Rubus playfairianus Focke

A rambling evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub; young stems dark coloured, round, very slender, string-like, armed with tiny hooked prickles, and covered with web-like down when young. Leaves composed of three or five leaflets radiating from the end of the stalk, which is 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. long, and prickly; leaflets lanceolate, sharply toothed, the terminal one the largest, and sometimes 6 in. long, the basal pair 1 to 3 in. long, dark glossy green above, covered beneath with a pale grey felt. Flowers about 1⁄2 in. across, produced in small terminal panicles, and in the leaf-axils near. Fruits resembling a raspberry, but black; ripe in July and August.

Native of Central and W. China; introduced in 1907 by Wilson, who states that it is found in thickets at 3,000 to 6,000 ft. It is a very graceful plant when trained up a support, and the shape of its leaves is very uncommon among hardy Rubi, being more suggestive of Ampelopsis.