Rubus fruticosus

Rubus fruticosus L. is the ambiguous name of a European blackberry species in the genus Rubus in the rose family. The name has been interpreted in several ways:

• The species represented by the type specimen of Rubus fruticosus L., which is also the type specimen of the genus Rubus.^[1] This specimen is considered to match the species R. plicatus, in Rubus subgenus Rubus, section Rubus.^[2][3]
• Various species consistent with Linnaeus' original description of the species, which was based on a mixture of specimens now considered to match Rubus ulmifolius and R. plicatus
• a species aggregate (group of similar species) Rubus fruticosus agg. that includes most of a group called either Rubus subgenus Rubus^[3] or Rubus section Rubus:^[4]
  • in a narrow sense, sometimes separated as the section Glandulosus, with about 289 microspecies.^[3] In this sense the species aggregate does not include the type of the genus Rubus, which is a hybrid.
  • in a broad sense including subgenus Rubus sections Glandulosus, Rubus (about 20 microspecies), and Corylifolii (about 24 microspecies).^[3] Section Rubus are probably hybrids involving members of section Glandulosus with either R. idaeus or R. allegheniensis.^[3] Section Corylifolii are probably hybrids involving members of section Glandulosus with R. caesius.^[3]
  • even more broadly as a nomen ambiguum including all the taxa in the subgenus (or section) Rubus^[5]

As used by various authors

Apart from the established meaning of Rubus fruticosus L. as R. plicatus, the name R. fruticosus has been incorrectly applied to several species, including:^[6]

• Rubus fruticosus G.N.Jones -> Rubus vestitus Weihe
• Rubus fruticosus L. ex Dierb. -> Rubus vulgaris Weihe & Nees
• Rubus fruticosus Lour. -> Rubus cochinchinensis Tratt.

References

1. Farr, E. R. and G. Zijlstra, ed. (1996+), Index Nominum Genericorum, Smithsonian Institution, retrieved 15 May 2015 Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. USDA GRIN Taxonomy: entry for Rubus plicatus Weihe & Nees, retrieved 15 May 2015
3. Stace, C. (2010). New flora of the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521707725.
4. USDA GRIN Taxonomy: entry for Rubus fruticosus auct. aggr., retrieved 15 May 2015
5. Jarvis, C.E. (1992). "Seventy-Two Proposals for the Conservation of Types of Selected Linnaean Generic Names, the Report of Subcommittee 3C on the Lectotypification of Linnaean Generic Names". Taxon. 41 (3): 552–583. doi:10.2307/1222833. JSTOR 1222833.
6. The Plant List, retrieved 5 August 2016