Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)

Common Names: Wine raspberry, Japanese wineberry

Description:

Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) is a thorny shrub from China, Japan, and Korea, brought to the United States around 1890 to breed new raspberries and blackberries [1]. It has since escaped into the wild across the eastern U.S. and the Midwest [1]. MISIN tracks it because it forms dense, prickly thickets along forest edges and streams that crowd out native plants and block tree seedlings from growing [1][3].

Habit:

Wineberry grows as a tangle of arching canes that rise from a long-lived root system [1]. The canes are usually 2 to 5 feet tall but can reach 9 feet, and they are unmistakable up close: thickly coated with fine reddish hairs and scattered thorns, which give the whole plant a red, fuzzy look from a distance [1]. Each leaf has three leaflets that are bright white and woolly on the underside ? flip a leaf over and it looks almost silver [1]. In early to mid summer it produces shiny red raspberry-like fruit [1]. The reddish hairy canes stand out year-round, even in winter after the leaves drop, which makes the cold months a good time to spot and mark plants [1][2].

At-a-glance cues:

1. Canes densely covered in fine reddish hairs and thorns, giving a red fuzzy look [1]
2. Leaves with three leaflets, bright white and woolly underneath [1]
3. Shiny red raspberry-like berries in early to mid summer [1]
4. Arching canes that root where their tips touch the ground, forming thickets [1]

Leaves:

1. Compound, with three leaflets (occasionally appearing as three because the plant is a raspberry relative) [1]
2. Leaflets are toothed (serrated) along the edge with a blunt tip [1]
3. Top surface green; underside densely white and woolly, almost silver [1]
4. Veins on the underside often tinged purple-red [1]
5. Arranged alternately along the cane [1]

Stems:

1. Upright and arching canes that grow from a perennial (long-lived) root system [1]
2. Canes live two years: they grow the first year and fruit the second [1]
3. Average 2 to 5 feet tall, sometimes reaching 9 feet [1]
4. Densely covered with reddish, gland-tipped hairs (each about 1/8 inch long) plus scattered thorns, giving a fuzzy red appearance [1]

Flowers:

1. Small, with white petals and greenish centers [1]
2. Backed by reddish, hairy sepals (the leaf-like parts under the petals) [1]
3. Borne in loose clusters at the cane tips, on short reddish hairy stalks [1]
4. Bloom in late spring to early summer; flowers are perfect (each has both male and female parts) [1]

Fruit and seeds:

1. A shiny red, raspberry-like berry about 1/2 inch across, made of many small juicy segments [1]
2. Ripens from late June into August, depending on location [1]
3. Each berry holds numerous small seeds, each about 1/8 inch long [1]
4. Spread when birds, mammals, and other animals eat the fruit and drop the seeds [1]

Habitat:

Wineberry grows in a wide range of open and partly shaded places: forest edges and gaps, floodplains, stream banks, wet meadows, old fields, roadsides, ditches, and vacant lots [1]. It does best in moist, rich soil with full sun to partial shade, but it tolerates many soil types [1]. Disturbed ground ? places where the soil has been cleared, dug, or burned ? is especially easy for it to colonize [1]. Native to China, Japan, and Korea, it now grows wild across the eastern United States and into the Midwest, including Michigan, Illinois, and Arkansas [1][4].

Reproduction:

Wineberry has several ways of arriving and spreading, and most are easy to picture [1]. Birds and mammals eat the sweet red berries and drop the seeds far from the parent plant, often along fences, forest edges, and stream banks where they perch or travel [1]. Closer to home, the arching canes bend over and take root wherever their tips touch the ground, so a single plant slowly creeps outward into a thicket [1]. It also sends up new shoots from its roots and underground stems, which is how it can spread from a neighbor's yard or an untended corner [1][2].

The plant produces large numbers of seeds, helping it build up quickly once it takes hold [1][3]. Each cane lives two years: it grows leaves and stems the first year, then flowers and fruits the second year before dying back [1]. That two-year cycle is the key to control timing ? cutting canes to the ground before the second-year canes fruit stops the plant from making new seed [2].

Impact and Damage:

Wineberry is not poisonous to people, pets, or livestock, and the berries are in fact edible [1]. Its main drawback in a yard is physical: the thorny, fast-spreading canes form dense thickets that are hard to walk through and can take over garden edges and fence lines [2]. In natural areas the problem is larger. Its thickets shade out and crowd native wildflowers, shrubs, and tree seedlings, and where it grows densely it can limit the regrowth of forests, pastures, and croplands [1]. Studies found fewer native plants growing alongside wineberry than in similar spots without it [1]. Part of its edge over natives is built in: wineberry photosynthesizes faster and uses light and water more efficiently than the native sawtooth blackberry, letting it grow and spread more aggressively [3]. The thickets also change wildlife habitat by replacing varied native cover with a single dense tangle [1].

Similar species:

Wineberry is a raspberry relative, so it is most often confused with our native brambles. The reddish, hairy canes are the giveaway ? native brambles lack them.

Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) is the closest match, with white-woolly leaf undersides like wineberry. But its canes are smooth and green with a whitish, waxy coating that rubs off, not red hairs, and they carry only sparse stout thorns. Its ripe fruit is purple-black rather than red [1][2].

Allegheny blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) is a common native blackberry, but its canes are green to reddish and ridged with stout thorns and no dense red hairs. Its leaves usually have five leaflets that are green (not white) underneath, and its fruit is black [1][2].

Red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) has red fruit like wineberry, which causes confusion. Its canes have bristles or slender thorns but lack the thick reddish gland-tipped hairs, and the leaf undersides are pale gray-green rather than bright white [1][2].

Common dewberry (Rubus flagellaris) is a native trailing bramble that scrambles along the ground rather than arching upward. Its canes are green to reddish with scattered thorns but no dense red hairs, and the leaf undersides are green [1].

Monitoring and rapid response:

Signs to watch for:

1. Arching canes with a fuzzy red look from fine reddish hairs and thorns, often in a tangled thicket [1]
2. Leaves with three leaflets that are bright white underneath [1]
3. Shiny red raspberry-like berries in early to mid summer [1]
4. Easiest to spot and mark in winter, when the bare reddish canes stand out [1][2]

What you can do:

1. Pull or dig out young plants and seedlings while they are small, removing as much root as you can ? moist soil makes this easier [2]
2. For larger plants, cut all canes to the ground and pull up the roots; do this before the second-year canes fruit in early summer to stop new seed [2]
3. Wear thick gloves and long sleeves ? the canes are prickly and hairy [2]
4. Bag and dispose of cut canes; do not leave them lying on the soil, where cut stems can re-root [2]
5. Natural area crews can clear larger stands by repeated cutting and digging over several visits, and should tackle small, outlying patches first before they grow into thickets [1][2]

When to call a professional:

1. Large, well-established thickets that resprout aggressively from roots after cutting [1]
2. Infestations along streambanks, wetlands, or other sensitive or hard-to-reach sites [1]
3. For chemical control options, contact a licensed applicator or your local cooperative extension office.

Report sightings to MISIN. Help track this species' spread by submitting observations through the MISIN web site or the MISIN mobile app (Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS). Photos at multiple angles paired with a precise GPS location are the most valuable data for confirming new occurrences and triggering rapid-response review.

Credits:

1. Innes RJ (2009). Rubus phoenicolasius. In: Fire Effects Information System (FEIS), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. fs.usda.gov
2. University of Maryland Extension. Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius). extension.umd.edu
3. McDowell SC (2002). "Photosynthetic characteristics of invasive and noninvasive species of Rubus (Rosaceae)." American Journal of Botany 89(9):1431?1438. semanticscholar.org
4. USDA NRCS PLANTS Database. Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim. (RUPH). plants.usda.gov

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