Pennsylvania blackberry is a native perennial shrub in the Rose family. This plant is moderately resistant to damage from deer and provides excellent cover year-round for wildlife. Butterflies and other insects are attracted to the blooms. Its fruits are eaten by songbirds, small mammals, foxes, raccoons, and black bears. During the winter, birds and small mammals eat the seeds left from rotted fruit. White-tailed deer and rabbits browse the leaves. Pennsylvania blackberry is often found in woodland openings and edges, savannas, thickets, weedy meadows, and fence rows. Pennsylvania blackberry can grow to ten feet tall, forming arching woody canes. It is found naturally along roadsides, thickets, and in woodlands. Second-year canes die down after bearing fruit, but they often start new canes vegetatively when their tips touch the ground. The root system is woody and branching. Loose colonies of plants are often formed from vegetative propagation of the canes. Stout prickles occur along the sides of the canes; these prickles are usually curved, rather than straight. The plant prefers full or partial sun, moist to dry-mesic conditions, and soil containing loam, clay-loam, or some rocky material. The size of the fruit depends on the amount of precipitation during the first half of summer. These plants are colonial and spread rapidly. Information on blackberry cultivation for home gardeners is available in the NC State Extension publication Blackberries for the Home Garden . Diseases, Insects, and Other Plant Problems: Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus. More information on Rubus .
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Soil texture
Clay; High Organic Matter; Loam (Silt); Shallow Rocky
Soil pH
Acid (<6.0); Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Moist | Occasionally Dry
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 0 ft. 4 in. - 0 ft. 6 in. | Width: 0 ft. 4 in. - 0 ft. 6 in.
Maintenance
Medium
Canopy layer
5 - Groundcover (<1 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Arching
Texture
Coarse
Foliage
Deciduous
Leaf color
Green
Leaf type
Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
Leaf shape
Ovate
Leaf margin
Serrate
Leaf feel
Prickly
Leaf size
> 6 inches long, > 6 inches wide
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
First-year canes produce leaves of 5 leaflets, while second-year canes produce leaves of 3 leaflets. At the base of each terminal leaflet, there is a conspicuous basal stalklet (petiolule) about ½" long, while the lateral leaflets are sessile, or nearly so. Terminal leaflets are no more than twice as long as they are across.
Flower color
White
Flower form
Corymb
Flower size
1-3 inches
Flower detail
Second-year canes bear short corymbs of flowers spanning about 2-4" across. Each flower is about 1" across. The petals are oblanceolate in shape and rather wrinkled in appearance; they are much longer than the slightly pubescent sepals. At the base of the pedicel of each flower, there is either a stipule-like or leafy bract of varying size; the flowers are often partially hidden by these bracts. The blooming period of this blackberry lasts about 3 weeks. Flowers bloom April-June.
Bloom time
Spring; Summer
Fruit color
Black
Fruit type
Drupe
Fruit value
Edible
Fruit size
< 1 inch long
Fruit detail
Flowers are replaced by juicy fruits that are globoid-ovoid in shape and up to ¾" long. The fruits have a pleasant sweet-tart flavor, sometimes with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Each drupelet within a fruit contains a single seed. The size of the fruit is strongly influenced by the amount of precipitation during the first half of summer. Fruits are available May-July.
Stem color
Black; Green; Red/Burgundy
Stem detail
Young canes are light green, stout, and rather angular, but they later become red, reddish brown, or black. Stout prickles occur along the sides of the canes; these prickles are usually curved, rather than straight.
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Native
Origin
Canada, Central and Eastern United States
Wildlife value
Provides excellent cover year round. Butterflies and other insects are attracted to the blooms for nectar. Its fruits are eaten by songbirds, small mammals, foxes, raccoons, and black bears. During the winter, birds and small mammals eat the seeds left from rotted fruit. White-tailed deer and rabbits browse the leaves.
Attracts
Bees; Butterflies; Pollinators; Small Mammals; Songbirds; Specialized Bees
Food & Medicine
Edible parts
Fruit
Harvest time
Spring; Summer
Fruit type
Drupe
Edibility
The fruits are large aggregates of 10-100 black drupelets, somewhat sweet.
Uses (ethnobotany)
Sweet and juicy fruit often used for jams and jellies.