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Rubus phoenicolasius
Maxim. new to the Patricia M. Eckel Clintonia, newsletter of the Niagara
Frontier Botanical Society 23(4): 1--2.
2008. Res Botanica, a December 10, 2008 |
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Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim. new to the P.
M. Eckel, Research Associate, Buffalo Museum of Science; Research Scientist, Perhaps
from time to time we should consider the benefits to mankind from the family
to which the Rose belongs, the Rosaceae. In most large families of plants,
perhaps several to many genera or species may provide basic food, spices,
medicinal or other beneficial crops.
But one might be hard put to top the Rosaceae for sheer beauty,
fragrance and sweetness throughout the range of plants ascribed to it.
Romantics of all centuries are quick to point to the spines, prickles or
thorns characteristic of many rosaceous trees and shrubs in sharp contrast to
the gracious and alluring quality of the flowers and fruits surrounded by
these defenses. Many
local species in this family also produce their fruits during the period of
summer dearth, from early summer to just before the produce of the fall
harvest is gathered - especially the berries of that time and on to bigger
things - "peaches in the summertime, apples in the fall, if I can't have
the one I love, I'll have no one at all." So
it is that we have a new Blackberry species to add to the Rosaceous flora of
western New York, bearing the rather cumbersome name of Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim., the Wineberry, an east-Asian plant
introduced to the North American flora where it escapes into the
"wild," as they say, or perhaps "waste" is more apt. The
epithet is Greek, phoenic-
referring to the purple-red (wine)color and -lasius to the hairy or shaggy state of the stems and flower
parts. In 1950, M. L. Fernald in Asa Gray's Manual indicated its range to be
" Unfortunately,
the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural
Resources reports this shrub as a serious pest in eastern and mid-western
states, with disbursal by seed-eating birds as well as from the rooting tips
of the plant itself. It can form, as do many of its sibling species, dense,
impenetrable thickets that briars are well known for. In Briary
edges of forests and meadows, in marginal strips "in between" the
tall trees and the short herbs and grasses are where Rubus thrives - it is the bane of fugitives in novels running
from open areas into shadowy woods, the thorns forming a barrier between the
sun of exposure and the shade of safety. Birds and similar wildlife nest and
feed in these thickets, using the thorns to protect themselves as they hide
from predators. And, of course, we
know that Brer Rabbit was born in a briar patch. Well,
as soon as reported, we must extirpate this shrub, according to the Plant
Conservation Alliance and many other groups, especially in the late winter,
early spring when the soil is soft as butter - the best thing to pry it up by
the root with a pitchfork or we may well find this shrub all up and down the
margins of the Niagara River, and every other stream in our region. It
was found in New York, Niagara Co., City of Niagara Falls (LaSalle) in the
shrubby riverside of Jayne Park, on September 18, 2001, on Cayuga Island,
bordered on the north by the Little Niagara River in which Cayuga Creek ends
(note that there is another Cayuga Creek in Erie County, south of Buffalo,
that flows, together with Cazenovia Creek, into the Buffalo River). See
also P. M. Eckel, 1991. Flora of a marsh on http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/ResBot/Niag/Cayuga/cayugatext.htm Fernald,
M. L. 1950. Gray's Manual of Botany. Ed. 8. American Book Company, |
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Originally
published as: Eckel, P. M. 2008. Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim. new to the Niagara Frontier Flora. Clintonia, newsletter of the Niagara Frontier Botanical Society 23(4): 1--2. |