European blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.)

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Blackberry in Western Australia

Blackberry species in WA

There are three species of blackberry in Western Australia. The blackberry leaf-rust fungus, Phragmidium violaceum, originates from Europe and only attack European blackberry taxa. The blackberry taxa that is most common along the Swan and Canning River is Rubus laudatus, a species originating from America and thus is immune to the rust. The leaf-rust also does not attack any of the cultivated berry species (dewberry, loganberry, raspberry).

In general, the American blackberry species in WA flowers and sets fruit from October to December. The underside of most of its leaves is usually greenish, while the underside of leaves of the European species is more whitish in colour. However this characteristic can change under different environments and therefore identification should not be solely based on this observation.

For more detail, see the WA blackberry field guide [PDF 352KB] for species identification.

WA Management Plan for Blackberry

In 2005/06, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), under the 'Defeating the Weed Menace' initiative, co-funded a project with CSIRO, the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA), Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and the Warren Catchments Council (WCC) to develop a management plan for integrated weed management of blackberry in Western Australia.

A planning meeting that involved DAFWA, Forest Products Commission (FPC), WCC, DEC and CSIRO was held at DEC Manjimup on 29 July 2005. At this meeting the scope of the management plan and the need for it to address blackberry infestations under different management conditions was discussed.

The WA management plan for blackberry takes into account that not all species of blackberry can be managed in a similar way because they may have different responses to various management treatments. For example, blackberry plants of the American species Rubus laudatus are immune to the blackberry leaf-rust whereas the European species R. anglocandicans is highly susceptible.

The WA management plan for blackberry [PDF 1.50MB]:

1. describes how to identify the weedy Rubus that is likely to be present in a particular area within WA,

2. summarises the control options that are currently being recommended and adopted in WA,

3. suggests the research and on-ground control activities that if conducted now, would facilitate integration of current and future control options and lead to a reduction in WA's overall weedy Rubus problem.

The management plan [PDF 1.50MB] (current draft; August 2006) is the result of a collaborative effort with input from P.B. Yeoh, J.K. Scott, K.L. Batchelor, L. Morin (CSIRO); L. Fontanini (WCC); T.D. McFarlane, I.J. Wilson (DEC); J.H. Moore, P.F. Merks, and M. Taylor (DAFWA).

Introduction | Background | Biocontrol Control | Risk Assessment | Blackberry in WA | Key People | Collaborators | Publications | More Information