Index / Search / Rubus occidentalis
§1 Plant
Rubus occidentalis L.
vernacular black raspberry — species · Rosaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Rosaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Rubus
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 4 counties across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- High
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -28 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 129 min.
- Precipitation
- 24–45 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.2–7.5
- Root depth
- 12 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Thicket Forming
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 6 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 5 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- Purple
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 335,000
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container, sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- High
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- Yes
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 4 counties across 1 state.
Rhode Island view state ↗ 4 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/RUOC ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2991466 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z