The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Rubus australis

Etymology

Rubus: From the Latin meaning bramble
australis: southern

Common Name(s)

Tataramoa, bush lawyer, swamp lawyer

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Rubus australis G.Forst.

Family

Rosaceae

Brief Description

Prickly vine with compound, leathery, hairless leaves, leaflets 3-5 leathery, margins serrated, veins, petiolules, petioles and young stems armed in broad-based slender red prickles. Flowers in much-branched panicles, white, cream or pink (individual flowers often widely spaced from each other). Fruits numerous, yellow to orange-red.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

RUBAUS

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand. North and South Islands

Habitat

Coastal to montane. Usually in forest but also found in scrub, and often on the margins of, or within wetlands.

Features

Much-branched dioecious vine or scrambling vine with stems up to 10 m or more long. Juvenile plants creeping over forest floor, with stems rooting at intervals. Adult vines scrambling up surrounding vegetation. Primary stems of mature vines up to 100 mm diameter, terete, glabrous, unarmed, young branchlets minutely pubescent becoming glabrous with age (juvenile vines often with glabrous stems), otherwise covered in numerous wide-based, otherwise slender, reddish, falcate prickles. Stipules minute, caducous, narrowly deltoid. Leaves of juveniles ternate to quinate, petioles up to 60 mm long; lamina of juvenile leaflets chartaceous, 10-30 × 10-20 mm, ovate to ovate-oblong, acute to obtuse, acutely serrate; borne on petiolules up to 50 mm long; veins distinct (often reddish), glabrate though with sparse fine hairs on main veins of both surfaces and margins; Leaves of adults palmate, ternate to quinate, petioles 20-50 mm long; lamina of adult leaflets coriaceous, 30-50 × 10-35 mm, elliptic to ovate or suborbicular, acute to obtuse, rounded to oblique at base, margins coarsely and often unevenly serrate up to 10x either side, adaxially weakly bullate, glossy, green to dark green, abaxially paler, otherwise weakly bullate or notmore or less glabrous (usually with weak hairs on major veins on both surfaces and margins), veins distinct to indistinct; petiolules minute (rarely up to 20 mm long). Inflorescence a much-branched panicle up to 200 mm long (sometimes a narrow few-flowered raceme), branchlets and pedicels more or less finely pubescent. Flowers white, cream or pinkish. borne distantly on pedicels c.10 mm long. Sepales 2-4 mm long, ovate, obtuse, pubescent; petals 5, 3-6 mm long, ovate to broadly so. Fruits 9 mm diameter, drupelets 8-15 (or more), yellowish to orange-red. Endocarp 'seed' 3.3-4.2 mm long, dorsally ridged 3x.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from introduced Rubus (blackberries, raspberries wineberries etc) by the smaller flowers, usually palmate or ternate leaves, and the lack of long glandular bristly hairs on the young stems. From other indigenous Rubus (bush lawyers) can be distinguished by the coarsely serrated, elliptic, ovate to suborbicular adult leaves, which bear 10 or fewer teeth on either side of the leaflet, and which are virtually hairless except from fine, sparse hairs on the veins and leaflet margins.

Flowering

August - October

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

December - April

Propagation Technique

Easily grown from layered stems and semi-hardwood cuttings. Flourished when planted in damp ground in a well-lighted situation. Not often grown on account of its prickly stems - but nevertheless an attractive plant. The fruits though edible are insipid.

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 28

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

This page last updated on 5 Nov 2016