Talk:Rubus

General Notes

Batologists find it challenging agreeing the number of species with estimates of over 500 to over 1350. The list on the taxon page is taken from PWO (2022) and is a mid range treatment of accepted species worldwide. The genus is rampant with apomictic polyploidy with intra- and interspecific ploidy levels and hybridisation making phylogenetic estimation of the circumscription of Rubus challenging. Character traits and regional data are traditionally used to separate sub-genera, sections and species, but again the intermixing of apomictic swards and hybridisation events make analysis difficult due to potentially intermediate variants within a population. Seed viability can be very high, but can lead to variable phenotypes from any given population. There is general agreement that this genus challenges the concept of "what is a species".

There are 12 accepted sub-genera, excluding the autonym, containing a number of associated sections and series. Excluding the monotypic subgenera, subgenus Orobatus and subg. Anoplobatus were monophyletic, while the others were para- or polyphyletic (Carter et al., 2019). They also found that Rubus taxonomy does not reflect phylogenetic relationships and subgeneric revision is warranted.

Species list on the subgenera pages are incomplete to date. Apologies. Andyboorman (talk) 19:44, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Lecotype/Type species

Taxonomically the correct combination for the type species is Rubus fruticosus L., Sp. Pl. 1: 493 (-494). (1753) typ. cons. and not Rubus plicatus Weihe & Nees, Rubi Germ.: 15 (1822) as advocated by Hassler (2022) and Euro+Med (2022). This is both by lecotypification (NHM, 2006) and through conservation of the genus Rubus (Shenzhen ICN 14.3 & App. IV). Andyboorman (talk) 13:37, 25 July 2022 (UTC)