HA RD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G SSIP. 



2ig 



sufficiently well marked to admit of the species of 

 this section being also subdivided. 



a. Villicaides proper; type, R. Umbrosus (Macro- 

 phyllus, var., of some authors). — The stems of 

 this bramble when old, are frequently apparently 

 glabrous, from the hairs being deciduous ; the young 

 shoots and flowering branches are, however, always 

 shaggy with spreading pubescence ; the leaflets 

 round with a short acumen, moderately thick, 

 smooth, and dull green above, pale and furnished 

 with short hairs beneath ; prickles strong, conical, 

 patent ; panicle pyramidal, with ascending branches ; 

 not unfrequent in copses and shady places : Pinner 

 woods, Putney Heath, Broxbourne woods. R. 

 villicaulis. — Stems and general habit similar to the 

 preceding ; leaflets thick, obovate, or broadly oval, 

 often cuneiform below ; obtuse or mucronate ; patently 

 dentated, green above, whitish and velvety beneath 

 veins of the upper leaflets often reddish ; panicle 

 compact above, more open below, with ascending 

 branches ; petals white, obovate, not contiguous ; 

 sepals ovate, with a mucronate point, setose and 

 aciculate ; prickles moderately strong and straight ; 

 rachis and pedicels frequently remarkably velvety : 

 Broxbourne and Wormley woods. R. macrophylhts. — 

 The leaves in this species are large, broadly obovate, 

 thin ; panicle elongated, with ascending branches. 

 It is a variable plant, and occurs in the woods about 

 Broxbourne, or intermediate, with the following 

 species : — R. leucostachys may be easily recognized 

 by its close-set panicles of pink flowers, with fila- 

 ments of a still pinker hue ; the petals are large, 

 obovate, and contiguous ; the stems angular and 

 hairy; leaves soft, dull green, hairy above, and more 

 so beneath, of a roundish or obovate form ; those of 

 the upper part of the young stem and of the flowering 

 branches whitish beneath, the rachis is whitish, with 

 a soft tomentum, as are also the pedicels ; the calyx 

 is rather dark, hairy, setose, and aciculated. — N. B. 

 In common with all brambles of this subsection, a 

 few seta; are sparsely scattered on the rachis, &c. 



b. Tomentosi. — In this group the spreading hairs 

 of the stem, and especially of the rachis, appear in 

 the altered form of adpressed stellate down ; type 

 R. discolor. This is the bramble of general occur- 

 rence in wayside hedges ; it is so well known that, 

 except to indicate the chief points in which it differs 

 from others, it is hardly worth while to refer to it. 

 The stem is angular and armed with strong, usually 

 recurved prickles ; hoary when young from the stel- 

 late down ; leaflets quinate below, ternate above ; 

 narrowly obovate, small (usually) coriaceous, slightly 

 convex, dull green above, white or grey below, with 

 a close-set felt or tomentum ; rachis, pedicels, and 

 calyx felted in the same manner ; panicle narrow, 

 with short branches ; petals contiguous, obovate, 

 pink ; styles more or less deeply tinged with purple, 

 as are also, not unfrequently, entirely or in part, the 

 filaments. R, tkyrsoideus : less common, but by no 



means rare. The stems are as stout and strongly 

 angled as are those of R. discolor, but the stellate 

 down is less closely adpressed ; the leaflets are 

 broader and more acuminate upwards, larger, and 

 not convex ; the under-side similarly felted ; rachis 

 and calyx both hairy and felted ; panicle long, nar- 

 row ; lower branches many, axillary ; petals white. 

 R. rubeolas (Sallcri) .— This bramble is the connecting 

 link between the Villicaules and the Nitidi. The 

 stems in this species are nearly terete, reddish ; hairs 

 scattered and deciduous ; prickles rather strong, 

 declining, straight, not curved ; leaflets obovate, or 

 lanceolately acuminate, grey and slightly pubescent 

 below ; rachis loosely pubescent ; panicle narrowly 

 thyrsoid and prickly ; petals pale rose, obovate ;. 

 contiguous sepals, hairy, aciculate, obovate. It 

 flowers early : gravelly commons, — Barnes, Putney 

 Heath. 



V. Nitidi. — Stems thorny, strongly angled, en- 

 tirely free from hairs, acicula;, and setae ; but the 

 rachis of the panicle is hairy more or less : type, R. 

 rhamnifolius {cordifolius ?). Arched stems of a lively 

 red colour, angled, and furnished with strong prickles, 

 straight and deflected, sometimes patent ; leaves 

 quinate, of a bright green colour, lighter below, 

 ovate, the terminal one cordate, acuminate, or sub- 

 cuspidate ; the basal ones narrowly ovate and 

 strongly directed backwards, finely serrated ; petals- 

 white or faintly tinged with pink, obovate ; styles 

 green. Copses and on the borders of woods, not 

 often in hedges : Hampstead Heath, Putney Heath, 

 Harrow Weald Common. On Barnes Common and 

 elsewhere there is a variety with smaller and more 

 coriaceous leaves ; terminal leaflet not cordate ; a 

 smaller and more compact panicle and smaller flowers 

 of a pale blush colour. This is certainly R. rhamni- 

 folius proper ; R. Lindleyanus (/iMrfus) differs from 

 both in the form of its inflorescence, which is corym- 

 bose somewhat, with short patent branches below, and 

 not pyramidal. It has shining bright red stems ; shin- 

 ing light-green leaves, whitish underneath, narrower 

 than those of R. rhamnifolius, and coarsely and 

 doubly toothed ; petals pure white ; filaments turning 

 crimson as the flowers fade. It occurs on Harrow 

 Weald Common and Stanmore Heath. R. incurvatus* 

 — This bramble, uncommon elsewhere, is plentiful 

 on Putney Heath and on Barnes Common ; there are 

 also a few bushes on the lower part of Hampstead 

 Heath. The stems are green, reddish when old,, 

 smooth, angled, and furnished like its congeners with 

 rather strong prickles, which are patent on the 

 stems, but decurved on the rachis ; the leaflets dark- 

 green and glabrous above and below, deeply and 

 sharply toothed, concave, the margins incurved and 

 wavy ; the panicle is narrow, branches short and 

 patent ; petals white, obovate ; sepals ovate, hairy, 

 greenish. (The peculiarity of the leaves is not seen 

 when they are pressed and dried. ) 



The foregoing is by no means an exhaustive notice 

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