blackberry: what morphological features suggested the species epithet "bifrons"? What morphological features suggested the epithet "bifrons" in _Rubus bifrons_? The scientific name of the familiar invading species "Himalayan Blackberry" (or "European Blackberry" or "Armenian Blackberry") in the US is _Rubus bifrons_ (with _Rubus armeniacus_ as an alternative if the two species are considered same).

As @acvill pointed out, _R. bifrons_ was named in 1821 by Lorenz Chrysanth von Vest. The original description can be found here (pages 163-164).

The latin _bifrons_ translates to "two faces". I'm not sure, but I suspect this references the leaves of the plant, with the upper surfaces being dark green and the lower white (or much lighter)

> _Foliis subrotundo-ovatis subtus albentibus saepe villosis, tenue et confertim serratis..._

> [Leaves roundish-ovate, whitish on the underside, often villous thin and serrate...]

However, I can't translate his comments after the description, so maybe there is another explanation included there.