Rubus phoenicolasius Japanese Wineberry PFAF Plant Database

2 New Books ** Edible Plants: An inspirational guide to choosing and growing unusual edible plants and Woodland Gardening (Forest) [Paperback]. more >>


Search Page Content

Rubus phoenicolasius - Maxim.

Common Name

Japanese Wineberry

Family

Rosaceae

Synonyms

Known Hazards

None known

Habitats

Waste places and clearings in lowland and mountains all over Japan[58]. Roadsides and montane valleys at low to medium elevations in China[266].

Range

E. Asia - N. China, Japan, Korea. Occasionally naturalized in Britain[17].

Edibility Rating

Medicinal Rating

Care

Summary

Physical Characteristics

Rubus phoenicolasius is a deciduous Shrub growing to 3 m (9ft) by 1 m (3ft 3in) at a medium rate.
It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from Jun to July, and the seeds ripen from Aug to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects.

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japanse_wijnbessen.jpg

Habitats
Woodland Garden Sunny Edge; Dappled Shade;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Fruit.
Edible Uses:

Fruit - raw or cooked[1, 2, 3, 34]. Sweet and juicy[11], A raspberry-type fruit, it is smaller than a raspberry, contains rather a lot of seeds and is not quite such a flavourful fruit, but it makes very nice eating all the same[K]. After flowering, the fruit is enclosed in its calyx until just before it is ripe, this prevents maggots etc getting into the fruit[K]. The fruit is about 20mm in diameter[200].

Medicinal Uses
Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally. None known

Other Uses
Dye. A purple to dull blue dye is obtained from the fruit[168].

Cultivation details

Easily grown in a good well-drained loamy soil in sun or semi-shade[1, 11, 200], preferring light shade[202]. Plants are not too happy when grown in windy situations[K]. Hardy to about -18°c[202]. Some damage may be caused at this temperature but plants usually recover well[202]. A very ornamental plant, its red stems adding colour to the winter garden[1], it is sometimes cultivated for its edible fruit[1, 61]. There is at least one named variety, 'Bella di Tokyo' has small tasty red fruits[183]. This species is a raspberry with biennial stems, it produces a number of new stems each year from the perennial rootstock, these stems fruit in their second year and then die[200]. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus[200].

Propagation

Seed - requires stratification, is best sown in early autumn in a cold frame. Sow stored seed as early as possible in the year in a cold frame and stratify for a month at 3°c if sowing later than February. Prick out the seedlings when they are large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring of the following year. Tip layering in July. Plant out in autumn. Division in early spring.

Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

You can download this page as a PDF

Expert comment

Author
Maxim.

Botanical References
1158200

Links / References

[K] Ken Fern Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1]F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956

Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2]Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World.

Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[3]Simmons. A. E. Growing Unusual Fruit.

A very readable book with information on about 100 species that can be grown in Britain (some in greenhouses) and details on how to grow and use them.

[11]Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement.

A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[34]Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. The Oxford Book of Food Plants.

Good drawings of some of the more common food plants from around the world. Not much information though.

[58]Ohwi. G. Flora of Japan. (English translation)

The standard work. Brilliant, but not for the casual reader.

[61]Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man.

Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[168]Grae. I. Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants.

A very good and readable book on dyeing.

[183]Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants.

Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.

Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[202]Davis. B. Climbers and Wall Shrubs.

Contains information on 2,000 species and cultivars, giving details of cultivation requirements. The text is terse but informative.

[266] Flora of China

On-line version of the Flora - an excellent resource giving basic info on habitat and some uses.

Readers comment

Elizabeth H.
Michael Ecker	Fri Jan 21 13:37:44 2000

Is Rubus phoenicolasius a carnivore? Often you can see small insects catched by the sticky secret which covers the hairs. Some days later the insects will be digested - whether by the plant itself or by other organisms I don't know.

Elizabeth H.
Robert Gergulics	Sat Apr 11 2009

Pictures Here. www.photorobg.com

www.photorobg.com

QR Code

What's this?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.

1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.

2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.

3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Rate This Plant
Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use plants that they possibly would not have considered before.

Add a comment/link

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Rubus phoenicolasius

Links	To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here
Name of Site
URL of Site
Details