1 1 4 ROSACEAE 



prefer drier land than other blackberry species and ranges 

 from Ontario westward to Iowa and south to Virginia and 

 Kansas. It is a relatively common shrub throughout most of 

 the northern two-thirds of Illinois. The southernmost records 

 are Wabash and Marion counties. 



RUBUS FLAGELLARIS Willdenow 

 Northern Dewberry 



The Northern Dewberry, fig. 26, is a low, trailing shrub 

 with stems that when old are prostrate, 3 to 9 feet long, gla- 

 brous, and armed more or less with weak, recurved prickles, 

 which put out lateral branches 4 to 12 inches long. The new 

 canes, which soon become prostrate, are smooth or, rarely, are 

 sparsely covered with long hairs or sessile red glands. Prickles 

 on the stems usually are flattened at the base ; and the branchlets 

 and petioles are more or less pubescent and prickly, sometimes 

 also covered with sessile red glands and glandular hair. Leaves 

 on new canes are usually 3-foliate, rarely 5-foliate, and their 

 leaflets vary in shape. The terminal leaflet is ovate to nearly 

 orbicular, acuminate at the apex, and sharply and irregularly 

 doubly serrate. The blades are more or less pubescent above 

 and beneath, and occasionally covered with sessile red glands 

 or glandular hairs on the underside. 



The inflorescence, placed toward the end of branchlets, con- 

 sists as a rule of 1 to 5 flowers, which arise singly in the axils 

 of upper leaves or bracts or, often, 2 or 3 are grouped together, 

 terminating the branch. The flowers bloom from early in May 

 to past the middle of June. The sepals are ovate, acute, and 

 sometimes more or less leaflike, tomentose within and pubescent 

 and sometimes glandular on the outside. The narrowly elliptic 

 to ovate petals are about Yz inch long, and the stamens generally 

 are shorter than the sepals. The black, juicy fruit, which ma- 

 tures from late June into early August, is hemispheric or slightly 

 elongated, usually about I/2 inch long, and glabrate to hairy. 



Distribution. — The Northern Dewberry grows on almost 

 any kind of soil, although it prefers poor or acid soils, and 

 ranges from southern Maine to Minnesota and south to Vir- 

 ginia and Oklahoma. It occurs throughout all of Illinois, 

 frequently invading abandoned fields, disturbed soil along 

 roadsides, and other waste places. 



