Shrub · Rosaceae
American red raspberry
Rubus idaeus · includes its varieties and subspecies
American red raspberry is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 488 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
American red raspberry at a glance
- Native in
- 488 counties, across 29 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a PLANTS minimum temperature −62°F
- Mature height
- 6 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Moisture use not recorded
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 1a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −62°F; zone 1a winters bottom out at −60°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
American red raspberry is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 488 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS. In 168 more counties PLANTS labels it both native and introduced (statewide in Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia), so there it appears only in the separate “native and introduced” section.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 488 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 3 counties
- Arizona 9 counties
- Colorado 28 counties
- Idaho 16 counties
- Illinois 13 counties
- Indiana 11 counties
- Iowa 7 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 62 counties
- Minnesota 16 counties
- Missouri 4 counties
- Montana 4 counties
- Nevada 4 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 10 counties
- New Mexico 13 counties
- New York 42 counties
- North Carolina 5 counties
- North Dakota 32 counties
- Ohio 20 counties
- Oregon 10 counties
- Pennsylvania 45 counties
- South Dakota 12 counties
- Tennessee 1 county
- Utah 1 county
- Washington 8 counties
- West Virginia 8 counties
- Wisconsin 64 counties
- Wyoming 17 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 6 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Thicket Forming
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Not recorded
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Not recorded
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 104 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Not recorded
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Not recorded
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −62°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 88
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Red
Other
- Toxicity
- Slight
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Rosaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- RUID
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Rubus idaeus (PLANTS symbol RUID), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources