Rubus leucodermis is a deciduous shrub growing to 0.5–2.5 metres (1+1⁄2–8 feet), with prickly shoots.

[5] While the crown is perennial, the canes are biennial, growing vegetatively one year, flowering and fruiting the second, and then dying.

The fruit is 1–1.2 centimetres (3⁄8–1⁄2 inch) diameter, red to reddish-purple at first, turning dark purple to nearly black when ripe.

[2][8] R. leucodermis is similar to the eastern black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis).

The species can be found from Alaska southward along the Pacific coast as far as California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua.