invasive wineberry shrub showing foliage and red berries

Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius). Photo:Richard Gardner, Bugwood.org

Updated: February 22, 2023

About Japanese wineberry or wine raspberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)

Life cycle

Deciduous, woody shrub

Growth habit

Arching stems reach 3 to 6 ft. that can root at the tips; stems and petioles covered in dense reddish glandular hairs and prickles; leaves alternate, divided into three leaflets, broadly ovate with pointed tips, serrated margins, undersides with dense white hairs

Reproduction

seeds, root sprouts, rhizomes, and stems that root where tips touch the ground; flowers have 5 white petals and produce a red raspberry-like fruit

wine raspberry fruit
Photo: Leslie Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org

 

The reddish-thorny stems and the white coloration of the underside of the leaves are used for Japanese wineberry identification

  • reddish-thorny wineberry stem

    The reddish-thorny stem of Japanese wineberry
    Photo: Britt Slattery, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bugwood.org

  • silvery color of the underside of wineberry leaves

    The underside of Japanese wineberry leaves are white
    Photo: Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org

Conditions that favor growth

Common along fence rows, orchards, roadsides, and open sunny sites; seedling very common in mulched beds

Cultural control

Remove young seedlings from landscape beds while they are small

Additional resources

Invasive Shrub Control 

Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas

(PDF) Weeds Gone Wild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas

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