felt, and red fruits that come away hollow when picked

Wild raspberry.

Its Latin species name refers to Mount Ida, and it suckers into thickets on heaths and open woods

Wild raspberry (Rubus idaeus).

Certainly native in many hilly districts, particularly in the north, it is the ancestor of the cultivated fruit

Wild raspberry (BSBI).

The fruit is made of many drupelets but when picked the ripe red fruit is hollow, unlike a black one that keeps its core

Wild raspberry versus bramble (Woodland Trust).

Compound leaves of 3–7 toothed leaflets are pure white beneath, distinguishing it from a prickly arching relative

Wild raspberry.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Rubus idaeus, family Rosaceae; idaeus refers to Mount Ida in Crete, in legend where the raspberry grew
  • •Native to Great Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands; certainly native in hilly districts, especially northern Scotland; Least Concern (BSBI)
  • •Stems are biennial: first-year canes grow leaves, second-year canes flower and fruit, then die
  • •Spreads by bird-dispersed fruit and by underground suckers, forming thickets
  • •EDIBLE: the red fruit is edible; it comes off hollow, unlike a blackberry which keeps its soft white core (Woodland Trust)
  • •Grows in open woodland, downland scrub, heathland and hedgerows, and on base-rich rock ledges in the hills, to 765 m (BSBI)
  • •Since 2000 it has shown a marginal increase along its northern and western range edges (BSBI)
  • •Wild and escaped cultivated plants are hard to tell apart

Drill it — 6 cards

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