Rubus glareosus – Series Micantes

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This bramble is common in woodlands throughout Hampshire and Sussex and scattered elsewhere in southern England. Long, pale pink, narrow petals and long leafy-pointed sepals give the flowers a star-like character and make it quite distinctive. The inflorescence usually has widely divergent slender branches and is covered in red glands and numerous fine prickles and acicles.

Stamens are much longer than the styles, which are usually yellow with red bases.

The photo below shows an atypical plant with deep pink styles and pink-based stamens.

Young fruit showing leafy-pointed erect sepals.

Petals are often folded or contorted – one of the key identification characters.

Leaves are usually mid green and thinly hairy on both sides, with typically only 3 or 4 leaflets. The terminal leaflet can vary in shape but is often narrowly elliptical or somewhat rhomboid. Some are rather similar in shape to the other common Hampshire woodland bramble Rubus moylei.

Stems are thinly to densely hairy, with frequent short and long-stalked glands (including gland-tipped acicles). The slender prickles are fairly numerous along the angles.