Rubus cockburnianus Hemsl.

A vigorous deciduous shrub up to 8 or 10 ft high, its biennial stems much branched towards the summit, pendulous at the ends, covered with a vividly white, waxy covering, not downy, armed rather sparely with broad-based spines. Leaves pinnate, consisting of usually nine leaflets, and from 5 to 8 in. long, the main-stalk downy, and armed with hooked spines. Leaflets 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄4 in. wide, the terminal one the largest, ovate or rather diamond-shaped, lateral ones oval-lanceolate, all unequally and rather coarsely toothed, slender-pointed, glabrous above, white beneath with a close felt. Inflorescence a terminal panicle; the flowers small and of little beauty, purple. Fruits black.

Native of China; first found in W. Szechwan by A. E. Pratt; introduced by Wilson in 1907. Its claims to recognition in the garden are its remarkably white stems, which are as notable in this respect as those of R. biflorus, and its arching, pendulous branches, which give a remarkable fountain-like aspect to the shrub.