Photo: Daderot — Public domain · source
Survives zone 7 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
A creeping, weed-suppressing groundcover whose fruit is a well-flavored, appropriately-sized raspberry with just a little sourness — better eating than most groundcover brambles, though some plants fruit unevenly or sparsely.
- Hardiness
- Zone 7–9
- Habit
- Groundcover
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- Summer–autumn
- Mature size
- Creeping groundcover 10–20 cm tall, spreading by rooting stems
- Light
- SHADE to partial — thrives as an understorey groundcover beneath trees
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Montane
- Native range
- Himalayan region of India and Nepal into tropical Asia, on rocks, banks, and shrubberies up to 3300 m
- Status
- Both wild and cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 2–4 yrs
- Growth speed
- Moderate
- Spacing
- 90 cm (35 in) apart — about 1.2 per m² (1.1 per 10 sq ft)
- Leaf shape
- Trifoliate leaves with rounded to rhombic, obscurely lobed, sharply double-toothed leaflets 1.2–3.8 cm long, dark green and hairless above, hairy along the veins beneath
- Root system
- Shallow and mat-forming, rooting at nearly every stem node rather than from a single taproot
- Fruit description
- A well-flavored, reasonably sized raspberry with a little sourness; ripens July-August
- Propagation
- Seed (stratified, best sown in early autumn), tip layering in July, or division in early spring, which is described as very easy
- 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.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Tolerates poor soil and some neglect but performs best in good, well-drained loamy soil; dislikes prolonged drought and intense summer heat
How it spreads. Creeping, thornless stems densely covered in soft purplish bristles that root at nearly every leaf joint, forming a dense weed-suppressing mat
Growing tips. Evergreen to semi-evergreen in mild winters but can lose foliage in cold spells; prefers a sheltered, semi-shaded position and dislikes exposed maritime sites and hot, dry summers
Grow journal
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