Swamp dewberry

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Swamp dewberry
Rubus hispidus.jpg
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Rubus
Subgenus: Eubatus
Species: R. hispidus

Binomial name
Rubus hispidus
L.

The Swamp Dewberry, Bristly Dewberry, Bristly Groundberry, Groundberry, Hispid Swamp Blackberry, Running Swamp Blackberry (Rubus hispidus) is a bramble.

It reaches a height of from 0.2 m to 1 m tall and is in leaf all year. It grows in moist or sometimes dry soils, ditches, swales or open woods in eastern North America, from Ontario to the Maritime Provinces and south to South Carolina.

This plant has small flowers with five white rounded petals. The fruit is a raspberry (an aggregate of drupelets), red or dark purple when ripe. The twigs are red and bristled.

A dull blue dye can be created from its berries. It also can be used as an astringent. The berries are rather bitter for culinary use, and so this plant is generally not cultivated.