Rubus swinhoei

Rubus swinhoei is also known as Swinhoe's raspberry, wood berry, Keelung rubus, Jingbai rubus and Libai rubus. It belongs to the genus Rubus of the family Rosaceae and is named after Robert Swinhoe for his contributions to Taiwan’s fauna and flora.

Discovery
The specimen was first collected in April 1864 in Tamsui, Taiwan, by R. Oldham, a British collector, collection number 142. The holotype specimen is kept in London’s Natural History Museum. Henry Fletcher Hance first published the scientific name in the “Annales des Sciences Naturelles” a botanical journal, in 1866.

Distribution
Located in northern and central Taiwan, at an altitude of 10 to 900 meters on the foothills, plains, and areas with higher altitudes.

Morphology
The stem is a semi-evergreen shrub 1 to 4 meters high, with dark purple-brown, gray-white pubescence when young and glabrous when old. The shape of the single leaf varies greatly, from lanceolate to broadly ovate, 5 to 11 cm in length and 2.5 to 5 cm in width, with a pointed tip and a shallow cordiform base. Soft hairs run along the veins with the lower surface tomentose or subglabrous. The adaxial surface of the leaf is tomentose, leaf margin ciliate or glabrous, serrated, with 0 to 12 pairs of leaf veins. The petiole is 0.5 to 1.5 cm in length, with purple-brown glandular hairs and a sparse spine with tomentose. The flowers are borne 5 to 6 in number, with stalks and sepals 0.1 to 0.3 cm in length with purple-brown glandular hairs. The flower diameter is 1 to 1.5 cm, with the slender stalk measuring 1 to 3 cm in length. The flower buds are hairy and serrated, ovate or triangular sepals, 0.5 to 0.8 cm long with gray-white hair, pointed apex, and margins entire. Reflexed during the fruiting time with ovate or nearly round-shaped white petals, hoary. The stamen is mostly glabrous at the base of the filaments and swollen. The pistil is longer than the stamens. The ovary is glabrous, and the flowering period is from May to June. Spherical fruit that measures 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter and is composed of glabrous drupes that turn from red-green-purple to black-purple when ripe. The fruit core has a wrinkled texture with a sour taste. The fruiting period is from July to August.

Conservation status
Red List of Vascular Plants of Taiwan, 2017: No immediate threat.