Japanese bramble

Photo: Sphl — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 6 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Small raspberry-like fruit 1–2cm across, edible raw or cooked and traditionally used in pies and preserves — a genuine minor edible rather than a commercial-quality raspberry.

Hardiness

Zone 6–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Low shrub 0.5–1.5 m

Light

Partial to full sun (forest margin)

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Southern China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan, in thickets and waste ground from lowlands up to 900–3200 m elevation

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Fast — canes make 1–3 m in a season

Spacing

180 cm (71 in) apart — about 3.2 m² (35 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Pinnately compound with 3–5 ovate, sharply double-toothed leaflets; branchlets and petioles reddish-brown with soft hairs, stalked glands, and sparse curved prickles

Root system

A perennial crown and shallow spreading root system in the top 30–40 cm, carrying biennial canes: each cane grows one year, fruits the next, then dies. New shoots come from buds on both the crown and the roots, which is why a bramble returns from root fragments left after digging and why it is so hard to remove once settled.

Fruit description

Aggregate berries 1–2 cm in diameter, edible raw or cooked; fruit also yields a purple-to-dull-blue dye

Propagation

Seed (cold-stratified about one month near 3°C, sown in early spring), half-ripe cuttings in July/August, tip layering in July, or division in spring

Pollination

Self-fertile

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.