Rubus fruticosus Identity & Plant Part
The botanical entity is Rubus fruticosus L., the European blackberry, a thorny bramble of the Rosaceae family. The name covers a large group of closely related forms, and the fruit is an aggregate of small drupelets rather than a single berry. The part used is that fruit. Canes, leaves, roots and the tiny seeds are not part of this ingredient.
Blackberry is easily confused with its relatives. Raspberry is Rubus idaeus, black raspberry is Rubus occidentalis, and dewberries and hybrid berries such as loganberry are separate crosses. All look similar and all carry anthocyanins, but they differ in flavor and in how their pigments behave.
Blackberry fruit is colored mainly by cyanidin glycosides and also carries ellagitannins and fruit acids.
Wild and cultivated blackberries differ in thorn, seed size and sugar level, but the aggregate Latin name covers both, so blackberry extract is identified by the species complex and the ripe fruit.












