Rubus moluccanus L.

Family: Rosaceae

Common names:  wild raspberry, molucca raspberry

Disseminule:  Fruit

Description

Aggregate fruit of many drupelets, each drupelet containing one seed. Drupelets may bear wings of thin, stiff persistent pericarp extending mostly from margins. Drupelets (not including extensions) 2-2.8 mm long, 0.7-1.5 mm wide, 0.5-1 mm thick. Crescent shaped, sides sloping to ventral concave margin. Sides broadly rugose-reticulate, dorsal margin with broad mostly transverse ridges and a groove down the middle. Style sometimes persistent. Surface dull to semiglossy, yellowish to reddish-brown. Scar inconspicuous. Embryo spatulate, slightly curved, cotyledons expanded, broad.

Identification remarks

It is frequently difficult to impossible to distinguish Rubus species by their fruits.

Similar species

Rubus fruticosus L. (complex)

Distribution

India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia, China, Papua New Guinea, and Australia to New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Hawaii; also Mauritius, Madagascar.

Habitat

Forests, forest borders, regrowth areas, thickets along streams.

General information

Rubus moluccanus is a thorny scrambling shrub 2-3 m tall that forms dense, impenetrable thickets. The fruits are dispersed by birds.

Drupelets and style fragments

Drupelets

Drupelets

Drupelets in dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views

A, Drupelet from multiple fruit; B, endocarp with dried part of fruit removed; C, longitudinal section of drupelet showing embryo; D, transection of drupelet

drawing by Lynda E. Chandler