240 Mr. C. C. Babington on the British Rubi. 



year's shoot apparently from the ground — in the lower part leafy 

 and clothed nearly as the barren shoot, but the prickles some- 

 what smaller, and the hairs more numerous and longer. Leaves 

 like those of the barren shoot but rather more hairy : upper or 

 floral portion branched. Branches rather distant, slender and 

 few- (about three-) flowered and spreading ; one or two lower 

 ones axillary from ternate leaves, which towards the summit pass 

 into leafy bracts. Peduncles and calyx very hairy, with shining 

 patent hairs interspersed with shaggy pubescence. Petals ovate, 

 obtuse, rugose, of a very beautiful rose-pink. Stamens erect. 



Bredbury Wood, Cheshire, plentifully, Mr. Joseph Sidebotham, 

 Near Congleton, Cheshire, Mr. S. E. Wilson. 



Obs. 1. Our English plant has both the prickles and petals 

 slightly more elongated than represented in the ' Rubi Germa- 

 nici.' In other respects both the figure and description in that 

 work represent ours most faithfully. 



Obs. 2. This is one of the most beautiful as well as most di- 

 stinct of our Rubij and is a highly interesting addition to our 

 flora. R. Sprengeliif with its concealed branched and creeping 

 barren shoot, and its erect delicate flowering stem growing ap- 

 parently from the ground, approaches most nearly in appearance 

 to the herbaceous forms, but in appearance only, as it is, though 

 small, weak and trailing, one of the true fruticose species, its pa- 

 nicles in reality emanating from a biennial shoot. In the general 

 form of the leaf and leaflets it very much resembles R. glandu- 

 losus (particularly the var. rosaceus), as also in having the ter- 

 minal leaflet articulated ; in the grooving of the veins above and 

 their prominence beneath it resembles R. Radula, while the mid- 

 rib approaches the carinated aspect of that part in the var. cari- 

 natus of R. plicatus. 



The delicately slender wire-like branches and peduncles, and 

 the beautifully bright tint of its flowers, formed of reticulated or 

 rugose-plicate petals, render this plant remarkably beautiful. 



Obs. 3. The two kinds of hairiness on the peduncles of this 

 plant are very striking : it is like the patent, parallel villosity of 

 R. sylvaticus, combined with the shaggy hairiness, spreading in 

 all directions, of R. leucostachys. The shining rigid patent hairs 

 may be seen protruding through the tomentum. 



N.B. I am indebted for the above character, description and 

 observations to Dr. Bell Salter, as I have seen no native speci- 

 mens of R. Sprengelii. 



15. R. Leightonianus (n. sp.) ; caule arcuate subanguloso hirto, 

 aculeis paulo insequalibus rectis paulo declinatis, foliis quinatis 

 ternatisve duplicato-apiculato-dentatis supra pilosis subtus pallide 

 viridibus hirtisque, foliolo terminali rotundato acute, paniculse in- 



