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Alleghany blackberry Rosaceae Rubus allegheniensis Porter Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet play symbol: RUAL
Leaf: Alternate, palmately compound, 3 to 5 inches long and wide, 3 to 7 leaflets (mostly 5), ovate to oval leaflets, serrated margins, prickles on petiole, dark green above and much paler below.
Flower: Species is monoecious; showy white flowers (one inch across) with 5 petals, larger and persisting longer than black raspberry.
Fruit: Juicy, black multiple of drupes, up to 1 inch long, ripens in late summer. When picked, the fruit does not separate from its core.
Twig: Stout, strongly angled canes with large hooked prickles, dull reddish brown, lacking glaucous bloom. Cane tips do not root.
Bark: Similar to twig but darkens with age.
Form: Sprawling, arching canes that form dense thickets, often well over head-high, particularly when supported.
 Looks like: prickly Florida blackberry - dewberry - black raspberry - multiflora rose

Alleghany blackberry leaf image
Alleghany blackberry flower image
Alleghany blackberry fruit image
Alleghany blackberry twig image
Alleghany blackberry bark image
Alleghany blackberry form image
Alleghany blackberry map image

Additional Range Information: Rubus allegheniensis is native to North America. Range may be expanded by planting. Download the full-size PDF map.
More Information: Fall Color
External Links: USDA Plants Database
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information