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iNaturalist — CC, credited & licensed per image
Rosaceae family

Palmleaf Dewberry Rubus sieboldii

Palmleaf Dewberry is an introduced perennial shrub, found in Hawaii. It grows to 7 ft.

⚠ Invasive here — plant a native instead USDA + GBIF

Palmleaf Dewberry is flagged invasive in the U.S. These natives fill a similar niche — same growth habit, bloom season, height, and region — so you keep the look and feed local wildlife instead of spreading a problem.

Ohelo Kau La'au
Native
Ohelo Kau La'au
Vaccinium calycinum
●●●●●
Bellyache Bush
Native
Bellyache Bush
Jatropha gossypiifolia
●●●○○
Hawai'i Blackberry
Native
Hawai'i Blackberry
Rubus hawaiensis
●●●●○
Sawtooth Blackberry
Native
Sawtooth Blackberry
Rubus argutus
●●●●○
Matched on growth habit · bloom months · mature height · shared U.S. range (USDA + GBIF) — a starting point, not a prescription.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Height · Foliage
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Height
7 ft
Lifespan
Perennial
Foliage
Broadleaf
In the garden
Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~163 caterpillar species

Rubus supports ~163 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is an exceptional genus.

Recorded feeding on Rubus in North America, including:

Abagrotis pulchrata · owlet moth Acharia stimulea · Saddleback Caterpillar Moth Acleris bowmanana · leafroller moth Acleris britannia · Brittania Moth Acleris fragariana · leafroller moth Acleris keiferi · leafroller moth
+ 8 more species →
Acleris laterana · leafroller moth Acleris macdunnoughi · leafroller moth Acleris variegana · leafroller moth Acronicta americana · American Dagger Moth Acronicta brumosa · Charred Dagger Acronicta distans · owlet moth Acronicta funeralis · Funerary Dagger Acronicta impressa · Impressed Dagger Moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
✦ Bees specialist-bee host

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Rubus is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024.
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (13) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — US-RIIS v2.0 (USGS)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[08] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[11] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[12] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
[13] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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