166 Mr. C. C. Babington cm the British Rubi. 



less constituting truly distinct species^ are included. Hence the 

 great diversity in the mode of applying these names. 



All students of this very difficult genus are extremely indebted 

 toWeihe and Nees v. Esenbeck for the publication of their splendid 

 work the ' Rubi Germanici/ without which it would have been 

 scarcely possible to attain that knowledge of Brambles which we 

 now possess ; and all will agree, that for extending our acquaint- 

 ance with British Rubi no name justly stands so high as that of 

 Borrer, to whom we owe the elaborate account of these plants 

 contained in Hooker^s ' British Flora' (ed. 2 and 3), and the de- 

 scriptions of many species in the eminently beautiful but far too 

 little known ' Supplement to English Botany.' Br. Lindley, in 

 his ' Synopsis of the British Flora ' (ed. 1), gave the specific cha- 

 racters of twenty-three species, mostly translated avowedly from 

 the work of Weihe and Nees, but including several supposed to 

 be undescribed. He states that he had attained his knowledge 

 of them from plants growing in the garden of the Horticultural 

 Society, and that he was " satisfied that their distinctions are 

 permanent and important.'' In his ' Flora of Shropshire ' Mr. 

 Leighton has collected together the opinions of the above-men- 

 tioned botanists, and also of Nees v. Esenbeck, by sending a per- 

 fect set of specimens to each of them, accompanied by corre- 

 sponding numbers. He has also described the plants with great 

 accuracy, and thus placed students as nearly as possible in the 

 same situation as himself. Without attempting to enumerate all 

 those who are now studying Rvbi, I cannot pass unnoticed the very 

 valuable papers by Dr. T. Bell Salter in the ' Phytologist ' and 

 * Annals of Natural History,' by which he has shown himself to 

 be peculiarly qualified to become the illustrator of this genus. 

 I had hoped that he would have undertaken such a review of it 

 as that upon which I have now ventured ; this his professional 

 duties prevent. I must take the present opportunity of acknow- 

 ledging myself to be very greatly indebted to him, both for the 

 gift of specimens and also for the communication of much valu- 

 able information. 



To Mr. E. Lees, a gentleman who has long paid attention to 

 these plants, I am indebted for a very extensive series of speci- 

 mens. Many other botanists have liberally assisted me in a si- 

 milar manner; I would more especially mention the Rev. A. 

 Bloxam and Mr. H. 0. Stephens. 



In the following pages I have endeavoured to apply those cha- 

 racters to the discrimination of the British species which have 

 been found to be the most permanent by the best British and 

 continental authorities, and would more especially refer the stu- 

 dent to the following works in addition to those already noticed : 

 the 'Flora Silesise' of Wimmer and Grabowski (Breslaw, 1827) ; 



