Rubus leucodermis

Whitebark raspberry, Whitebark Raspberry

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Whitebark raspberry is a native shrub found in California's Coastal Fog Provinces (except the Great Valley) in open, rocky, and moist areas at elevations of 40 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white flowers 3 to 5 millimeters long in flat-topped clusters with 3 to 10 blooms. Growing 1 to 2 meters tall with an arched or mounded form, it has many stout prickles and strongly glaucous stems that persist for two years and can root at their tips. Its compound leaves have 3 to 5 leaflets, with terminal leaflets that are ovate to lanceolate, shallowly 3-lobed, and densely white-woolly on the underside. The fruit develops as a red-purple to nearly black raspberry-type cluster, adding visual interest to this distinctive California native shrub.

Habitat: Generally open, rocky, especially moist areas

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 40-2400 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc GV)

California counties: Humboldt, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Shasta, Mendocino, Trinity, Tulare, Plumas, Lake, Nevada, Glenn, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, San Diego, Del Norte, Mariposa, El Dorado, Lassen, Monterey, Tuolumne, Butte, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Yuba, Tehama, Kern, Ventura, Alameda, San Benito, Sierra

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