428 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



tapering spire of purple flowers. The old stems are smooth and 

 of a dark bronze color. The recent stems and every other part 

 of the plant but the upper surface of the leaves, are covered with 

 a thick, close down, of a light rust color, varying, on the lower 

 surface of the leaves, to white. The leaves are very thick, 

 crowded, on very short, rather stout petioles, elliptic or oval, 

 somewhat obtuse, coarsely and unequally serrate. The lower 

 part of the compound panicle is made up of partial ones from 

 the axils of the leaves. Flowering begins at the top, where the 

 flowers are faded before those on the lower branches begin to 

 expand. Notwithstanding this defect, the plant possesses con- 

 siderable beauty. The roots are large and running. Flower- 

 ing from July to September. 



This plant has valuable astringent qualities, and is employed 

 as a tonic in dysentery and other disorders of the system, par- 

 ticularly in those incident to females. 



Both of these species are deserving of cultivation for their 

 beauty, their flowers coming on as the spring flowers are pass- 

 ing, and continuing into the autumn. Cultivation improves 

 them ; the dead stems of the previous year deforming, and the 

 roots impeding the growth of the flourishing stocks. 



2. THE BRAMBLE TRIBE, DRYA'DEJE, in which the fruits are seed- 

 like little nuts, or sometimes little drupes, and, when numerous, crowded on 

 a conical or rounded receptacle, — contains, besides the Blackberry and Rasp- 

 berry, — Cinquefoil, Agrimony, the Strawberry and others. 



The BRAMBLES. RUB US. The various species of the 

 bramble and of the rose have been described in Prof. Dewey's 

 Report on the Herbaceous Plants, and I should not mention them, 

 but that this report may fall into the hands of some persons who 

 have not seen the other, and, as these plants are half ligneous, 

 it might seem incomplete without some notice of them. 



The Flowering Raspberry, R. odoraliis, is a low shrub, orna- 

 menting the sides of roads and paths among mountains and in 

 moist glens, in most parts of the State, and giving a charm to 

 many a solitary spot by its large, rose-like flowers. The old 

 stalk is dry and scaly ; the recent shoots and flower branches 

 green below, reddish above, with a covering of purple, gland- 



