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Newsletter of the Hawaiian Botanical Society 
of R. ellipticus no longer adequate to address the 
problem. On the other hand, R. ellipticus is still 
sufficiently concentrated in range that biological 
control is considered feasible if suitable agents can 
be found. 
Whereas Hawai'i has no commercial production 
of raspberry or blackberry that might otherwise be 
threatened by introduction of natural enemies of 
Ruhiis spp., two endemic members of this genus, 
occur in Hawai'i whose protection from attack by 
any introduced biocontrol agents is necessary. 
Focke (1910) classified both of Hawai'i's native 
species together in section Spectabiles of subgenus 
Idaeobatus. However, in revisiting the taxonomic 
placement of the two native species through DNA 
analysis, Howarth et al. (1997) and Alice and 
Campbell (1999) determined that R. hawaiemis 
and R. macraei are of different origins from one 
another, suggesting that Focke's earlier 
classification should be reconsidered. 
Literature Search 
Becking (1979) reported: "Rubus ellipticus 
occurs naturally in continental Asia and some 
adjacent islands, such as Sri Lanka and Luzon in 
the Philippines. It was introduced into Java and is 
established to some extent in the surroundings of 
the Cibodas Mountain Gardens." He further 
stated: "...the species, at least for a period, was 
grown as a crop plant in Florida and California 
under the name of Golden Evergreen raspberry." 
Medical research attention has been given R. 
ellipticus as a potential producer of anti-fertility 
pharmaceuticals (Bhakuni et al., 1987; Sharma et 
al., 1981; 1983a; 1983b). The ability of R. 
ellipticus to fix nitrogen, noteworthy for a non- 
leguminous plant, has also been reported (Becking, 
1979; 1984). However, these reports were not 
confirmed and called into question in a survey of 
non-leguminous plants of Pakistan for nitrogen 
fixing ability, in which no root nodules were found 
on R. ellipticus (Chaudhary et al., 1981). 
Because of its putative origins in the Himalayan 
foothills of northern India, my earlier literature 
searches and correspondence with local scientists 
for information on potential biocontrol agents were 
directed to this region, where YHR was reported to 
have some value for its edible fruit, but its 
aggressive, weedy nature also was recognized. 
Therefore, YHR is considered among the pest 
plants targeted for control in India (Misra and 
Singh, 1972, Misra and Sharma, 1970). YHR also 
was introduced to Malawi, Africa, where it 
threatens natural forest succession (Edwards, 
1985). Notwithstanding its recognized noxious 
characteristics and attempts to control YHR 
through conventional methods in other regions, 
biocontrol approaches appear to be limited to our 
own work in Hawai'i. 
Literature searches for reports of insects and 
diseases of R. ellipticus have yielded raspberry 
ringspot (Dhingra and Niazi, 1972), and Rubus 
yellow net and Rubus mosaic virus diseases 
(Pandey and Tripathi, 1973) in India. Incidence of 
each of the two latter diseases was reported to 
reach 50% in some regions. A leaf fungus, 
Cercoseptoria heteromalla, was reported on living 
leaves of R. ellipticus in India (Kamal et al., 1986), 
although the severity of the disease it caused was 
not described. Other fungi, such as Helotium 
lividofuscum, also occur on dead leaves of R. 
ellipticus (Thind and Saini, 1967), the usefulness 
of such fungi in a biocontrol program is 
questionable, however. Khadka and Shah (1967) 
provided a list of plant diseases in Nepal and 
included three diseases on Rubus spp. caused by 
fungi of the genera Alternaria, Cladosporium, and 
Uredo. Rubus ellipticus was not mentioned 
specifically as a host, however. Fewer references 
to insects harmful to R. ellipticus are available, 
possibly indicating that insects exert less impact on 
this host than do diseases caused by fungi and 
viruses. 
Personal correspondents in India reported several 
insects and diseases associated with the genus 
Rubus in general, but little information relative to 
host range (i.e., specificity) and/or severity of 
damage to the host was available. The usefulness 
of these agents for biocontrol of R. ellipticus in 
Hawai'i therefore cannot be predicted from field 
observations in the native habitats. In this regard, 
even the above-listed viruses and fungi reported to 
occur on R. ellipticus in India may not be limited 
in host range to this species. As stated above, the 
ability of any potential agent to attack either or 
both of the endemic Hawaiian species of Rubus 
must be carefully ascertained before the agent can 
be considered for field release. 
Work in China 
During 1994-1995 I sponsored a visiting plant 
pathologist, Mr. Chen Wan-Quan, from the 
