1 Leaves (all) simple; stems unarmed.

  2 Leaves palmately lobed, orbicular, coarsely toothed, 9-30 cm long; plant a shrub, 10-20 dm tall; petals deep pink; [genus Rubacer or subgenus Anoplobatus – mapleleaf raspberries]

  2 Leaves unlobed, elliptic to ovate-orbiculate, finely toothed, 1.5-3 cm long; plant an herb, < 1 dm tall; petals white; [genus Dalibarda or subgenus Dalibarda]

1 Leaves 3-9-foliolate (reduced simple leaves may also be present in the inflorescence); stems generally armed with prickles (sparsely so in a few species).

    3 Upright stems herbaceous, annual, not differentiated into primocanes and floricanes, unarmed or with a few weak bristles; stipules oblanceolate; [e. WV northward]; [subgenus Cylactis – dwarf raspberries]

    3 Upright stems woody, biennial, differentiated into primocanes and floricanes, these usually well-armed with bristles and/or curved prickles; stipules linear; [collectively widespread].

      4 Fruit separating from the receptacle, the receptacle remaining on the pedicel; stems either strongly white-glaucous (R. occidentalis), or densely beset with slender-based prickles and bristles (R. idaeus), or densely hairy with 3-5 mm long glandular hairs (R. phoenicolasius), or if not as above then the leaves pinnately 5-9-foliolate (R. illecebrosus) or with a rhombic terminal leaflet about as wide as long and densely white-tomentose below (R. parvifolius); [raspberries].

      4 Fruit retaining the receptacle; stems or leaves not as described above, except if beset with slender-based prickles and bristles then also < 1 m tall; [blackberries and dewberries].

        5 Canes very coarse, scrambling, often 2-5 m long, heavily armed; inflorescence cymose-paniculate; branches and pedicels of the floricanes armed with strong, flattened prickles (recurved cat’s-claw, or nearly straight in R. bifrons); [exotic, generally in disturbed habitats]; [Eurasian blackberries].

        5 Canes delicate to coarse, arching or trailing, 0-4 m long, unarmed to strongly armed; inflorescence racemiform; branches and pedicels of the floricanes generally unarmed; [native, though often in disturbed habitats].

          6 Primocanes prostrate, creeping, or low-arching, rooting at the tip or also at the nodes; [dewberries].