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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] | |
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]. | |
6 Primocanes erect, ascending, or high-arching, not rooting; [native blackberries]. |
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3 Inflorescence corymbiform, few-flowered; berries not sticky, black or red (rarely purplish or yellow), with a glaucous bloom. | |
4 Fruit black (rarely yellow); pedicels with stout curved prickles; stems (at least the primocanes) strongly white-glaucous | |
4 Fruit red (rarely purple or yellow); pedicels with narrow straight bristles and sometimes also glandular hairs; stems green. | |
5 Leaves densely white-tomentose beneath; inflorescences with (1-) 3-7 (-20) flowers. | |
6 Inflorescence without glandular hairs or gland-tipped bristles; [exotic, cultivated, sometimes escaped or persistent] | |
6 Inflorescence with glandular hairs and gland-tipped bristles; [native, Mountains of NC and VA northwards] |
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2 Stems primarily armed with narrow-based prickles or even narrower bristles, with or without stout-based prickles as well. | |
3 Inflorescence racemiform; bristles of the stem nonglandular (very small glandular hairs may be present) | |
3 Inflorescence reduced, normally to a single flower per branch of the floricane; bristles of the stems absent to dense, gland-tipped | |
6 Primocane leaves with prominent venation, leaflets typically plicate, flowers on pedicels < 4 cm long, the inflorescence compact | |
7 Primocane leaves with 3-5 leaflets; inflorescences with 1-12 flowers, 5-20 cm long. | |
8 Canes 2-3 mm in diameter; prickles 1-2 mm long; primocane leaves mostly with 3 leaflets; inflorescences with 1-6 flowers | |
8 Canes 3-5+ mm in diameter; prickles 2-4 mm long; primocane leaves mostly with 5 leaflets; inflorescences with 4-12 flowers. | |
9 Primocanes with 1-3 prickles per cm of length; tips of central primocane leaflets gradually or relatively long-tapered to the tip | |
9 Primocanes with 3-5 prickles per cm of length; tips of central primocane leaflets abruptly tapered to the tip | |
11 Primocane terminal leaflets elliptic, the base cuneate to rounded; inflorescences with 1-2 flowers | |
13 Canes 4-7 mm in diameter, 4-12 dm in height; inflorescences mostly racemose, with 4-8 flowers | |
13 Canes mostly 2.5-5 mm in diameter, 2-6 dm in height; inflorescences not racemose, with flowers clustered near the tip, with 1-7 (-8) flowers. | |
14 Flowers on pedicels (at least some of them) > 3.5 cm long, some of the pedicels conspicuously ascending. | |
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1 Canes armed primarily with bristles or slender-based prickles. | |
3 Leaflets oblanceolate to obovate, definitely wider beyond the middle, generally obtuse or rounded at the tip; leaves densely white- or gray-tomentose beneath; [primarily of the Coastal Plain] | |
3 Leaflets lanceolate to ovate, widest below or near the middle, generally acute or acuminate at the tip; leaves glabrous to pubescent beneath, but the pubescence not notably tight and white or gray; [collectively widespread]. | |
4 Pubescence of the inflorescence rachis and pedicels predominantly gland-tipped, glandular hairs often present also on the young primocanes and the branches of the floricanes. | |
5 Inflorescences narrowly racemose, usually appearing almost leafless (the bracts much smaller than the leaves, at least 2× as long as wide; sepals 5-7 (-8) mm long, 2.0-3.5 mm wide. | |
7 Primocane leaves with terminal leaflets < 1.6× as long as wide. | |