162 RUBUS VILLOSUS. 
slender, an inch or two in length, covered with 
glandular hairs and supported by lanceolate 
bractes. Calyx divided into five ovate, concave, 
hairy segments ending in an acuminate point or 
a lanceolate leafet. Petals five, white, ovate or 
oblong, concave, contracted into a short claw at 
base. Stamens very numerous, with roundish 
anthers and slender, white filaments. Germs nu- 
merous, covering a conie central receptacle. 
Styles capillary, arising from the sides of the 
germs, persistent. Fruit a black, shining, com- 
pound berry formed of pulpy acini attached to 
the receptacle, each containing a single oblong 
seed, | | 
The bark of the root of this bramble is the 
part which has been medicinally employed. _ It 
is a pure and strong astringent, which property 
it manifests both by its sensible effects and by 
chemical examination. When treated with the 
sulphate of iron both the tineture and decoction 
assume a beautiful dark purple colour and. throw 
down a copious precipitate. A precipitate also 
takes place on the addition of gelatin, which is 
copious, white and opaque. The alcoholic solu- 
tion is in part decomposed by water. The sub- 
stance precipitated does not occasion the uniform 
turbidness which usually attends the separation 
