11. Rubus laudatus A. Berger

R. bushii L.H. Bailey

R. sertatus L.H. Bailey

R. virilis L.H. Bailey

Map 2509

Canes to 270 cm long and 100–200 cm tall, 4–10 mm in diameter. Prickles sparse to moderate, 0.2–1.2 per cm of cane (except in southwestern Missouri and Kansas, where more densely armed populations are found with up to 3 prickles per cm), 4–6 mm long. Petioles with sparse to dense nonglandular hairs, armed with broad-based downward-curved to downward-angled prickles to 3 mm long. Stipules 12–16 mm long, linear. Primocane leaflet margins finely toothed, the upper surface thinly hairy, the undersurface velvety hairy, in developing leaves appearing grayish. Central primocane leaflets 7.5–13.0 cm long, 3–7 cm wide, elliptic-ovate, elliptic, elliptic-oblong, or narrowly-elliptic, subcordate to rounded at the base, angled or short-tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the leaflet stalk about 1/4–1/3 as long as the leaflet blade; lateral leaflets elliptic, angled at the base, angled to a sharply pointed tip, the middle pair stalked, the basal pair nearly sessile. Inflorescences typically racemose, 5.0–15.5 cm long, 4–6 cm wide, with 5–13 flowers (western populations can bear short, flaring inflorescences with as few as 4 flowers, especially near the floricane tips) and 1–5 bracts, these sometimes leafy, about evenly divided between simple bracts and those with 3 leaflets; flower and inflorescence stalks with nonglandular hairs, and occasional needlelike prickles (western populations sometimes bear downward-curved, broad-based prickles). Sepals 5–7 mm long, 2.5–4.0 mm wide, narrowly triangular, tapered to a sharply pointed tip. Petals 12–22 mm long, obovate. Fruits 12–20 mm long, 8–14 mm wide, ovoid to cylindric. May.

Scattered, mostly south of the Missouri River (central U.S. from Pennsylvania south to Virginia, Arkansas and Texas west to Oklahoma and Kansas; introduced in Australia). Bottomland forests, mesic upland forests, upland prairies, and banks of streams and rivers; also pastures, old fields, fencerows, ditches, railroads, and, roadsides.

Large-fruited selections of R. laudatus have been cultivated and may escape or persist from gardens. The species is known to have become naturalized in Australia (Evans et al., 2007). It was originally described by Berger (Hedrick et al., 1925) from the cv. ‘Bundy’, which was selected by T. B. Bundy from Wayne County, Missouri. Rubus bushii, R. sertatus, and R. virilis, three synonyms of R. laudatus, also were described from Missouri types. The type of R. bushii was collected by E. J. Palmer from Jasper County in 1929 (L. H. Bailey, 1932), that of R. sertatus by Bush from in Jackson County in 1926 (L. H. Bailey, 1945), and that of R. virilis by J. H. Kellogg from Texas County in 1933 (L. H. Bailey, 1945).