Invasiveness Assessment - Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.) in Victoria (Nox)
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Plant invasiveness is determined by evaluating a plant’s biological and ecological characteristics against criteria that encompass establishment requirements, growth rate and competitive ability, methods of reproduction, and dispersal mechanisms.
| Each characteristic, or criterion, is assessed against a list of intensity ratings. Depending upon information found, a rating of Low, Medium Low, Medium High or High is assigned to that criterion. Where no data is available to answer a criterion, a rating of medium (M) is applied. A description of the invasiveness criteria and intensity ratings used in this process can be viewed here. |
The following table provides information on the invasiveness of Blackberry.
A more detailed description of the methodology of the Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method can be viewed below:
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (PDF - 630 KB)
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (DOC - 1026 KB)
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Common Name: Blackberry
Scientific name: Rubus fruticosus agg.
| Question | Comments | Reference | Rating |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | Seeds mostly germinate in spring. | P & C (1992) | MH |
| Establishment requirements? | Occurs in orchards, forest plantations and bushland where it would be shaded by overstorey species. | P & C (1992 | MH |
| How much disturbance is required? | Weed of bushland. “Blackberry rarely invades virgin bushland but establishes most readily on disturbed sites”. | P & C (1992 | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Scrambling shrub. Other. | P & C (1992 | L |
| Allelopathic properties? | None described. |  | L |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | Not readily consumed by sheep and cattle but is consumed by goats. | P & C (1992 | MH |
| Normal growth rate? | “Few other plants can compete and blackberry completely dominates the vegetation of an area in a very short time”. | P & C (1992 | H |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Tolerance to water logging, frost (occurs above snow line). | Amor et al (1998) | ML |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | Reproduces by seed root suckers and layering. | P & C (1992 | H |
| Number of propagules produced? | > 2,000 seeds/plant. | See Amor et al (1998) p. 233 | H |
| Propagule longevity? | ? | | M |
| Reproductive period? | Forms self-sustaining dense monocultures. (See picture P & C 1992 p. 579). | P & C (1992 | H |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | 2+ years. | P & C (1992 | ML |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | Birds, foxes, creeks and rivers. | P & C (1992 | H |
| How far do they disperse? | “In one study an average of 570 seeds were recovered from fox droppings and 2,460 from EMU droppings”. | P & C (1992 | H |
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