Rubus lutescens Franchet

Subshrubs low, 10–50 cm tall. Stems upright, ± solitary; flower bearing branchlets arising from rhizome, grayish brown, reddish brown in age, finely pubescent, with sparse, unequal long straight or somewhat curved prickles. Leaves imparipinnate, 7–11-foliolate, sometimes 5-foliolate on apical part of flower bearing branchlet; petiole 2–3 cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 0.7–1.5 cm, lateral leaflets subsessile, petiolule and rachis with fine soft hairs and minute, curved prickles, occasionally with sparse, glandular hairs; stipules variable, stipules in proximal part of branches larger, ovate-lanceolate, 6–9 mm, margin entire, rarely lobed, stipules apically of branches narrower, linear, 5–7 mm, not divided, finely soft hairy; blade of leaflets broadly ovate or rhombic-ovate, rarely oblong, 1.5–5 × 1–3(–4) cm, both surfaces soft hairy, abaxially more dense along veins, with sparse, minute prickles along veins, base rounded, margin unevenly serrate or incised-doubly serrate, sometimes pinnate-lobed on terminal leaflet, apex acute, rarely obtuse, or shortly acuminate on terminal leaflet. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, 1- or 2-flowered, sometimes 3 or 4 flowers terminal on short branchlets; bracts similar to stipules, but smaller. Pedicel 2–3(–4) cm, thinly pubescent, with sparse, minute prickles, sometimes with sparse, glandular hairs. Flowers 2–3 cm in diam. Calyx abaxially thinly pubescent; tube without or with sparse, minute prickles; sepals spreading, rarely reflexed in fruit, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 0.9–1.2 cm × 3.5–5 mm, apex acuminate or shortly caudate. Petals white, turning yellowish, obovate or suborbicular, 5–7.5 × 5–6 mm, base shortly clawed. Stamens many, shorter than petals; filaments linear, broadened basally; anthers yellowish. Pistils numerous, slightly shorter than stamens. Ovary densely gray thinly pubescent. Aggregate fruit yellowish red, globose, 1.4–2 cm in diam., densely thinly pubescent; pyrenes ovoid-globose, shallowly reticulate. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Jul–Aug.

Sichuan, E Xizang, Yunnan.

Forest margins on slopes, mixed forests, stony places; 2500--4300 m.

Rubus lutescens f. glabrescens Cardot.