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The name Rubus fruticosus is ambiguous: it has been used for a European blackberry species and for a species aggregate, a group of similar species. Blackberries grow wild throughout most of Europe, and the bramble is a familiar plant of English hedgerows. Blackberries are perennial plants bearing biennial stems, called canes, from their roots. In its first year, a new stem called the primocane reaches about 3-6 metres trailing on the ground and bears large palmate compound leaves.

Rubi fruticosi folium, the dried leaf, contains 5-14% tannins (gallotannins), flavonoids, essential oils and several organic acids: malic, citric, isocitric, oxalic and succinic acid. Triterpene acids such as rubutic acid and rubinic acid have been isolated from the leaves.

Tannins are a class of astringent polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins. Their astringency causes the dry, puckery feeling in the mouth after unripened fruit, red wine or tea.

The ingredients of blackberry leaves have an astringent effect and also an antioxidant effect. The leaves are used for acute, non-specific diarrhoea and mild inflammation of the mouth and throat mucosa. The usual daily dose of the drug is 4.5 g, taken as a tea infusion, as a mouthwash or in another preparation. In empirical medicine the leaves have also served as a gargle for inflamed mucous membranes and in washes for skin rashes. The bark of the root and the leaves have long been esteemed as an astringent and tonic.

Fermented blackberry leaves, which contain less tanning agent, are a popular decaffeinated substitute for black tea and a common ingredient of house teas.

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