Rubus glandulosus Bellardi

Salahi, Razieh, Afsharzadeh, Saeed & Sochor, Michal, 2025, Taxonomic and nomenclatural revision of Rubus L. (Rosaceae) in Iran, Phytotaxa 700 (1), pp. 1-17 : 8-9

Rubus glandulosus Bellardi in App. Fl. Pedem.: 24 (1792). Loc. typ. cit.: Abunde nascitur in montibus vallis Pisii supra, & Carthusiam, vidi etiam copiose nasci in monte Bissimauda supra Bovisium. Type: s.loc. et dat., Bellardi s.n.

(B [W09894-01], lectotype –image!), designated by Weber in Willdenowia 13: 144 (1983).

= R. caucasicus Focke in Abh. Nat. Ver. Bremen 4: 183 (1874), syn. nov. Loc. typ. cit.: In sylvaticis Caucasi. Type: In regione superiori sylvaticâ Nakkerale Kachetiae; Ruprecht s.n. ( LE?, lectotype, not seen, effectively designated by Juzepczuk in Fl. URSS 10 : 49, 1941) .

= R. hirtus Waldst. & Kit. in Descr. Icon. Pl. Hung. 2: 150 (1805), syn. nov. Loc. typ. cit.: Habitat copiosus per sylvas Croatiae, Sclavoniae, Banatus, reliquaeque Hungarias: velut in Matra Comitatus Hevesiensis, in montibus Telkebanyensibus, Ungvariensibus, Bereghiensibus, Ugotsienlibus, Bihariensibus, Baranyensibus, & in collibus humilibusque montibus Sumeghiensibus, quos sub nomine Zselitz noscunt nostrates. Type: Waldst. & Kit., Descr. Icon. Pl. Hung. 2: 150 (1805): tab. 141 (lectotype!), designated by Weber in Feddes Repert. 109(5–6): 399 (1998).

= R. platyphyllus K. Koch in Linnaea 16: 348 (1842), syn. nov. Loc. typ. cit.: In sylvis montium tractus Radschensis [Racha, Georgia] altit. 5000–7000 ped. Type: Kaukaus, s. dat., Koch s.n. (428?) (B [10-0295890], holotype –image!).

= R. ponticus (Focke) Juz. in Fl. URSS 10: 607 (1941), syn. nov. Type: Caucasus, ad margines silvarum prope Alagir, 2 July 1899, Markowicz HFR 875 (LE?, holotype, not seen).

Shrub or shrublet, usually up to 50 cm tall. Primocanes low-arching or creeping; stems terete or slightly angular, ± (3–) 6–8 mm in diameter, green, hairy with long simple and tufted hairs, distinctly glandular with stalked glands ˂ 1–2 mm long and (sub)sessile glands, with 15 to 40 prickles per 50 mm of stem length and many pricklets forming gradient from stalked glands through glandular and non-glandular acicles/pricklets to prickles; prickles unequal in size, slender, thin, straight, erect to slightly declining, ± 1–6 mm long and 1–5 mm wide at base, yellow or sometimes green with yellowish tip. Stipules linear, ± 12–15 × ca. 1 mm, hairy with long simple hairs, with stalked and sessile glands. Leaves on primocanes 3–5-foliolate, distinctly hairy to touch, usually light green, moderately to densely hairy above with long simple hairs, green beneath with sparse short stellate and dense long simple hairs; petiole ± as long as lateral leaflets, sparsely hairy with short stellate hairs and long simple hairs and 15 to 40 small, thin, mostly straight, erect to declining prickles, with numerous stalked glands; terminal leaflet usually elliptic to broadly obovate, base distinctly cordate, apex acuminate or caudate, with ± 15–20 mm long tip, margins almost flat, periodically to almost regularly dentate, incisions ca. 1–3 mm deep, petiolule ± 23–37% length of leaflet lamina; lateral leaflets elliptic or elliptic-ovate, with petiolules ± 5–10 mm long; basal leaflets obovate to elliptic, with petiolules 1–2 mm long (± 1.5–3.5% of lamina length). Inflorescence usually poorly branched, racemose; inflorescence leaves ternate; bracts simple to trifid; inflorescence axis terete or somewhat angular, densely hairy with stellate and long simple hairs and dense stalked glands (20 to 130 per 10 mm), 1–1.5 mm long; prickles (5–)15–35 per 50 mm of axis length, mostly slender, straight, erect or slightly curved, ˂1–3(–6) mm long, ca. 1–1.5 mm wide at base; pedicels 5–25 mm long, with stellate hairs and dense long patent simple hairs, with 1–15(–26) thin, straight to somewhat curved, ca. 1–1.5 mm long prickles, mostly densely glandular with stalked glands. Flowers 25–30 mm in diameter; sepals greyish, woolly, with many stalked glands and prickles, distinctly erect during and after anthesis, 8–12 mm long; petals white, much longer than sepals, 10–15 mm long, narrowly obovate to elliptic. Stamens much longer than styles; filaments white; anthers glabrous. Carpels glabrous. Flower receptacle densely hairy. Aggregate fruit medium to large, with ±15–30 drupelets, usually longer than wide, green turning red and finally black at maturity, shiny and juicy ( Fig. 4 ).

Ecology: Rubus glandulosus is an exclusively forest species; it occurs mainly along the forest margins or in gaps/ clearings, but also in the forest interior, from lower elevations (370 m a. s. l.) almost to the tree line in western Hyrcania (Gilan), but progressively getting restricted to high-mountain forests and avoiding alkaline/calcareous bedrocks to the east (Mazandaran, Golestan) .

Diagnostic characters: primocane stems rather thin, low-arching to creeping; stems, petioles and inflorescence axis and branches with dense long-stalked glands; primocanes with many transitions between stalked glands, glandular and eglandular acicles, pricklets, and prickles; prickles on primocane stems thin, slender, acicular; petals white; sepals erect.

Distribution: the ecoregion of Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests, mostly in the west (Gilan, Mazandaran), scattered to rare in the east (Golestan; Fig. 2C ). Iran represents the eastern extremity of the species distribution, which covers the Caucasus and most of southern, central, and western Europe ( Sochor et al. 2024a,b).

Published records from Iran: This species was reported from Iran by Parsa (1948), Zieliński (1978; as R. hirtus agg.) and Khatamsaz (1992; as R. hirtus agg.).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Distribution of Rubus species in Iran. A: R. caesius; B: R. dolichocarpus; C: R. glandulosus; D: R. ulmifolius.

FIGURE 4. Rubus glandulosus. A: habit; B, C: primocane leaves; D, E: primocane stems; F: flower; G: detail of flower with carpels; H: inflorescence; I: inflorescence axis; J: fruits; K: abaxial surface of terminal leaflet of primocane leaf; L: adaxial surface of terminal leaflet of primocane leaf.