23. Rubus steelei L.H. Bailey

Pl. 540 o; Map 2521

Canes to 180 cm long, typically prostrate, 2–3 mm in diameter, sometimes so delicate as to seem herbaceous. Prickles moderate, 0.5–2.0(–3.0) per cm of cane, 1–2(–3) mm long. Petioles with nonglandular hairs, armed with downward-angled, needlelike prickles to 1.5 mm long. Stipules 5–12(–20) mm long, linear to lanceolate. Primocane leaves almost always with 3 leaflets, rarely a few with 5 leaflets, the margins bluntly to sharply toothed, the teeth varying widely in coarseness, the upper surface glabrous, the undersurface thinly hairy. Central primocane leaflets 5.0–8.5(–9.0) cm long and 3–6(–7) cm wide, elliptic-ovate to elliptic-rhombic, subcordate to angled at the base, tapered to a pointed or sharply pointed tip, the leaflet stalk about 1/6–1/3 as long as the leaflet blade; basal leaflets asymmetrically ovate, sometimes lobed, rounded at the base, angled to a pointed tip, sessile or nearly so. Inflorescences 5.0–20.5(–28.0) cm long, with 1–6(–10) flowers on long, ascending stalks, if only a single flower is present, then generally the inflorescences are at least 8 cm long, with (2–)3–5(–7) bracts, these usually mostly simple; flower and inflorescence stalks nearly glabrous, sometimes with small downward-angled, needlelike prickles. Sepals 6–12 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, triangular-ovate to elliptic, with slender to filiform or lobed and leafy tips. Petals 8–12 mm long, obovate. Fruits 8–15 mm long, 10–15 mm wide, globose to short-cylindric. May–June.

Scattered, mostly in the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions and the eastern portion of the Glaciated Plains (eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to Minnesota, Kansas, and northeastern Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests, savannas, glades, and tops of bluffs; also fallow fields, old fields, fencerows, railroads, and roadsides.