About Rubus leucodermis Douglas ex Hook.
Rubus leucodermis Douglas ex Hook. is a deciduous prickly shrub that reaches heights between 0.5 and 2.5 metres (1 and 8 feet). It has a perennial crown, but its canes are biennial: they grow vegetatively in their first year, flower and fruit in their second year, then die. Like other dark raspberries, the tips of first-year canes (called primocanes) often grow downward to reach the soil in fall, take root, and form tip layers that develop into new plants. Its leaves are pinnate: first-year hardy stems produce leaves with five leaflets, while flowering branchlets produce leaves with three leaflets. Flowers are typically white, and occasionally light purple. The fruit is 1 to 1.2 centimetres (3/8 to 1/2 inch) in diameter. It starts out red to reddish-purple, and ripens to dark purple or nearly black. This edible fruit contains high amounts of anthocyanins and ellagic acid. R. leucodermis is similar to the eastern black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis. This species grows from Alaska southward along the Pacific coast, reaching as far south as California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua. R. leucodermis forms natural hybrids with other species in the subgenus Idaeobatus.
