Rubus armeniacus

Himalayan blackberry

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Himalayan blackberry is a naturalized shrub found in California's Foothill Provinces in disturbed areas and roadsides at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to June, this aggressive plant produces white to pink flowers 10 to 15 millimeters long in clusters. Growing with arched or mounded stems up to 3 meters tall, it features numerous stout prickles and distinctively five-angled stems that can root at their tips. Its compound leaves have 3 to 5 leaflets, with terminal leaflets that are wide-elliptic to obovate and coarsely double-toothed, appearing white and densely hairy underneath. The fruit develops into a characteristic black blackberry, making this plant a common sight in disturbed landscapes.

Habitat: Common. Disturbed areas, roadsides

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: CA-FP

California counties: Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, El Dorado, Solano, San Francisco, Amador, Sonoma, Humboldt, Mendocino, Marin, Sacramento, Sutter, Butte, Shasta, Tehama, Plumas, Trinity, Nevada, Yuba, Contra Costa, Sierra, Alameda, Del Norte, Siskiyou, San Mateo, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Placer, Napa, Yolo, Lake, Merced, San Joaquin, Riverside, Kern, Tuolumne, Monterey

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.