290 WILD FLOWEB3 OF 



II. HERBACEOUS. Here are located R. saxatilis, arcticus, and 

 Chamcemorus. 



Recent botanists have greatly extended the number 

 of British Fruticose Brambles, which in STEELE'S 

 work above referred to, amount to 38, exclusive of 

 varieties ; nor does Mr. BABINGTON indicate a much 

 less number; Dr. BELL SALTEK has, in HENFKEY'S 

 Botanical Gazette, attempted to reduce them to 22, 

 but evidently without considering or alluding to seve- 

 ral described by me in STEELE'S Hand-Book. There 

 must always be this great difficulty in determining 

 species in Brambles, that the differences between varie- 

 ties and their types is in many instances quite as great 

 as between alleged species themselves. And perhaps 

 when the mode of growth of the fruticose E-ubi is 

 considered, this is hardly to be wondered at. Seedlings 

 which may vary in some degree from their parent, 

 are, by arching and rooting, perpetuated into a series 

 of bushes, which, if undisturbed, may spread far and 

 wide for a time, yet themselves according to soil or 

 aspect, light or shade, offering variations more or less 

 observable. In doubtful cases it is almost indispen- 

 sable to observe the living plant. 



The herbaceous brambles with annual stems are 

 less variable in character, and are easily discriminated. 

 The Stone-Bramble (R. saxatilis^), which occurs in the 

 woods of the Cotteswolds, and in other stony localities 

 as far south as Lynmouth, in Devonshire, has very 

 minute pale yellow linear petals, and produces small 

 scarlet berries which assume very irregular forms, the 

 fruit only appearing where the plant creeps upon the 

 face of rocks exposed to the sun. R. Chamcemorus is 

 a dwarf species, only occurring on boggy heaths upon 



