Pubescens: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora (BF) and Flora of Alberta (FOA) leading to this species.  Some of these answers are incorrect or ambiguous.  I have placed these at the end of the list, coloured them red, and added my black-coloured comments at the end of each.

	plants herbaceous or somewhat woody at base; NOT [shrubs] (FOA)
	main stems prostrate, elongated, often semi-woody; NOT [leafy stems tufted, herbaceous, from a perennial underground base] (FOA)
	plants less than 3 dm high; NOT [plants 0.5-2 m high]
	plants unarmed, stems NOT prickly
	leaves compound; NOT [leaves merely lobed] , NOT [leaves rounded, shallowly several-lobed]
	leaves 3-foliolate; NOT [leaves pedate]
	central leaflet with pointed tip; NOT [central leaflet with rounded tip]
	petals 4-8 mm long; NOT [petals 10-15 mm long]
	petals erect; NOT [petals spreading at maturity]
	flowers mostly perfect; NOT [flowers unisexual]

 

	stems herbaceous, dying down annually; NOT [stems more or less woody] (BF) Flora of Alberta states the stems become semi-woody.
	plants with or without runners; NOT [delicate plant with long, slender, branched, rooting runners] (FOA) Flora of the Great Plains states the stems are slender, long-creeping, and rooting at the nodes or at the tip.
	leaves with 3 leaflets or merely lobed; NOT [leaves 3-5 foliolate, usually pinnate or lobed] (BF) Both Flora of Alberta and Flora of the Great Plains state the leaves are occasionally 5-foliolate.
	leaves 3-foliolate; NOT [leaves 5-digitate] (BF) Both Flora of Alberta and Flora of the Great Plains state the leaves are occasionally 5-foliolate.
	petals white; NOT [petals rose-coloured] (FOA)  Both Flora of Alberta and Flora of the Great Plains state the flowers are occasionally pinkish.

Rubus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. Some of these answers are incorrect or ambiguous.  I have placed these at the end of the list, coloured them red, and added my black-coloured comments at the end of each.  Note that not all of the correct answers apply to all members of Rubus found in the Canadian prairie provinces, but all of these do apply to this species.

	herbs, or with a woody base and otherwise herbaceous; NOT [shrubs or trees]
	leaves compound, distinctly divided into leaflets; NOT [leaves lobed], NOT [leaves simple, usually toothed]
	leaves with 3-5 leaflets; NOT [leaves with 5-17 leaflets]
	hypanthium LACKING hooked prickles
	calyx-bractlets lacking; NOT [calyx-bractlets present (appearing like 10 sepals)]
	flowers white or pink; NOT [flowers yellow]
	carpels 5-many; NOT [carpels 2]
	carpels becoming drupelets (raspberry-like); NOT [carpels becoming achenes (sometimes on a fleshy receptacle)]
	fruit a cluster of many fleshy drupelets; NOT [fruit a bottle-shaped “hip”], NOT [fruit dry]

 

	shrubs or trees; NOT [herbs or half-shrubs] (BF) The plant is somewhere between a herb and a shrub since the stems become semi-woody.
	shrubs; NOT [small trees] (BF) The plant is somewhere between a herb and a shrub since the stems become semi-woody.
	flowers white; NOT [flowers pink or white] (BF) Both Flora of Alberta and Flora of the Great Plains state the flowers are occasionally pinkish.