Rubus saxatilis
A stone berry with ripe fruit
The stone berry (Rubus saxatilis ) is a species in the genus Rubus. It is distributed in the cool to temperate zones of the northern hemisphere. The fruits are used in traditional Russian cuisine, among others, in the pie jelly.
Description
Appearance and leaf
In the stone berry is a perennial herbaceous plant, in which the above-ground parts are one- or two-year, but no later then die. However, the plant renews itself from the underground organs. The creeping shoot axes and roots can reach lengths of up to 2 meters. The terete, slender Stems are greenish - brown. The sterile, creeping stem axis possess tiny, needle-like, soft and non- stinging spines are sparsely hairy fluffy and sometimes possess stalked glands. These creeping stem axis are erect, up to 30 centimeters high fertile shoot axes.
The alternate arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The 2 to 3.5 cm long petiole is soft hairy and has tiny, needle-like spines. The little hairy leaf blade is usually composed with three pinnate leaves, rarely it is simple and divided. The lateral leaflets are nearly sessile and pedunculated terminal leaflet is only 1 to 2 inches long. The ovate - rhombic or oblong - rhombic leaflets are roughly sawed twice the margin. The terminal leaflet is with a length of 5 to 7 centimeters longer than the lateral leaflets. The fluffy haired, smooth-edged stipules are not attached to the upright, fertile shoot axes are at a length of 5 to 8 mm and a width of 3 to 5 millimeters ovate to elliptic and the creeping stem axis narrow lanceolate or linear - oblong.
Inflorescence and flower
The Blütenstandsschäfte can have different lengths, the shorter about 5 millimeters and the longer up to 3 inches long. Few flowers are bündelig or in a doldenrispigen inflorescence. The fluffy hairy bracts are ovate or elliptic, rarely linear -oblong with smooth boundary. The 6 to 10 mm long peduncle is hairy fluffy and has tiny, needle-like spines and often stalked glands.
The hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and fünfzählig double perianth. The corolla usually has a diameter of less than 1 centimeter. The five sepals are at a length of 5 to 7 mm and a width of 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters ovate - lanceolate sharpened upper end. The petals are scarcely longer than the sepals. The five upright, bare, white petals are at a length of 6-9 mm and a width of 3 to 5 millimeters spatulate or oblong and nailed. The many stamens are much shorter than the petals. The filaments are straight and bent inward. There are five or six fruit leaves that are about as long as the dust leaves exist.
Fruit
Not all carpels mature into fruits zoom, usually only one to three. Consequently, the collection drupe consists only of very few drupes, often only a single. The stone fruits are only very loosely connected to the collecting fruit and separate easily. The bare fruit collector is spherical with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 centimeters. You are at maturity bright red, clear to translucent. The drupe is oblong
Chromosome number
The chromosome number is 2n = 28
Ecology and phenology
In the stone berry is a Pseudophanerophyt, so an appearance shrub. Asexual reproduction occurs by creeping stem axis.
The flowers are inconspicuous and vorweiblich, her thin, white petals tend to be composed on the base of the flower, which secretes nectar. Pollinators are bees and wasps that enter between the petals to the nectar; later carried out self-pollination. The flowering period extends into Central Europe from May to July, in China from June to July.
The fruits taste like currants. Fruit ripening in Central Europe from June, in China from July to August.
Distribution and habitat requirements
The wide range of the stone berry ranges from Europe to Russia and from Mongolia to China and there are also deposits in North America. The stone berry is found in the cool to temperate regions of Eurasia - in the west to southern Greenland, in Europe from Iceland over Scandinavia to the mountain regions of the Mediterranean Basin, and east to Siberia and northern Japan.
It grows on rocky, calcareous soils in thickets and in open woods.