A wild raspberry plant growing on a meadow at high altitude in Victoria’s Alpine National Park. Flower buds and flowers are produced in spring. Note the other species growing up through the raspberry canes and litter-fall, including white clover
With Ken Slee
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Wild Raspberry (Rubus parvifolius)
Like many plants, this one goes by a number of other names besides wild raspberry, including ‘native raspberry’ and ‘small-leaf bramble’. It is one of eight or ten native raspberry species that occur in Australia. Most of the other species occur in rainforest areas or on the edges of rainforest clearings in northern New South Wales and in Queensland, presumably because they are not drought tolerant.
Wild raspberry occurs widely in south-eastern Australia in damp locations in gullies or in higher rainfall areas from near sea-level to the alpine high plains as far north as Mackay in Queensland. It is also present in Japan, southern China and northern Vietnam.
Wild raspberry is easily recognized because of similarity to the blackberry ( Rubus fruticosis ) which was introduced on numerous occasions from the northern hemisphere in the 1800s and that now dominates much agricultural land as well as river banks throughout south-eastern Australia. Given the similar habitats favoured by both wild raspberry and blackberry it is likely that the latter has greatly reduced the occurrence of wild raspberry right throughout its range.
Despite its superficial resemblance to the blackberry, wild raspberry is a very different kettle a fish, having stems that are only about three or four millimetres in diameter, tiny and far less aggressive prickles, and leaves that are perhaps a quarter of the size. Unlike the blackberry which tends to form a blanket that chokes out all competition, other plants, including grasses, seem to cohabit quite happily with the raspberry. Wild raspberry plants form clumps that rarely reach more than a few metres in diameter and are usually far less than a metre high. Leaves are bright green on top with a whitish tinge underneath.
The flowers and fruits of the wild raspberry are also much smaller and the fruits are red when ripe rather than the purple-black of the blackberry. Like the blackberry, wild raspberry fruits ripen in the summer and presumably are attractive to birds and animals that then spread the hard-coated seeds in their droppings. The fruit can be quite good to eat if seasonal conditions have been favourable and if it is ripe and still juicy, but patience is required as it is generally less that a centimetre in diameter. Not too many sambar hunters are going to be in wild raspberry country at the right time to sample the fruit (February and March), as the weather is generally too hot for hunting with the majority of sambar stags not out of velvet until May.
Because wild raspberry doesn’t dominate landscapes as the blackberry does and as it has far smaller prickles, it will never be a barrier to progress in the bush like the latter, and will certainly not form escape cover for deer.
Like so many other plants in wet forest country, wild raspberry foliage (and possibly the fruit as well) forms part of the sambars’ diet; probably not a large part due to its relative scarcity compared with other species, but worth a hunter knowing about just the same! Why not make a point of looking out for it on your hunting patch?
The leaves of wild raspberry are reminiscent of those of the blackberry, but much smaller. Two views, of both the top of the leaf and underside are shown
The leaves of wild raspberry are reminiscent of those of the blackberry, but much smaller. Two views, of both the top of the leaf and underside are shown
Raspberry fruits photographed in mid-February in the Alpine National Park
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