Rubus prolongatus – Series Rhamnifolii
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This bramble is particularly common in Mid and South Wales and south-west England, but also occurs in Ireland and is locally frequent as far east as the New Forest in Hampshire, with outliers in Sussex and Kent. It occurs in most types of bramble habitats, particulary in hedgerows and on heaths. It has a number of distinctive characters including pale pink flowers with long bushy stamens, coarsely hairy stems, thickly pubescent floral branches and sharply serrate glabrous leaflets which are almost white-felted below. The mature foliage is often generally a dull greyish-green colour.
The panicle is pyramidal when well developed, or may consist only of a rounded head of clustered flowers on stout, divergent branches with a few longer ascending branches below. It usually forms rather low bushes, about 1-1.5m high. The head of flowers often has an untidy appearance. The panicle is usually leafy almost to the apex (a few simple leaflets higher up), with the leaflets almost white below, similar to those on the stem leaves. The rachis is flexuose (occasionally only slightly so), usually green in colour with fairly numerous stout declining and curved prickles (which occasionally may be short and stubby). The rachis and the floral branches are densely pubescent and have some scattered short-stalked glands.
This is one bramble where the leaves of the panicle often appear quite different from those of the first year stem. The upper panicle leaves consist of a single ovate-shaped leaflet (visible in some of the photos above); the ones lower down are 3-foliate, with a broadly elliptic terminal leaflet (below).
Flowers are relatively large, up to about 3cm across. The petals are a delicate shade of pink, but can fade to a creamy white colour. They are about 13-16 x 8-9mm, often crumpled and sometimes shallowly notched or ragged at the tip. Stamens are much longer than the styles, which are pale green.
Sepals are long-pointed and reflexed, pubescent, with frequent long, silky hairs, some inconspicuous short-stalked glands and small acicles.
Leaflets are a dull grey-green or yellow-green colour, glabrous and often shiny above, with well marked veins and sometimes plicate. The terminal leaflet can differ in appearance, from narrowly to broadly elliptical, or broadly obovate in the oldest leaves. The toothing is usually fairly coarse and irregular and the margin crisped. The terminal leaflet apex varies from cuspidate to long acuminate and the base is entire to emarginate.
Leaflets are greyish-white to almost white felted below, like members of the Discolores.
First-year stems are angled and furrowed when well developed, greyish-green, becoming reddish or dark purple in exposed conditions. The dense pubescence helps distinguish this species from members of the Discolores. Prickles are numerous, stout (sometimes stubby), broad-based, with a yellow point, the longest about equal to the stem diameter. Short-stalked glands are rare.
