Learned a new plant this week. Too bad it's not a good one.
I was out at the Art Barn helping to set up the Spooky Trail for Halloween. Ran into (literally) a bush with horrible killer thorns. Not a good picture, but it's the best I have now.
![Rubus laciniatus](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi447uX1uuQ_fTRtqXH3he8YM5-NcSOIccJ_hwWjjpEOWGN5476mhE9XgBHCB_gUakbDHUsoOy11IKP5qvWQ0b3U0HiZhafv0bGsFVWuV2pW4rY2OrBcQaQIw2yJaSH4PBDWJ5Cv0gL1o0/s1600/BlackberryCutleaf01.jpg)
I had no idea what it is. The thorns looked like blackberry, but the leaves sure didn't.
![Rubus laciniatus](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh65IVsBUuRoIZKRKi5yA18zwA0tmzlJ6tnctzY6m3uq4Cp11c78oH-zlrkhgXpBQ_CYZmPU5ijMiCVKB1MzbHZpJuGGG1b7ps_5aNff084FBW9VCoO19sqMhlOy0RG8esfw6S15bmExwk/s1600/BlackberryCutleaf02.jpg)
Flowers? Another bad picture. But pretty much like a blackberry. Oddish triple-pinked outer edges. Slightly pink.
![Rubus laciniatus](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg93XrKTnhRLpUCCMjYpk2VyOUDxPmES0dv2DXExa3umBce7G0IIv_T2Plt6pYU5BFM8NR-T-8KhmFTRq5ytgU5_tdBVuHS921NtvXXQ3RJb2ZWFMEDvPKNuZ8zwP6PL3u5kXvQd_rp7TI/s1600/BlackberryCutleaf03.jpg)
A little farther on (lots of these bushes snagging clothes and hands. Ouchy) I found... berries.
![Rubus laciniatus](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGpGjGNnFd8_hQfav5vWUPxF-rrnV4KN0A5C3HLXCZrgdLnOnXkBRWP74CdV5jbZgJumlbISIzWCq9RZRPH2WLXKigZGwdgwE2xIahuoM4cuSo17524yvq8oFnqm4IyYUXW_eeE4RMY8c/s1600/BlackberryCutleaf04.jpg)
I was quite sure at this point it was some kind of blackberry, so I took a tiny taste. Yup. Very tasty. Ate one.
The core and sepals where the berry comes off look very blackberry.
![Rubus laciniatus](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUZYwyt1l35tsvqaWBx1bixi3Y2GEv2Og0FFxnxOyRpyeDLQMiu5GE0gekzleHL9MaabqB4_GfITIkm9YSD_odRHa3UDRh579fuhDONrVjZkBmHNI5bhtJoDW_KKBOSJOOstvypo7zP8/s1600/BlackberryCutleaf05.jpg)
Came home and looked it up. Blackberry. Cutleaf or Evergreen Blackberry, Rubus laciniatus. Alien, invasive. But often planted for the nice berries. I think that was the origins of these bushes a generation or so ago.
They can grow into small trees, overrunning other vegetation and creating impenetrable thickets. I can believe that. It has multitudes of recurved thorns that are even worse than the native blackberry. Spots I snagged on my hands are still sore today.
I'll try to get some better pictures to put on my plant pages.
Accountability report: 180 words on Dead Mule Swamp Druggist, to finish Chapter 49. Just for fun, and as a writing exercise, took a challenge from another writer to create a horror story in two sentences. Wrote three in my head while working (they are posted on Facebook). I'm not a fan of horror, but it's good to practice skills outside one's comfort zone sometimes.
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3 comments:
An interesting and definitely a scary plant. I like blackberries, but have wandered into too many thickets in the Pacific Northwest. Not fun.
I'd love the berries, but I wouldn't want a thorny plant like this.
The berries look very inviting. The thorns--not so much.
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