Chinese sweet tea / sweet leaf raspberry

Survives zone 7 through 9

A LEAF crop first — leaves are intensely sweet (rubusoside, a diterpene glycoside) and used dried as a sugar-free tea in Guangxi. Fruit is an ordinary orange-red raspberry, edible but minor.

Hardiness

Zone 7 to 9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Leaf, Fruit

Ripens

Leaves late spring–summer; fruit summer

Mature size

Arching shrub 1–3 m; containerable

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

5.5–7.0

Environment

Subtropical montane

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Pollination

Self-fertile