Rubus palmatus Thunb.

A deciduous shrub, 5 or 6 ft high in the open (thrice as much in a cool greenhouse); stems not downy, but armed with small, flattened prickles. Leaves usually palmately five-lobed, sometimes three-lobed, sometimes seven- or nine-lobed, 1 to 3 in. long, margins doubly toothed, green on both surfaces with silky hairs along the midrib and veins; stalk 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. long, with hooked spines. Flowers white, 11⁄2 in. across, solitary, produced from the axils of terminal leaves on short shoots that spring from the previous year’s growths. Petals of narrowly oval outline, their ends rounded; calyx downy outside, glabrous within, the lobes narrow, long-pointed, and toothed; stalk slender, 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long. Fruits roundish, yellow and juicy, 3⁄4 in. across. Bot. Mag., t. 7801.

Native of China and Japan. In the Temperate House at Kew, trained on a pillar, this shrub was 20 ft or more high, but in the open and unprotected it is rather a low shrub. Although hardy enough, it apparently needs somewhat warmer conditions than the open air affords near London to bring out its best qualities.