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Kashmir Blackberry
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Kashmir Blackberry
P Native Photo: Prashant Awale
Common name: Kashmir Blackberry, Holy bramble, Burning bush, Kashmir Raspberry • Kashmiri: ﰷﻭ ﺩﭺ Kaav dach, ﺩﹶﻳﻦ ﭼﺎﻧﭻ Daen chanch • Arabic: عليالعليق المقدس Alealiq almuqadas
Botanical name: Rubus creticus    Family: Rosaceae (Rose family)
Synonyms: Rubus sanctus, Rubus sanguineus, Rubus ulmifolius subsp. sanctus

Kashmir Blackberry is a shrub that grows up to 2 m high. The stems are branching, with hooked thorns, and the leaves are alternate, almost digitately compound, with 3-5 toothed or sawtoothed leaflets which are green above and whitish underneath. The light pink flowers have five petals, but they can also be white. The inflorescences are densely hairy, containing flowers with rounded and strongly wrinkled petals, with hairless anthers. The branches and leaf-stalks are usually reddish. The fruit is a small compound blackberry which is commonly edible. Known as Holy Bramble in the West, an instance of it can be found at the Chapel of the Burning Bush on Mount Sinai, where it is revered as the original burning bush of the Bible. The original species name sanctus has roots in this belief. Kashmir Blackberry is native to E. Mediterranean to Turkmenistan and W. Himalaya.

Identification credit: Gurcharan Singh Photographed in Kashmir.

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